hungry monk music blog

Invasion of the Fiddlers

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:33:50 -0400

Ever since Charleston has been hosting the annual Mark O’Connor Fiddle Method Camp, we here at Hungry Monk Music have been attracting fiddle players. This Spring has brought us 3 fiddlers representing a diverse range of musical styles. From Alabama, we hosted Tom Morley. Tom’s specialty is Irish fiddle (although he CAN play anything) and he and our own Hazel Ketchum have formed a duo called banna de dhá, or “band of two”. Tom and Hazel spent some time in the recording studio (we’ll let you know about their upcoming recording) and then joined another fiddling fool, Pattie Hopkins from North Carolina, in a concert here at Hungry Monk Music. Pattie is a great Bluegrass fiddler (though, again, she can play anything). She brought here bandmate, guitarist Lynda Dawson, to town and helped us create a night of great fiddle music.

But it didn’t end there. A couple weeks later, another O’Connor Method Camp instructor, Andy Reiner, blew through town and shared the stage with John Holenko. Andy is from Boston, is a self professed “ski bum” and had been winding his way across country from Boston to Colorado (skiing at it best), with stops in Alabama to visit Tom Morley and finally here in Charleston. Andy’s solo fiddle concert featured some traditional music along with a whole lot of his original music played on 5-string fiddle and using various electronics like a loop pedal and octave divider.

This is all in anticipation of this summers next O’Connor Method Camp and Concert Series. That will be at the end of July and into August and you’ll find out much more about that as the summer progresses.

YOST!

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:54:30 -0500

The newest student ensemble here at Hungry Monk Music is a bluegrass band called YOST!. Consisting of Eli Braddock on guitar and vocals, Cecelia McGuinn on fiddle and vocals, and Jeremy Holenko on guitar and vocals, YOST! Has been playing regularly at the Farmers Market in Riverland Terrace on James Island. They have also played a couple of benefit gigs. Recently, they had a BIG GIG fall into their laps when they were asked to open for the great guitarist Keller Williams at The Pour House on James Island. They really brought down the house with a short set of traditional bluegrass and folk tunes. It’s always great see our students out there in public doing their (musical) thing and being comfortable doing it. One of our goals here is to make music a natural part of our students lives. YOST! Is the latest ensemble from Hungry Monk Music to get out there and do it all on their own.

Fall 2012 News

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:37:18 -0500

The Fall of 2012 has been a busy time as usual. Along with our newest faculty members, Marsha Gerber and Jonathan Gray, we have been very active on the teaching front. Great student coffee houses, including our November performance out at How Art Thou Café on James Island. Our students also performed at the Little Mozart Circus in September. A new student Bluegrass band, Yost, has been very active playing for various fundraisers and their usual Sunday gig at the Farmers Market on James Island in Riverland Terrace. Our annual CampOut at Caw Caw Interpretive Center was a big hit again this year.

Hungry Monk Music has finally made available T-Shirts with the Hungry Monk Music logo on them. Great Christmas gifts!

O’Connor Camp 2012

Sun, 5 Aug 2012 17:18:12 -0400

The Hungry Monks have passed another great summer with lots of good music and travel, but we were really looking forward to getting back to Charleston and teaching at the Mark O’Connor Method Fiddle Camp. For the second year in a row, Charleston hosted this amazing gathering of teachers and students studying the O’Connor Method and sharing music with each other. Our own Pam Wiley organizes this event and folks from all over the US (and a group from Nigeria) descend on Charleston and attend workshops, teacher training, recitals, and jam sessions for a week. Aside from the daily classes and jams, the faculty managed to hand out and jam at How Art Thou? Café on James Island, find time to gather and jam at The Mills House, and play for a combination contra/swing dance. Late nights, lots of coffee, new tunes learned, and new friends made. Not only were Pam and John Wiley running things, but John Holenko and Hazel Ketchum were the all around accompanists, as well as teaching Vocal Class and Early Childhood Movement (Hazel) and Mandolin Class and Guitar Class (John). Hopefully our new fiddle friends will make their way to Charleston for some musical fun throughout the year. Stay tuned.

The End of 2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:04:42 -0500

The end of 2011 brought with it a flurry of activity at Hungry Monk Music. Aside from everyone’s busy performing schedule, we hosted several visiting performers who were traveling through Charleston and graced us with their presence.
Scottish fiddle virtuoso Jamie Laval came to visit usin the middle of November. Jamie was in town for a house concert elsewhere, but came to play with The Hungry Monks at Tommy Condon’s on a Friday night, visited with The Hungry Monk Fiddlers on Saturday, and held a workshop at Hungry Monk Music on Sunday.
Then we pushed on into December. On the 9th we hosted the great Uillean pipe (Irish small pipes) player Cillian Vallely and guitarist Ryan McGiver. Definitely the only Uillean pipe concert in town that night, and possibly ever. Quite a treat.
The very next night we were entertained by Tammerlin, the duo of Arvid Smith and Lee Hunter from Jacksonville who have been to Charleston many times and are old friends of Hungry Monk Music. They played their special seasonal concert called Winter Song, a collection of holiday music from around the world and throughout history.
And just to top things off, the folk duo Loves It! From Austin, TX came by on December 16, and really bowled us over with their energetic freak folk original and traditional music. Vaughn Walters and Jenny Parrott played and sang and hung out with us and really helped to close out the year with great fun and music.
See you next year!

Music at Hungry Monk

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:29:23 -0500

The Fall of 2011 has seen Hungry Monk Music play host to several visiting performers. In November we were visited by Red June, an acoustic Americana trio from Asheville. Will, John, and Natalya performed a great program of original songs and instrumentals featuring guitars, mandolin, fiddle, and wonderful three part vocal harmonies. Although their sound is very traditional and have a very strong Appalachian feel, this was all new music that reflected a contemporary experience.
Next up (the very next night actually) we were treated to early Classical guitar duets on historic instruments. The early 1800’s saw the beginning of the 6-string guitar and its repertoire. Doug James and Pasquale Rucco are a long standing duo who play instruments from the early 1800’s. What we would call “parlor size guitars” were the norm in early 1800’s Vienna, Paris, Rome, and even Moscow. These beautiful instruments make an enchanting sound that perfectly suited our small performance space. We have a bit of history with Doug James in that Hazel has performed at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC where Doug runs the guitar program. We even had him here in Charleston way back in 1994 for Piccolo Spoleto.

Summer 2011

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:25:38 -0400

Hungry Monk Music has been at its present location for just over 6 years now and we’re finally getting our summer ruitine together. Summer Camps and private lessons keep the summer schedule going, but everyone feels the need to get out of town for a while during the hot summer months. As usual, The Hungry Monks, or at least the duo version of Hazel and John, find themselves in the Northeast visiting family and friends, doing some camping, and playing a few gigs along the way.
Our month long excursion takes us to family in NJ as a jumping off point for camping and playing in NY State. Hanging out in the Ithaca area for a week, we camp out at a NY State Park, do a couple of gigs, and eat at The Moosewood Restaurant. This years performances were at Dorothy’s Music Room (formerly The Pour House) and Gimme Coffee. Nice rooms, good audiences, and even some fans from years past. This year we were joined on a few tunes by Jeremy Holenko, who received some enthusiastic applause along the way.
Back to NJ for some non-camping relaxation and a couple more gigs. Since this is John’s hometown turf, lots of old friends came out to see us and to play with us. We’ve also developed a relationship with an old friend, Damian Calcagne, who has a recording studio, so we’ve spent some of our time getting some new music down on tape (actually, hard drive).
The summers are never long enough and we can see the end of our vacation already. We’ll be hitting the ground running once we get back to Charleston with a couple more Camp and lots more playing. Stay tuned.

Bruce Molsky

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:22:57 -0400

One of the goals of Hungry Monk Music has always been to be a destination for great musicians traveling through the area. This past week, March 10th and 11th , was one of the highlights of that goal. The great traditional fiddler, guitarist, banjo player Bruce Molsky spent two days here giving workshops and a solo concert. Students at Hungry Monk Music can always count on some workshops during the year, but this is the first time we’ve had a fiddle, banjo, and guitar workshop from the same artist in two days. Sort of a little old time music festival.
Bruce’s solo concert was truly amazing. Alternating between fiddle, banjo, and guitar, with both songs and instrumentals, we were treated to an astonishing variety of music from one performer. One of the more unique things about the concert was Bruce’s ability to sing with only his fiddle as accompaniment. Drawing on repertoire from his many recordings, some new material, and even a request or two, Bruce held the attention of our small but appreciative Hungry Monk audience for two solid hours.
With any luck, this will not be our last visit from Bruce. He was mighty impressed by our students and atmosphere at Hungry Monk Music and expressed his interest to come back. From our end, it was sure nice to hear great fiddle tunes for two days, to make contact with a true legend, and to see our students and our community grow a little.

Hungry Monk Fiddlers

Thu, 3 Mar 2011 21:16:48 -0500

In February 2010, Pam joined Mark O'Connor for a presentation of his new Violin Method at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. Several Southern California Area Suzuki teachers took on the project and started teaching from Mark's new books. Last Fall, Pam & John received a call from a teacher at STEP (Suzuki Talent Education of Pasadena) inviting them and any of their students to join them for a Fiddle Fest on January 15th. Twelve students and their families accepted the invitation and made the long trip from Charleston to Pasadena. The Fiddle Fest featured a whole day of classes and activities combining the repertoire of the Suzuki and O'Connor Methods at Wilson Middle School in Pasadena. The end-or-the-day concert featured pieces from both styles. It was particularly fun to hear Dill Pickle Rag programed between the Bach Double and Humoresque. The Hungry Monk Fiddlers worked with several teachers from the LA area and fiddler Pattie Hopkins from North Carolina. (Pattie will be on the faculty on the O'Connor Method Camp in Charleston in August). Hazel and her guitar also found themselves in Pasadena and provided a wonderful accompaniment for our featured solo on the concert. The students and Hazel assisted Pam in a teacher-training workshop held at a private home in Pasadena the day following the concert. Javier Orman, formerly of Charleston, was among the participants in the workshop.

The Hungry Monk Fiddler also visited Disneyland, Hollywood and several other LA area attractions. The hotel pool was also very popular. The plane was HUGE! The group had a great time with the activities and getting to know each other. Students ranged in age from 7 to 15 with one adult student also joining in. 5 parent chaperones helped Pam and John look after the troop.

Stevie Coyle

Mon, 9 Aug 2010 21:14:42 -0400

One of the things we enjoy about life at Hungry Monk Music is the way it mirrors the school year. We see our year in terms of Fall and Spring semesters and a summer break. As usual our summer break this very was very productive with lots of summer camps and all of our faculty off traveling and gigging.
To celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of the Fall semester (here in SC anyway), we hosted our friend Stevie Coyle in performance and turned the whole evening into a big party. Stevie last visited us a couple of years ago and he sent us note just recently expressing his interest in playing at Hungry Monk Music again, so we got out the word and had a great evening of music. Stevie is a great finger style guitar player, singer, and songwriter. A founding member of The Waybacks, a former circus performer, actor, and voice-over personality, Stevie always puts on a great concert. He’s one of those performers who can make an audience laugh or cry with nothing but the music coming out of his guitar. But then he goes on to tell stories and jokes that really hit the audience. And did I mention his guitar playing? From old blues and folk standards, to witty originals, to a Who medley and a version of Stairway to Heaven with the lyrics from Gilligan’s Island, he managed to get just about everything in there.
But we thought that as long as we had folks sitting and listening we would add a little more. One of Hungry Monks rising stars is Samantha Kirstein, a 13 year old guitar student who happens to write amazing songs. Samantha opened the show with a few of her tunes, and as Stevie commented when he took the stage, “I hope you were all listening carefully, because you will all be singing her songs some day”.
Our little concert turned into a Hungry Monk party with more music. Making their debut, the trio of Althea Holenko, Rebecca Culver, and Claudia Jos, calling themselves “Chasing Zingy” (you’ll have to ask them about that) played us an opening set with guitars, drums, vocals, and the newest must-have instrument at Hungry Monk, the ukelele.
All in all it was a pretty good start to the year. Stay tuned, there is much more to come.