A BIG MUSICAL INBETWEEN

On Arts Fest Friday I met the family in town and we roamed around, listening, shopping, eating and playing. A little before 3:00pm we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to the house. A young lady passed me on the sidewalk pulling a luggage cart with a big dark red odd-shaped case on it. I said, "Excuse me. Is that a hammered dulcimer?" When she said, "Yes." I asked when she was playing and she said, "As soon as I get set up." So I told the Tom and Ann, "I'm not going yet. I'm gonna follow this pretty girl wherever she goes and listen until she's finished playing."

The hammered dulcimer is an ancient stringed instrument that is popular in Appalachian Mountain music.




As you can see, the strings are VERY close together. It's kind of like playing the vibes, except the margin for error is measured in eighth's of an inch instead of inches.

Being born with virtually NO dexterity, I've always been fascinated by the instrument and love hearing someone play it IF they're good. Since Karen was a featured youth performer, I figured she was good.





I had no idea HOW GOOD.

OH MY GOODNESS, she is incredible.

She brought tears to my eyes.

Really.

It's a difficult instrument and she played everything from Celtic pieces to Gospel to some she'd written herself. Well, actually, "composed" is a better word because she hasn't "written" anything down.

A couple of minutes after she started, a woman sitting next to me on the grass turned and said, "Not many people know what a hammered dulcimer is, much less recognize one just from the shape in its case. You must be a real fan." Turns out she was Cindy, Karen's mother. We talked - between numbers - and then for a while after Karen finished. They had bought her her first dulcimer at a music camp four years ago. When I commented on how well she had learned to play in such a short time Cindy said, "We bought it for her over lunch hour and that evening she was playing in the fast jam. She works with two instructors, one in Baltimore and one in Columbus."

I SO wish I could put a clip of her playing on my Blog so you could hear how incredible this young lady really is. But she hasn't recorded anything yet. KAREN - This is Tom - AND your Mom talking - you NEED to get this stuff on a CD !!

Karen just graduated from State College High and is going to Colgate in upstate NY, majoring in music and geology. When I asked why she was going so far away, she said that Penn State wouldn't let her major in music with the hammered dulcimer as her instrument. She is also an accomplished flute player, but really wanted to work with the dulcimer. Colgate said, "We've never done it before. Give us a minute to figure out how we can do it............OK, we can do it."

Another reason for going away it that her Dad is on the staff at Penn State and she "Didn't want to work in his shadow. It'll be hard enough at Colgate." When I asked if he was a Colgate alum, she said, "No, but he's pretty well known everywhere in the Geology world."

OH - THAT Richard Alley?

Author of "Two Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change and our Future"

The one who was one of members of the Intergovernmental Panel in Climate Change that shared a Nobel Peace Prize. The author of "Chapter 4: Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground" for the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. He participated in the joint UN/WMO panel since 1992, having been a contributing author to both the second and third IPCC assessment reports. Here's an NPR interview from last year.

We tried to find time to jam before I headed home but her schedule just didn't allow it. She's headed to a Music Camp near Asheville early in August so I may see -and hear her again soon !

What an incredible INBETWEEN. Passing on the sidewalk on my way out of the Festival.

Life is good.

ARTS FEST 2008

The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts started in 1967 and has gotten bigger and better every year.

Early on the organizers set up Wednesday, the "first" day for a Children's Sidewalk Sale. From their website

"The Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale is a fun way for boys and girls to express themselves visually. CPFA encourages young people to develop their artistic potential through personal expression in individually crafted, original objects. Artists ages 8 through 18, who live in or have relatives in Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin or Union Counties, are encouraged to participate. All work must be designed and produced by the entrant; work made from kits is not permitted."



Casey, with a little help, made tie dye things. Sarah was too young to officially participate, but Casey shared her booth.



In spite of a rainy day, the crowd was big and sales went well.

The next few days were fun too. A "Dumping Buckets" stage was a favorite.




One of the "crafts" people was Tim Bradford, a blacksmith from Pleasant Gap, PA.



He was using a portable forge - almost exactly like the one my Grandfather used around the turn of the century.



Tim was very friendly and took a few minutes to show my grandkids how everything worked. I told them, "Your Great-Great-Grandfather worked with a forge just like this one. And I have his back in VA. So when your Daddy comes home one day with what looks like a rusted out iron birdbath with a blower on it, you'll know what it is."

It caught in my throat a little to say, "Your Great-Great-Grandfather." I KNEW this guy for crying out loud. My, how time - and generations - fly by.

Tim is a Harley owner and said, "Call me next week and we'll go riding." I did and we did. A great Sunday afternoon through Amish country. I remembered from 40 years ago that driving quickly required extra vigilance when there are lots of horse and buggies on the road. But since all my prior experience was in a car, I didn't fully appreciate the obstacles they leave in the middle of the road. Didn't matter too much in the car, but it's a different story on the bike. That stuff is really slippery when it's fresh. But what beautiful country.



And lots of other fun things for the kids.






The Festival includes live performances at several stages around downtown and campus. This one, "Rustical Quality String Band"

was a "can't miss" for me because several of the members are people with whom I've jammed during my stays in State College. ALSO, a second washboard player joined them for a few songs. Here's a close up.



For those few of you who might not recognize him, on the left is Penn State President Graham Spanier. HAH - and YOU thought Joe Paterno was the only cool guy at Penn State!