Rob and Margot online

I just got back from a week of fiddling up in the Great White North, or more accurately, the Great Sandy Nord.  I attended for the first time the first annual Camp Violon Trad Quebec, where the likes of Andre Brunet, Stephanie Lepine, Martine Billette and Eric Beaudry crammed notes into our skulls by the shovelful.  Because there were so ...

I've had a whirlwind year and haven't been sharing unnecessary or inappropriate information about the minutia of my life with total strangers, so I thought it was time to grant the internets a glimpse at my deepest, most private insights.  Fortunately for you all, I'm not that much of a sadist to inflict that upon you. Instead I'll give you ...

The saga so far: Had violin growing up.  Decent quality.  Crack in top plate under tailpiece, glued but not well.  Serviceable tone, but low volume. Started playing again about two years ago, and about a year after I picked up the fiddle again, the repaired cracked stopped being repaired and any note on the A-string would buzz ...

Last weekend I went to Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. I've been going there on and off (but mostly on) for almost 15 years. It's a weekend filled with music and dancing and camping and mud and sun and friends. I was delighted to see some old favorites like Eddie from Ohio, Wild Asparagus, Arlo Guthrie, Richard Shindell. And to discover ...

My photo from my previous post introducing the new fiddle didn't have the proper light to show some of the finer details of the fiddle in question, so I'm including a couple of snaps here from the Bridge Instruments website to show the instrument off a little better. There is a battery clipped to the back that engages the internal electronics ...

I am pleased to report that I have a new fiddle. I am, however, sad to announce that I needed to go out and get a new fiddle. The image shows the new wee sleekit beastie in repose.  The new fiddle is a four-stringed Aquilla model by Bridge Instruments in the UK.  Yes, it's black, and oddly shaped.  The body is made of a ...

The first week of school was fun. I love the first week: seeing old friends and classmates, new books, no homework. I feel like this semester will be more manageable than the last one. I plan to post once a week through this semester. Any more than that will be a bonus - and if it's less often, well, I'm sure you'll find some way ...

Trying a new method of inserting embedding to see what happens in different browsers...   Open source single button player from musicplayer.sourceforge.net. I am looking for a flash-based audio player that I can use to embed audio in posts that will be usable cross-browser.  No luck yet finding anything that is not obnoxious, ...

This shows the layout of the orchestra pit under the stage at the Festival Opera House.