BS: Challenge Under the Tree!

Subject: Challenge Under the Tree!
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 26 Dec 00 - 08:05 PM

Happy Holidays!

I hope all correspondants were as blessed as the Clarke Family with good friends, Family feasting and fellowship, and wonderful things of all sorts over the past Weekend's celebrations.

Among several nifty things under our tree were a hand-crocheted (by Mom) 1860's style purse/reticule for Daughter Shearon, as well as a hand-carved cherry wood spoon from her Dad's shop. Big hits both.

As for yours truly, I was thrilled to recieve a collaborative gift from both Ladies consisting of a gift certificate for 5 hours of recording time (or equivalent services) at "Baked Beans Recording" Studios in Harrison, ME .

For some stime now, I have been toying with the idea of recording a tape or CD of some of the antiquarian music which I have been collecting, studying, and occasionally playing - mostly in conjunction with my Civil-War Reenacting activities. The primary reasons I continue to procrastinate is that I couldn't afford expensive studio time, and that "I'm not quite good enough" to justify such an expense even if I could come up with it. Well, now I'm kinda committed, and have considerable incentive to put a project together and start working on preparation to "rise to the occasion".

As an essentially 19th-Century kind of guy, all this technology is by and large quite new to me; having recorded myself and at one time Shearon (self-taught Guitarist and talented Poetress, Artist, and natural Songsmith) on a cassette-deck salvaged from the local dump and wired together, my understanding of all this jargon - "tracks" and the like - is severely limited. We look forward to considerable research and learning in preparation for such a project, and welcome any advice/suggestions from those who have some experience in this business.

I hold no illusions of aquiring any notoriety or income (will be tickled pink if I break even on extra-gift-certificate expenses) from this project, but just want to do it to preserve some of the old, mostly forgotten music of New England's past (1800 through the Civil War), learn something, and hopefully have some fun in the proccess. As to the CDs (which I assume is the media of choice these days), hopefully they will be tolerable enough to make acceptable gifts to family members and colleages at the Lantern Shop. Posterity? Who knows?!

As to the "genre" of this project; I've been toying with several - to include historical, Nautical/Chantey, Civil War/ Patriotic, Gospel/Sacred/Hymns of the period, Victorian death and dying/ Funeral music... What I'm currently leaning towards is something specific to Maine History; "Dirigo; Maine Forward!" Having made this wonderful (aside from the taxes and politics) State our abode for the past 25 years or so, and having collected several pieces of early Victorian era music connected to this State (Author, theme, usage, lyrical content etc.) it might be as good a place as any to start. I'm not sure if I have enough to fill up a CD yet, so may have to do some more rummaging. As always, I'm looking for tunes which have musical potential, yet may have been generally forgotten or seldom-sung for the past generation or so. I am aware of a couple of repositories (Bagaduce Library in Blue Hill for one) and will be shaking the bushes and kicking up some dust in the Archives whenever the opportunity presents istself.

If anyone is aware of any historical research grant resources available for this sort of undertaking, I'd be interested to know of it - and where to secure an application!

I'm not all that sure that I want this to be a "One-Uncle show", and am hoping to get some variety of talent, interpretation, instrumentation, and part-work harmony as was commonly practiced by even plain-folk "lay" singers in those days. I play guitar, a little 5-string, tin whistle, primitive wooden flute, and Military Fife. I would like to have some of these old tunes backed up with (as they certainly were) with fiddle, dulcimer, concertina, harmonica, foot-pump organ or piano-forte. The "real deal" period or authentic replica instruments if at all possible, although I know that electronic synthetics can be very convincing, and a whole lot more portable. Mandolins, other than rare appearances with Christy's Minstrels in the 1850s, were apparantly a very scarce novelty - but I wouldn't kick one out of the studio if it showed up with virtuosity. The 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry Regimental Field Music (Fife and Drum Corps) that I am, to a lesser degree these days, involved with was investigating recording options at one point, and I will investigate the possibility of having them/us featured in a couple of tracks, at least. We've got some dynamite Drummers (Snare and Bass) and a couple of very respectable Fifers. I wish I were one of them!

Am I talking "Group", here? Or is it common for Musicians of like mind and interests to just sort of "fall together" temporarily for such a wing-ding off-the-wall sort of undertaking? Whichever, it occurs to me that if this is going to be an option, we'd best be gathering a cadre of compatable Volunteers and establish a semblance of organized practices/ rehearsals well in advance of the projected recording date. I've got a year - which, on the basis of annectdotal accounts from recorded Musicians I've known - is none too long to prepare.

This is probably one of the most exiting things to have happened in my generally sedentary life - in a postitive way, anyway - for the past several years, and I look forward to getting on with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Challenge Under the Tree!
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Dec 00 - 08:32 PM

For Maine specific: see Kendall.

Subject: RE: BS: Challenge Under the Tree!
From: Banjer
Date: 26 Dec 00 - 08:34 PM

Uncle Jaque, Good luck with your endeavors. I look forward to the finished product and hope to be kept informed of your progress.

Subject: RE: BS: Challenge Under the Tree!
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 26 Dec 00 - 09:20 PM

I'll certainly post developments as they unfold here on the Mudcat first and foremost!

Sorcha - yes, I certainly am looking forward to Kendall's weighing in on this one; he has "been there, done that", and is certainly one of the leading authorities on Maine ledgend and lore, musical and otherwise! I hope to see him @ the Chantey haulaway in Portland tomorrow night and hope to be able to draw from his vast knowledge, experience and wisdom in order to bestow a modicum of legitimacy to any work about Maine. It is, after all, a little pretentious of me to be attempting to do anything to honor the "Dirigo State" having only lived here about 25 years and being "from away" (New Hampshire). Heck, maybe he'll even consent to doing a track - now wouldn't that be nifty!?

Subject: RE: BS: Challenge Under the Tree!
From: Naemanson
Date: 26 Dec 00 - 10:51 PM

Hell, Jaque, I've been here 38 years and I'm still from away. You've all heard the story about the old geezer who claims his kids are from Maine even though he himself was brought into Maine from away at the tender age of three years old. He comments as how his kids and his grand kids were born in Maine and that makes them natives. Ond of the other oldtimers standing there looks over at him and says, "If your cat climbed into the oven and had kittens you wouldn't call 'em biscuits, would ye?"

Kendall's a good one to talk to but you'll have to catch him quick. He's on his way to Florida after we get together tomorrow. Why don't you PM him to get his fires stoked and ready to talk recording and all.