Hi Everyone,
I am a 2nd semester SLIS distance student and this is my first elective. Very exciting! I have been working as a professional musician and music teacher for the past 15 years. I play Irish traditional music with a few bands and duos that tour nationally and I teach Irish traditional music at the Center for Irish Music (of which my lovely wife Norah is the executive director) here in St. Paul, MN.
My interest in digital libraries grew from my study of traditional folk music that flourished in the 19th century lumber camps of the Great Lakes region (this has been my pet project for the past few years). I am excited about using the internet and digital tools to increase accessibility to collections that bring to life traditional music and cultural history. I am particularly inspired by projects like the Scottish website http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/ that put rare and wonderful field recordings of traditional songs and stories at our fingertips.
My wife and I are expecting our first child in March (!) and we bought our first house in December and are still unpacking boxes. I also started recording an album (of music collected in the Great Lakes region) this month that I’ll be finishing over the next couple weeks. So…. it’s looking like a very busy semester for me!
Looking forward to the class and getting to know you all!
Hi Brian! I just had to share that one of my favorite albums for a number of years has been Andrew Calhoun’s Telfer’s Cows which I am sure you’ve heard of with your interest in Scottish music. Congrats on the new baby, March babies are great (being one myself though I might be biased).
Hi!
I hadn’t actually heard of Andrew Calhoun. I’m a bit more immersed in the Irish side of things than the Scottish though I do love Scottish music too. Listened to some clips of him and he sounds great! Very similar voice to Stan Rogers which is cool to hear. The first song on that “Teifer’s Cows” album has some fascinating versions out there. The Scottish website I mentioned has a field recording of a woman from the Shetland Islands singing it where the refrain is in an old extinct dialect of Norse; http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/play/47965
Thanks for saying hi!
Welcome, Brian – lots of changes afoot for you, but all sound wonderful! I love the idea of your project, and perhaps you will want to pursue work on it as your final Assignment #2. Sounds great!
Hey Sarah,
Yes I am definitely crossing my fingers that I can work in some of my own projects into some of the projects for this class. I forgot to mention that I have a blog I post on monthly too. I pick a song to feature each month from my research: http://www.evergreentrad.com/northwoods-songs/