StringsAttached

Music for Good

 
New music from Strings Attached project is available for download at two sites on Reverb Nation. Both sites help different causes as well. By downloading tunes at www.reverbnation.com/stringsattachedproject  you will donate to both Strings Attached and The Fender Music Foundation!.

The Fender Music Foundation provides instruments to programs like Strings Attached all around the country. Read more about their great work at www.fendermusicfoundation.org
By going to www.reverbnation.com/gaslightstringsensemble and downloading our new music, you will help both Strings Attached and the charity “Sweet Relief.” Sweet Relief provides funds and help to musicians who need health care, aging musicians and other musicians in need. Read more about their great work at www.sweetrelief.org
Both opportunities to provide service to a wider community are made available through Reverb Nation and MUSIC FOR GOOD www.reverbnation.com/musicforgood

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“It’s been a long, cold lonely winter…”

Well, not really lonely – but so the song goes.  Here comes the sun and here comes our spring recital!

Join us for individual student pieces, some ensemble performances, the debut of our new ladies ukulele society, and possibly a new guitar or two will be handed out to ‘guitar-determined’ students!

We also plan to release our new CD, “Eternal Songs 2:Heritage,“  and have a listening reception following the live music. So stick around…

Thanks to the recording team of the Gaslight Strings Ensemble – Joyce Mudge, Ben Glore, Dacia Slater, Morgan Kiel,  Camryn and Taryn Farley for all their follow through in making the student part of the recording work.

And thanks to the adult musicians who added so much – Richard Egan on piano

Mat Wilson on guitar and vocals

Sharon and Doug Foehner,  vocals and slide guitar

Gale Foehner on piano

Chloe Feoranzo on clarinet, Lew Winer lll on sax, Cody Henry on tuba and trombone, Emma Tiemann on violin and Chris Turnbaugh, bass and record engineering.

Thanks to everyone from Strings Attached project!!

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TheGaslight Strings Ensemble finished up their part of the next Strings Attached CD in the last week in January. Now we’ll be adding flavor from St. Louis rich pool of musical talent to complete the recordings. We plan on having the completed CD ready for our next student recital in April, 2013. Thanks to Chris Turnbaugh from CTS Studios for all his hard work during the initial sessions!

Also up February, we start a new ukulele social club for youth that will meet weekly on Friday afternoons. The “Ukulele Ike” Society will be open to youth from 5 to 17 for education in ukulele chords, strumming and singing. The “society” is named after Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, a part of St.Louis music history. Ukulele Ike moved from Hannibal, MO as a teen, lived and entertained in St.Louis before eventually moving to Los Angeles. Ukulele Ike sold millions of records in the 20′s and 30′s with such hits as “Paper Moon,” “Singing In The Rain,” and “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.”

He also served as an actor and the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio.” Ukulele Ike will probably be best remembered for his voice on the song, “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Although his end was troubled and he died penniless, it seems fitting that his name be connected to a children’s ukulele club in St. Louis.

Many thanks to THE SAIGH FOUNDATION (http://www.thesaighfoundation.org/) for their generous grant in making these projects possible.  

The Saigh Foundation

The Saigh Foundation mission is to enhance the quality of life in the St. Louis metropolitan region through support for charitable projects and initiatives which primarily benefit children and youth through education and health care. These objectives will continue to support the community interests shown by Fred M. Saigh during his lifetime.

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Photo courtesy of Mark Regester

Happy New Year from all of us at The Strings Attached project. We’re planning a busy year with a new student CD recording already in the works.  We plan to have it completed by the spring recital. We also plan to add a ukulele fun club to the project, with a focus on music for the wee ones among us.  It’s important for little hands to get involved in music at a young age and the ukulele is the perfect size to do the job.  (It’s also fun for older youth and even a few adults who still have some fun left in them.) The project would like to thank two of our sponsors who came through during the holiday season -                                                                                                           Thanks to the  D’Addario Music Foundation ( http://www.daddariofoundation.org) for their generous grant announcement for our 2013 programs. In addition to financial support, the foundation will also be supplying the project with instrument strings and gear from Planet Waves (www.planetwaves.com)

The D’Addario Music Foundation does amazing work helping large and small music outreach programs for youth all over the country. We’re very honored to receive their contributions to our efforts. And we’d also like to thank The Fender Music Foundation (http://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/) for a second gift during the holidays of an additional five guitars for the project!  Bringing the projects stock of guitars up to 13 new instruments and lots of other needed gear this year that we can use for student needs.

The folks at Fender are super supportive and again we’re honored to receive their generous donations.  Thanks Fender Music Foundation, D’Addario Music Foundation and Planet Waves for your help!

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  The project’s second CD, “Eternal Songs II: Heritage” has started.  We hope to finish up the youth portions of the recordings in January and begin overdubs with local St. Louis musicians in February.  Strings Attached youth have spent the past two months rehearsing the various songs for the project and many are playing multiple instruments on each.  Instruments include guitars, ukuleles, banjos, violins and cello.

The project is being engineered by Chris Turnbaugh of Studio CTS and recorded at St. Stephens, turning the lower level and chapel of the church into a recording studio for the duration of the project.  The adult overdubs will be done in remote recording sessions around St. Louis.

We hope this will be an exciting creative opportunity for youth and hands-on experience in the process of organizing recording sessions from start to finish product.

Wish us luck!

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Thought we’d share some photos of October activities at Strings Attached. The 2012 Fall recital was great, the youth all performed well and community turn out was the best we’ve ever had.

The recital included individual performances, a screening of our summer film scoring project of music inspired by “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” and the debut of the new Gaslight Strings Ensemble.

And we awarded two new guitars to students Elise and Ella for their excellent improvement, good practice and lesson attendance habits and willingness to give back to the community through performance.  Good work and enjoy the guitars from Strings Attached!
Our new ensemble, “Gaslight Strings” had a great, chilly autumn day the following weekend at Little Creek nature area. The performance was a partnership with the Ferguson-Florissant school district at their first “Homecoming and Honeysuckle Pull” at the 95 acre nature area. Youth, families and community were treated to hot apple cider, bake goods, nature trail walks and music from Strings Attached project. Our stage was the porch of an 1800′s cabin in the woods, perfect for our “rootsy” sound!

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Join Strings Attached and its new “Gaslight Strings Ensemble” for activities at Ferguson-Florissant School District’s Little Creek nature area on  Saturday, October 27th from 10A to 12 noon.  There will be homemade apple cider, nature trail walks and a little roots music from us to add to the rootsy atmosphere!  Thanks to the Ferguson-Florissant School district for the invite.  We look forward to it and jazzed at the idea of other partnerships in activities for local youth and their families.

Special thanks to Holly and all the great

folks at Fender Music Foundation for a

recent grant that will add a large

number of new instruments and

accessories to Strings Attached for use

by students and ensembles!  We’re

jazzed by your generosity. Thank you

Fender!

… And thanks once again to Samantha Fisher at PLAY IT FORWARD and St. Louis Musicians Unite for the recent donation of guitar strings to the project!

This  healthy supply of new strings should keep youth sounding crisp and clear for some time to come.  Thanks Play It Forward and StL Musicians!

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Please plan on joining with us for the 2012 Strings Attached Fall Recital on Friday, Oct 19th at 7PM.

Hear individual student recitals, a screening of our summer workshop music created for “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” and the debut of our new group, The Gaslight Strings Ensemble.

The ensemble, which includes guitars, banjos, ukuleles and cello will perform blues, jazz, and songs from the American Songbook.

We will also present our annual “award guitars” to students have showed some guitar determination in the past year or more with the project!

A potluck dessert reception will follow the recital, so please bring along your favorite dessert to share with others.

We look forward to seeing you at St. Stephen’s Community Hall, 33 North Clay, Ferguson, MO 63135.

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We’re happy and honored to receive our second SLOUP grant this month from the nice folks at this arts-supporting monthly soup dinner. It was held at the yearly rock festival, “Loufest” in Forest Park with a picnic SLOUP.

SLOUP stands for “St. Louisans for Organizing and Understanding Practice.”

Practice is an essential part of playing any musical instrument, and practice tips are Strings Attached project’s first lesson with youth who come to the project. Think of all the practice it took to get the bands and performers on stage at Loufest!

I pass along the practice tips of musician Wynton Marsalis to youth:

1. Seek  private instruction  2.  Make a schedule  3.  Set goals

4. Concentrate  5.  Relax, practice slowly  6. Practice the hard parts longer  7.  Play with expression  8.  Learn from your mistakes

9. Be optimistic  10.  Look for connections.

We spend time discussing each of this tips.  I explain to them that they only get a little from each lesson with me – but the real work takes place at home in the practice session each day. Without good practice habits, nothing much will happen.

Thanks again to SLOUP for helping Strings Attached new project, “Gaslight String Ensemble” get closer to our goal this year of practicing for,  and creating a new recording of blues and jazz tunes. And thanks for bringing some attention to the very important topic of practice.

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