Category Music
WrenSong Kanteles
The kantele complements the Native American flute wonderfully. These are delightful instruments and easy to learn to play. They may take some time like the ukulele and Native American style flute to learn to play well. The kanteles I primarily make are 5-string versions. In 2018, I released a 6-string version but find that […]
O’Connell Craft Festival, 2018, Nov. 24-25
Join me for the O’Connell Center Craft Festival on Nov. 24-25.
Mandolin and Chris Thile in Gainesville
Chris Thile — mandolin player, composer, songwriter and singer. Playing the mandolin for and hour and a half…with no break. His performance in Gainesville at the Phillips Performing Arts Center was amazing. For the first hour, I watched with my inner jaw hanging open. The mandolin was an extension of him as he played. He […]
Happy Make Music Day
Happy World Music Day! What a great way to recognize the importance of music and its ability to bring people together. World Music Day (also called Make Music Day) started in 1982 when the Ministry of Culture in France launched the Fête de la Musique (“festival of music”). The event was a day of free, […]
Lessons from Shakuhachi flute
It’s always fun to experiment with making different flutes. Lately I have been experimenting with making Japanese shakuhachi flutes from PVC cold water pipe. It is not an easy flute to learn to play but it is a wonderful sound when you do get a note. Given how hard it is to achieve playing a […]
WrenSong flutes at Leesburg Festival
The Leesburg Arts Festival provided me the opportunity to do two activities I enjoy — play my flutes for listeners and sell my flutes to people who are drawn to the sound of the flute. My WrenSong Woods tent was just a few yards from the east stage of the festival. (You can see my […]
Leesburg Arts Festival, Saturday, March 10
I’m looking forward to being part of the Leesburg Art Festival on Saturday, March 10. I will be a vendor selling my WrenSong flutes and other wood art items. The art festival will be held along the streets of Historic Downtown Leesburg from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. I’ll be one of more […]
Visiting Leesburg Flute Gathering
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Leesburg Flute and Drum Gathering held in the Leesburg Center for the Arts. My friend Deb, who I’d met at Flute Haven a few years ago, has always been ready to pick up a flute and jam. With Deb’s Leesburg friends and my Gainesville friends […]
Jake Shimabukuro
Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro put on a great show in Gainesville. I really enjoyed the performance! The concert was more than two hours of music. Some songs he performed with his electric and bass guitar players. Some songs he performed solo. He performed a wide range of songs, showing the versatility of the ukulele and […]
Ukulele Performance with Jake Shimabukuro
Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro is on tour, and I’m looking forward to hearing him perform in Gainesville on Feb. 9. I’ve been playing his CDs, picking up and playing my ukuleles (one at a time, of course), and looking forward to his upcoming concert. Jake Shimabukuro became one of the sensations of YouTube in 2006 […]
Barcelona Concert: Ala Voronnkova
Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to return to Barcelona to bring in the New Year and celebrate the Three Kings festivities. You’ll be reading more posts about this experience and if you missed the posts from my 2017 visit you can read about Barcelona’s intriguing streets, the Gegant giants, a Gamelan musical instrument […]
The Changed Nashville
In May 2017 I was in Nashville, Tennessee, city of country music, to attend the Four Voices Concert. I stayed downtown to be able to walk to the Ryman Auditorium for the concert at night. During the day I looked forward to sauntering into some nearby musical instrument stores. But I was in for a […]
