Tag: music
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Irish Traditional Music is a LIVING Tradition!
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Traditional Irish Music is almost a misnomer, as it is such a wonderful LIVING tradition, adopting new instruments all the time. We talk about traditional Irish Bouzoukis and Octave Mandolins. Fact is, it was Andy Irvine, I believe in the Irish band Planxty at the time, who starting…
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Why the F-Type Mandolin Dominates Bluegrass – Flatirons Dominate Celtic (UPDATE)
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Have you ever seen a Bluegrass mandolin player playing anything but an F-Type or a Celtic player ever playing an F-Type (the photo with the scroll on the left). There are reasons. Read on… Musicians in just about every genre except Bluegrass, including Old-Time (lots of F-Styles and…
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Gourd, Tackhead and Minstrel Banjos: Clearing Things Up (Maybe?)
When people talk about the old-style banjos, they often use the terms gourd banjo, tackhead banjo and minstrel banjo as if they are synonymous. Hopefully, this post will clear matters up a bit. There are a number of photo thumnails in this article. Click on them for larger views. First Things First: Where was the…
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The Problem with Musical Instrument Mega-Stores
I do not believe that it is part of the business plan of most big music stores, "brick-and-morter" as well as online, to put the small independent musical instrument makers out of business. I don't know, maybe it is. Intended or not, that has been the effect…duh!…what happened to all of the great small specialty stores…
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Ska, Synthesizers, Traditional Music and the Folk Establishment
Interesting discussion thread on these topics and more, including commentary by Friends (no, not us) on the institutions that comprise the Traditional Music and Country Dance Establisment on Don Rickert's Facebook Wall. Is the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS) stuck in a time warp? Read opinion on this as well.
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All You Rude Boys and Girls (who play or used to play brass or brasswind)
Note: If are not familiar with the term "Rude Boy", you don't know enough about the ska music genre to be interested in this. Trew Ska'ish The Trew Ska'ish Project A topic that pops up from time to time in our posts is the "Trew Ska'ish" project. Basically, this is a whimsical if not totally insane effort to…
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You Asked for More Red Hots. We’ve Got Your Red Hots Right Here!
We have been inundated with emails asking when we were going to post another video of the Red Hots performance at the Hoppin' John Old-Time and Bluegrass Fiddlers Convention. These request have come from as far away as Australia. I have already reiterated several times my love of this great band. This video is a…
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The Red Hots: First of Many Hoppin’ John Fiddlers’ Convention Reports
Who are these Red Hots, the top-billed professional performers at the Hoppin' John Old-Time and Bluegrass Fidders' Convention 2009? This quartet that looks as if they are from at least three different bands played in the square and contra dance tent after the official square/contra dance, for which the band for that was the cleverly-named Chrystal…
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