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Entertainment Options | | | | 'Catgut Strings & Rattlesnake Tales'
My one man stage show celebrating the 'Fun, Romance and Folkore' of the fiddle, America's first and favorite folk instrument ! Stories, folklore, poetry, original songs, and best of all...lots of fiddling!
Musical Treasures From The Gold Rush Era & America's Frontier Days
A celebration of great folk classics and melodies from America's great folk music past. I start with a rousing fiddle medley which includes early frontier tunes, classical pieces, jigs, reels and hornpipes. I explain that all too nagging and mysterious question 'What's the difference between violin and fiddle?' We then start our journey over the Appalachian mountains, across the prairie or round Cape Horn into the California Gold Rush Country. I show 8 or 9 of the essential
folk era instruments, explaining their origins and play appropriate tunes and songs that capture the heart and soul of the frontiersman and miners. These melodies have become classics and are treasured by Americans and people in every nation. They are hummed in the shower and still used often in Radio and TV ads. Why? It's the melody. That's the treasure. Appropriate for K thru 8 with the understanding that I adjust the show to the right age level.
PDF Flyer available on my Press page
The Huckleberry of The West Strolling Entertainer
(aka David Rainwater or 'Huckleberry' . Every now and then, an occasion calls for a fiddler with wild abandon. A fiddler who will just simply play that darned thing with hoedowns and other frilly tunes. Dave cuts loose as his alter ego Huckleberry. He'll stroll and come after you as he croons (you can join in too !) Western melodies, old vaudevillian tunes and Tin Pan Alley classics. He'll tap his toes and go off into flights of harmonica fancies. He'll grab his mandolin and you'll swear he's an Italian with his renditions of lovely mandolin melodies and jazz it up with an occasional rock and roll ditty. He'll rattle off one liners or confuse you with tales of nonsense and Mother Goose. He'll walk arounnd like he's some PHD musicologist or folklorist with anecdotal bits of American history and folklore. He plays from a repertoire too numerous to mention. He says 'he's got a million of em'. He thinks he wrote that line 'fiddling is like a box of chocolates ! You never know what you're gonna get!' Huck has gained a large fan following in Tuolumne County having strolled for several years now at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown on the steam trains and at the 49er Chili Cook Off Festival in Groveland. He advises people that he is a trained hillbilly expert and DONT TRY THIS AT HOME. He has been told
on a number of occasions that a young boy or girl has taken up the violin because of him! He couldn't think of a better reward in this life.......
PDF Flyer available on my Press Page
Songs of The Appalachians, Play and Sing Folk Songs With The Dulcimer
Learn to sing and play with the Appalachian dulcimer. It is one of the easiest musical instruments to learn basic singing and picking techniques with. Dave provides each student in the class with a dulcimer to play (up to 30 maximum per session). If you can count to 10, you can play ! (for ages 8 to adult)
Make & Play The Appalachian Dulcimer
Purchase your own inexpensive dulcimer kit. Dave then guides you through the process of assembling, decorating, stenciling, adding strings, then learning to play your own personalized folk instrument. A combined musical and artistic experience ! (for ages 8 to adult) An instructional CD is available. PDF flyer available on the PRESS page and/or call for more information.
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