‘Celtic Chamber Music’ : Birth of a new musical genre

Violinist Samantha Gillogly with Pianist Tim Maurice photo by Kat Hartigan

 
"There can be no tradition without innovation." ~ Earle Hitchner, Irish music journalist ~

On April 15, 2011, at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts, a new genre of music was born, in a performance billed as “An Evening of Celtic Chamber Music.’”
The flawless recording was captured live and recently released as a CD and MP3 download, and for my daughter, violinist/violist/composer, Samantha Gillogly, this was a culmination of a dream realized. 

Seeing as today is St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it timely to share this marvelous collaboration, which features the very talented pianist/composer Tim Maurice, and special guest artists  Roselie Samter (viola) and Zoya Shereshkova (cello).

The album includes 20 lyrical reinterpretations of favorite Celtic fiddle tunes from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany along with Samantha’s original composition,” Mr. Lowe’s Waltz.”

Celtic Chamber Music, is being given extensive airplay on PBS as well as specialty radio stations, and numerous Internet sites across the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain, and has recently been picked up by Pandora for future airings.

The entire album and individual tracks are available for sound sampling and purchase through CD Baby and Amazon.com.

Below is a video from the April performance, featuring “Mr. Lowe’s Waltz”.

ENJOY and HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY! 

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

I’m a big Star Trek fan. I particularly love the original series before all its various reincarnations.

I find the character of “Spock” to be, shall I say, “fascinating.”

In particular, Spock’s ears were (IMHO) a work of cosmetic genius. They had the same all-too-human tendency to grow ever so slightly – sometimes they were a little more pointy and at other times and in other seasons or films they appeared to be lower, thicker and broader.

Was the changing-of-the-ears an intentional mimic of his part human DNA or was it an oversight by some continuity person?

Either way, his ears continued to grow just as ours do throughtout our entire lives – about 0.22 millimeter per year, at least that’s according to a study performed by the Royal College of General Practitioners in Great Britain. Might I add that it is only the flesh portion of the ear that continues to grow and not the ear canal, which is composed of cartilege and bone.

This then begs the question: Why do ears continue to grow as we get older? Could it be the simple response of gravity pulling our ears downward or is it nature’s way of providing a natural “ear horn” to assist diminished hearing!

Whatever the reason it is indeed fascinating!