Our return to Magnolia's Cajun Dance

On May 5th, RIFP students performed 3 fiddle tunes at Pawtucket's German Hall to start the night off at Magnolia's Cajun Dance.  We even had a back-up band on the stage behind us, triangle and all.

During Michelle's dance lesson for beginning dancers, students worked on their own set of moves!

Woodlawn CDC Community Meeting

The night before our Fiddling Celebration is a very important evening at Woodlawn CDC.

On Tuesday, June 5th at 6pm, the center hosts a Community Meeting with members of the Pawtucket city government.

Woodlawn is in danger of having to drastically reduce services in the coming year, and this is a chance for community members to speak up about the center's value to the neighborhood.

Woodlawn has been our community partner and home for three years of RI Fiddle Project and serves many crucial needs of the neighborhood.

210 West Ave, Pawtucket, All are welcome.

Join us June 6th!

Here we are in Payne Park, across from Woodlawn Community Center during a May group fiddle class.  

Spring time at RI Fiddle Project has brought some of our fiddling out of doors!

Students are also taking stock of their current fiddling repertoires: making lists of tunes they know and getting ready for year-end performances.

 

Please join us on Wednesday evening

June 6th at 6:30 PM

@ Woodlawn CDC (210 West Ave, Pawtucket)

for our year-end FIDDLING CELEBRATION!







(stay tuned for our E-news in the next couple of days)

Cape Verdean Music @ Woodlawn

On the last Sunday in March, RI Fiddle Project was visited by John Miranda's Cape Verdean band, made up of John and two of his brothers, Napoleon and Ney.   

We heard stories of how John Miranda came to play the fiddle (and how he ended up playing it on the opposite side of his body!), we heard performances of great, traditional Cape Verdean tunes, then we joined with the band to back them up.  

And we got to see some great dancing to go along with the music!

Performance at Magnolia Cajun Dance in Pawtucket tomorrow night!

RI Fiddle Project's blog has suffered as I've been finishing my spring semester of graduate work, but that doesn't mean the Fiddle Project has been any less active!  Over the next few weeks, we'll have some catch-up posts re: new supporters of our work, student and teacher performances, and recent visits by guest artists (including a Cape Verdean band!).

This week's post is about our upcoming performance at Magnolia's Cajun Dance tomorrow night.  After the dance lesson at 7:30pm, our students will perform four favorite fiddle tunes at 8 PM.  Come cheer the group on, then stay to dance!  Above is a photo from last year's dance when one of our students joined the band on triangle.

Saturday, May 5th
8 PM: RI Fiddle Project students perform
Cajun Dance follows from 8:15-11pm
@ the German Hall, 78 Carter Ave, Pawtucket, RI
$15 admission to the dance, free for RIFP families

Playing with the Erhu

Cathy Clasper-Torch came to visit our group class yesterday to complete our "Things with Strings" trilogy.  Cathy studied the erhu while living in Hong Kong, and she brought 2 erhus with her to share with students.  After listening to the differences in sound and seeing differences in construction, each student got to play in an erhu ensemble with Cathy: adding a particular beat with one of the percussion instruments, or keeping everyone together as the conductor.

We also got to check out what music for the erhu looks like, and finished the day with a dress rehearsal for our Pawtucket Farmer's Market performance.  Next Wednesday (3/21) we'll be performing two tunes sometime between 6 & 7 pm at Hope Artiste Village (1005 Main St, Pawtucket, RI).

"Things with Strings" final installment tomorrow

On Wednesday, April 14th, RI Fiddle Project will be visited by Cathy Clasper-Torch and her erhu!  This will conclude our series which included a visit by a string quartet, a kemanche player, and now a player of the Chinese fiddle/violin.  Want to see it for yourself?  Contact rifiddleproject@gmail.com for details, and stay tuned for what's next...Cape Verdean fiddler John Miranda and his band will be at RI Fiddle Project on Sunday, March 25th at 4 PM!