The Music Room Online

Our complimentary issue of the Spen Valley Guardian came yesterday (thank you!) with a little coverage of our evening with Diane Ponzio.

Click image to enlarge.

Of course, I’m talking about festival time and the the fun and mayhem that comes with it. What follows is a list of where you’ll be able to meet, catch up with, seek advice from, buy drinks for (that last one always goes down well!) all your favourite The Music Room staff members and of course, peruse our wares and buy lots of instruments.

We’ve got some great new lines for you this year, the biggest one is Standford Guitars. Now I know I’ve mentioned them before but really I can’t stress enough how good they are. They’re a sweet fusion of traditional design philosophies and modern manufacturing techniques but really to understand where I’m coming from you need to come along and get your hands on one. You won’t regret it.

One last thing, before the list of dates, while we take lots of stuff with us when we’re on the road, if there’s something you especially want and you’re not sure we’ll be bringing it just give us a ring and a couple of days notice and we’ll make sure it gets put in the van just for you.

Rochester Sweeps
Saturday 3rd May to Monday 5th May

Shepley
Saturday 17th May to Sunday 18th May

Chippenham
Saturday 24th May to Monday 26th May

Conway Bluegrass
Saturday 5th July to Sunday 6th July

Yorkshire Show
Tuesday 8th July to Thursday 10th July

Priddy
Saturday 12th July to Sunday 13th July

Trowbridge
Thursday 24th July to Sunday 27th July

Warwick
Saturday 26th July to Sunday 27th July
We might kick off a little early and open shop on the Friday night.

Cambridge
Thursday 31st July to Sunday 3rd August

Sidmouth
Friday 1st August to Friday 8th August

Croprody
Thursday 7th August to Saturday 9th August

Broadstairs
Saturday 9th August to Friday 15th August

Whitby
Saturday 16th August to Friday 22nd August

Shrewsbury
Friday 22nd August to Monday 25th August

Towersey
Friday 22nd August to Monday 25th August

Fylde
Saturday 30th August to Sunday 31st August

Bromyard
Saturday 13th September to Sunday 14th Semptember

Music Port
Saturday 18th October to Sunday 19th October

Sleepy old Cleckheaton was once again treated to a day of musical extravaganza. The Music Room threw wide it’s doors and invited people from far and wide to learn something of the whistle.

Guests of honour were Tony Dixon, reknowned whistle maker and the lovely Becky Taylor, whistler extraordinaire.

Click here to see what went on

Here at The Music Room in sleepy Cleckheaton, UK, we were honoured and delighted to play host to the legendary singer/songwrite, Diane Ponzio and her stunning Martin JDP II Diane Ponzio Signature Limited Edition Guitar.

She addressed a small, but perfectly formed audience, sharing with us the history of Martin guitars and just what makes them so special, before playing several of her songs for us.

What do you get if you cross the Czech Master Luthier, Frantisek Furch with the German guitarist and designer, Toni Goetz? How about a guitar that fuses the wonderful tone and feel of today’s modern design with the wonderful old values and practices of traditional craftsmanship.

Put simply, you get Stanford Guitars. Even more simply, you get a great guitar.

You get a guitar so great in fact, that guitarist, songwrite and winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Best Album category, Martin Simpson had this to say about them;

“We do indeed live in the Golden Age of guitar making - and it’s not just the super expensive instruments which tell us that. Stanford make a range of guitars which would suit all levels from earnest beginner to pro -player. The workmanship and attention to detail is excellent on all these instruments. I wish I’d had one 40 years ago - I’d be a better player now”

Could there be any finer endorsement?

Click here to download the review from Guitarist magazine (PDF)

For one night only, The Music Room invites you to a unique evening of music with Éamonn Coyne and Kris Drever consisting of workshops, performance and the launch of their latest CD.

This is a rare and unique opportunity to meet, and learn from, Ireland’s top tenor banjo player, Éamonn Coyne, and Scotland’s brilliant guitarist, Kris Drever.

This event will take place on Thursday 8th February at The Music Room, St. John’s Place, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. Éamonn will lead an Irish tenor banjo workshop and Kris will lead a workshop on guitar accompaniment for celtic music. Both workshops will cover the same tune(s) for about 45 minutes and then meet up to play together. These talented Celtic musicians will reflect on the different styles that have influenced their playing over the years and feature a hands-on insight into the techniques used in the production of their CD “Honk Toot Suite”. After the workshops Éamonn and Kris will launch their CD and perform tracks from it.

Workshop tickets are £15 and to guarantee a quality learning experience workshop places are strictly limited and need to be pre-booked. The workshops are aimed at intermediate to advanced level but are of interest to all improvers. You can book as a participant or observer and Éamonn and Kris are happy for observers to record the workshops – so bring your camcorders and MP3 players!

Coffee, tea and soft drinks will be available all evening and at approximately 8.00 pm Éamonn and Kris will launch “Honk Toot Suite”. After the performance they’ll be an opportunity to buy your signed CD and chat to the chaps. If you want to come to the CD launch but not a workshop we’ll be very happy to see you but would appreciate a call to pre-book so we have an idea of numbers.

Renowned tenor banjo player Éamonn Coyne is from Dublin and now lives in Edinburgh. He has performed and recorded with a vast array of people including Siobhán and Tommy Peoples, The Wrigley Sisters, Eileen Ivers, Salsa Celtica, Russell’s House, Stockton’s Wing, Alison Brown, Sharon Shannon, Jonny Hardie, Gavin Marwick and Gara.

Eminent guitarist Kris Drever is from The Orkney Islands and now lives in Edinburgh. His companions in performance and recording include Fine Friday, Kathie Ryan, John McCusker, Kate Rusby, John Doyle, Andy Cutting, Roddy Womble, Eddi Reader, Tim O’Brien, Ian Carr, Clare McLaughlin, Tannas, Daniel Lapp, Session A9, Kenny Kosek, Battlefield Band, Bruce MacGregor, Harem Scarem, Leo McCann, Celtic Fusion and Lau.

Both Éamonn and Kris are nominated for awards in the BBC Folk Awards 2007.

Further Information

• The shop is open as usual all day; workshop registration from 6pm.
• Workshops will start at 6.30 pm and will be approximately 1½ hours long; they are running concurrently so you can book on one or the other.
• Éamonn Coyne will lead an Irish tenor banjo workshop.
• Kris Drever will lead a workshop on guitar accompaniment for celtic music.
• Both workshops will meet at the end to play together.
• The workshops are aimed at intermediate/advanced players and cost £15.
• You need to bring your own instrument if you want to participate in a workshop.
• You can book onto a workshop and come to observe rather than participate.
• Numbers for the evening are strictly limited and it is essential to pre-book; just phone The Music Room on 01274 879768 – all major cards accepted.
• Refreshments are included and The Music Room shop will be open all evening.
• The CD launch and performance will start at approximately 8.00 pm and there is no charge for this part of the evening; however, please phone and pre-book your place.
• There are some nice places to eat locally after the event, just ask us on the night.
• Go to www.eamonncoyne.com/hts for CD downloads and information.
• If you need any further information please don’t hesitate to contact The Music Room by phone or e-mail.

The Music Room is about a mile from Junction 26 of the M62. Take the A638 to Dewsbury & Cleckheaton and pass the old shop and The Commercial pub on your right. A little further on is the Town Hall, turn left into the car park (free parking) and The Music Room is situated at the bottom right hand corner of the car park. Look for a large white building with an arched doorway.

This is a great opportunity to meet with two brilliant musicians in an intimate and informal surrounding where you will be able to ask questions and pick up knowledge that only comes from years of experience.

Please book now to avoid disappointment.

On Sunday 3rd December 2006 Murray Grainger held a master class at The Music Room in front of a sell out audience. The whole event was filmed for the production and release of a new accordion tuition DVD!

Working with amateur accordionist Leslie Dolman, Murray Grainger focused on improving technique and helping accordionists to improve their playing. He started by discussing posture and how you should hold your accordion, invaluable advice with many people commenting that they had been searching for the information for years! He then explored varying aspects of Left-hand, Right-hand and bellows technique, with helpful tips and hints as they worked through 4 tunes. Filmed on the second floor of The Music Room’s new premises the audience had a chance to see how a modern DVD is produced. With four cameras and two camera men, the sound recorded in The Music Rooms recording Studio the afternoon was a fascinating experience for everyone.

Have you ever heard a tune played on stage but never been able to play it like that? Not sure how to develop your technique? Looking for some ideas to help improve your playing and increase your playing confidence? This accordion tuition DVD will feature advice on technique for the improving player, including bellows, tone production and articulation with lots of tunes and exercises to help you progress in your own time. If you have always been looking to develop your technique then this DVD is guaranteed to both inspire and stimulate you!

This exciting new accordion tuition DVD is due to be released at the end of January 2007 and orders are already being taken. A book to accompany the DVD will follow shortly afterwards making this package an essential accesory for all accordionists!

Eastman Strings was founded in 1992, yet it is already an integral part of the long and glorious history of one of the most fascinating musical traditions the world has known. Through our violin and bow making activities, Eastman Strings are attached to a tradition nearly 500 years old, and strive to maintain a level of artistic and commercial achievement worthy of our predecessors.

The history of the violin family is fascinating and complex. It has all the elements of a great story, and our place in that story tells a lot about how we view the importance of what we do. There are many books and websites that offer extensive information and speculation about the history of violinmaking, and it is not our goal to repeat all of this information here. Let it suffice for us to pick up the story in the late 19th century, when economic and social factors came into play to influence the art of violin making and bring it into the modern age.

In the mid to late 1800’s, the industrial revolution was well under way, bringing with it a rise of urban culture, increase in buying power for the middle class, and expansion of international trade. A generation of comparatively well-educated and affluent people turned its interest to music making, many as a pastime, and others as a vocation. No longer merely the entertainment of the noble and wealthy classes, classical and various forms of popular and folk music were embraced by ordinary people, and they wanted not only to hear it, but to play it themselves. Several different types of instruments grew in popularity—both mechanical devices such as player pianos, music boxes of ingenious designs, and other basically self-playing instruments, and more traditional instruments such as pianos, harmoniums, and violins. The violin in particular was the instrument of choice for more amateur and professional musicians than any other.

Imagine the difficulty of would-be music makers who were faced with a severe shortage of instruments on which to play. The great master instruments of the 17th and 18th centuries were already collectible and unaffordable by this time, and modern instruments were also relatively rare and expensive. Several savvy violin makers figured out a solution: they created master workshops where they trained specialist wood carvers to do much of the time consuming work of violin making for them. The masters trained the workers, oversaw their work, and participated in the assembly and varnishing of the instruments. By putting much of the work in the hands of specialized workers who were not highly-paid masters, they were able to create high quality hand-made instruments at reasonable cost. As a result, violins were both available and affordable to musicians who lacked the budgets to buy vintage instruments, but who nevertheless wanted good quality violins on which to play. It sounds obvious to us now, but it was a major change for both violin making and for the world of music in general. In former generations, only a small caste of professional musicians, working primarily for the European courts and churches, were able to play instruments (which were often provided by their employers). Now, nearly anyone could acquire a hand-made violin and learn to make music.

Violins became both available and affordable to musicians who wanted good quality instruments on which to play.
All of this was important not only for the future of violin making, but also for music in general. Think of the creative power, not to mention the surge in popularity of classical music, that resulted from increased access to the instruments on which this music is made!

During this period, which lasted from the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th, hand-made violins and bows were available in a wide range of qualities and prices. The least expensive were really quite awful, but they served their purpose. Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward sold cheap outfits in their catalogs, while fine violin shops sold the better workshop instruments and bows, often relabeling them with their shop name, or with incorrect or fictitious maker’s labels. (Many a person, when cleaning out a closet or attic, has been thrilled by the discovery of a violin by the great Cremonese master Stradivarius. Thinking that they have made their fortunes, nearly all of these people are later disappointed to learn that the instruments they possess are inexpensive German or Czech copies with facsimile Stradivarius labels. The origin of the “attic Strad” is found in the practice of many makers who put cheaply printed Stradivari labels in their export instruments.)

European workshops continued to hand-make instruments and bows up until the middle of the 20th century. Though it is far from the greatest tragedy resulting from World War II, the war brought about major changes in the business of violin making. Many violin makers were killed in the violence. Workshops were destroyed, as were entire towns. Europe itself was rearranged in the aftermath of the war. These facts combined to completely alter violin making in the late 20th century. First, many of the German makers who had been living in the German areas of Czechoslovakia, at one time major producers of instruments, found themselves no longer welcome in their former hometowns. They were evicted from their homes and workshops and forced to emigrate to the West. Much of Europe, including a large part of Germany, fell under communist Soviet rule, which had a bad effect on production and trade. May of the former East German and Czech makers who moved to the West set up a new violin making colony in the town of Erlangen, where they and their descendants work to this day. Along with their geographical relocation, another major change instituted at this time was the automation and mechanization of the violin making process.

Beginning after World War II, essentially all student stringed instruments were largely machine-made, with hand work comprising little or none of the process. This means that, among musicians who began studying after the war, nearly all started on machine-made instruments of questionable quality. Think about it: generations of string players never knew what it was like to play a good instrument until they were advanced enough to invest in an expensive old one.

In recent decades, several factors have revived the flagging violin craft. Very important in inspiring change was the huge success of the Suzuki Method in popularizing study of stringed instruments. The large number of string programs and private studios found today owe a great deal to this phenomenon.
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki with a group of young violin students. Suzuki’s teaching techniques and philosophy have been central to the burgeoning popularity of string playing around the world. Photo © 1983 by Arthur Montzka
The next big change that made a difference in violin making was the opening of China to commerce with the West. For many years, China had an isolationist attitude both culturally and economically. (Even so, a state-run factory supplied violin outfits in large quantities. The infamous “Skylark” instruments that they made have done much to damage the reputation of Chinese instruments, and the negative effects are still being felt by a new generation of talented, dedicated makers!)

In 1992, Qian Ni, who had come to the United States from China to study music, founded Eastman Strings. In the beginning, he and his two musician colleagues bought instruments from Western-trained violin makers from their home town in China, but before long, they saw that a different approach was needed. Mr. Ni hired a group of established master violinmakers, and with their help, he established a large master violin workshop devoted to the handcrafting of instruments—one of the first the world had known since the first half of the 20th century. In the short time since this workshop was founded, the reputation of Eastman Strings’ instruments for tonal quality and craftsmanship excellence has become a worldwide standard. After establishing the instrument making workshop, Qian Ni went on to found a bow making workshop based on the same principals. In both workshops, master makers train and oversee talented woodworkers to create some of the world’s finest student, step-up, and professional instruments and bows.