In short, the week was great. Here is a photo of me mugging with a Fasnacht mask after all the festivities and just before getting into my Jeep to leave the Deep River Muster. Although I was smiling, it really was a sad moment.
 

Just to whet your appetite about themariners.org I’ve included one recording here from my week with the Mariners. This is a set of two tunes called In the Back Seat and McGowan’s Motorcar. Both these tunes were written by the founder of the Mariners, Roy Watrous. Joe, myself and a few others had planned on performing it at the Mariner Muster, but when it came time to play it, the announcer skipped right past the piece. Oh well.

This recording is at Dan’s Firehouse late one evening. Joe and I played it for our Swiss friends since they never got to hear it during our concert.

In The Back Seat / McGowans Motorcar by baconworks

Josiah wrote that he “frequently arranges piano tunes for fife as well as harmonies for existing fife tunes, but have never before written an entire piece “from scratch.” This was a great challenge, and I hope that you will continue doing this contest.” Here is a bit more about Josiah:

Josiah Raiche is a teenage snare drummer in Hanaford’s Volunteers Fife and Drum Corps in northern VT. He plays multiple instruments, including Piano and Fife, and is involved in several musical groups. He is also a semiprofessional website and e-commerce page designer. Although he is usually quite busy homeschooling, he is also a prolific composer and has put together many fife harmonies and written two drum solos.

Check out Josiah’s drumming performance at the 2007 Maple Festival.

Jim’s tune, Miss Potter’s Jigg, was the second runner-up in the Baconworks Tune-smithing Contest. Here is a bit more about him:
 

 
About me: I’ve been fifing for ten years, beginning in St John Junior Ancients, and 5th Alabama Field Music. Somehow, I got into composing music, and published my first music book for the fife in 2003, called Fifes on the Green. I’m now involved with Connecticut Valley Field Music, and the Grand Republic Fife and Drum corps. In my spare time, I do web design, Civil War reenacting, where I portray a tailor, and a lot more music.

Website: http://fifers.us

My name is Casey Swanson from Canton, MI. In the Fife and Drum community I play fife.
 

 
I am currently a member of the Detroit Durty Dawgs Fife & Drum Corps. I also serve as a fife instructor for the Plymouth Fife & Drum Corps from Plymouth, MI. I would like to thank Greg for such a great idea and for encouraging the sharing of our collective music.

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Composer: Chris Szpara Music: Kenilworth Castle, Devitt’s Reel My name is Christopher Szpara, and I play the fife. Hmm lets see… I am a graduate of the Hartt School of Music, with a degree in flute performance. In my spare time I enjoy traveling, composing and of course, fife and drum. I have marched with quite a few corps, including The Warehouse Point Jr. Fife and Drum Corps, The Warehouse Point Seniors, and Connecticut Valley field music. I am in my fifth year of playing with Ameri-Clique and quite recently I joined the Madison Street Project. Kenilworth Castle was written in 2003, and was named after the summer home of Mr. E.C. Taft, a wealthy paper mill owner from Holyoke MA. The castle stood for nearly 63 years gaining much fame and popularity in the city, when in 1959 it met its’ unfortunate demise. Chris also tells me that he can be found on facebook.

Kate received her Bachelor of Music (2003) and Master of Arts (2005) in Vocal Performance from Montclair State University. Kate is currently the choir director at Dickinson High School in Jersey City where her duties include teaching voice class, choir, beginning keyboard and marching band. In her studies, Kate has experienced many forms of singing , including opera, musical theater, choir, folk and rock. She has performed with such groups as The NJ Concert Opera, The NJ Symphony Orchestra, The Montclair State University Singers and Chorale, The MSU Symphonic Band and Schola Cantorum on Hudson. Kate can also be heard singing with the professional a cappella quartet, “Wassail” and has served as a vocal coach for the local rock band Temporary Ways in conjunction with DMR Media. Miss Bolcar has also performed and directed musical theater shows throughout NJ. Kate has sung such roles as Josephine (Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S Pinafore”), Savitri (Holst’s “Savitri”), The Foreign Woman (Menotti’s “The Consul”) and Mrs. Fiorentino (Weill’s “Street Scene”). She has directed children’s productions of “Les Miserables”, “Grease”, “High School Musical”, “The Sound of Music”, “Phantom of the Opera” and “Pippy Longstocking”. Kate has taught private voice all over NY and NJ and conducts the choirs at Stokes Forest Music Camp. However, her experiences are not limited to vocal music. Kate also plays and teaches a number of instruments. Kate has worked with Hackensack High School Marching Band as a percussion and visual tech as well as the Colonial Musketeers Jr. Ancient Fife and Drum Corps. from Hackettstown, NJ, where she can be seen working with the advanced fife line and arranging their music. Kate has provided brass instruction for The Sunrisers Drum and Bugle Corps. of Rockland County, NY and most recently, Fusion, of Minehill, NJ. Kate is a member of The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Sigma Alpha Iota (International Music Fraternity for Women), The National Association for Music Education (MENC) and attends workshops and seminars at the annual NJMEA Convention.

Kate can be found through her web site katherinebolcar.com, and if you look hard enough, you might find her on facebook.

I have been a musician, songwriter, or private teacher for nearly all my life. My main instruments of choice include the Boehm and Simple-System flutes, penny whistles, saxophones, piano, and, of course, the fife. I currently fife with the Ancient Mariners and the Kentish Guards Fife and Drum Corps, and along with Chris Myers, I have had the pleasure of introducing several of my original tunes as fife solos for the KG’s. I am a service veteran of the U.S. Army, where I learned to play the fife with the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps from Fort Myer, VA. I attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ma. I have published my own music collection, 25 (or so) Tunes to Make Your Face Fall Off, which is still available through the Company of Fifers and Drummers Store. As my musical journey continues, I still compose music for fife and drum, Celtic instruments and modern ensemble settings. My writing style is more melodic, as a rule. I like my harmonies and counterpoints to follow a natural, unforced path of progression towards their resolution.

I currently pay the bills and live indoors by working in the theater business, building stage props for Trinity Repertory Company, Providence, RI., and by sharing my life with my sweetheart and drumming companion, Heidi.

I’m not too computer-savvy, and I don’t have a “My Space” page, (yet!) but you can always say hello to me at feadog41@aol.com. (Btw, “feadog” is my favorite penny whistle, and 41 was my age when I first logged on to the Internet!)

I’ve been a life-long musician, whose creative spurts have come in bursts, recently only slightly hampered by the demands of real life: marriage, home ownership, kids, pets, career, etc., but recently the ‘real life’ job has been viewed as what I do during the day to support my music habit. I’ve been involved in the fife and drum world for about 5 years, having come from a background of high school marching band, and having never picked up a fife before then. I took to the fife pretty quickly, and soon became Fife Sergeant with my corps, the Kentish Guards, having also been mostly responsible for putting together our summer stand pieces, and medleys. In addition to playing and composing, I’ve also taken to adding harmonies to some traditional, and traditional-style fife tunes, some of which have been incorporated into the KG’s standard repertoire.

I compose under the Zen-like theory that there really is only one tune. We just play different parts of it at different times.

Chris did not provide me with a web site. However a quick google search finds him busy on pages like this.

In addition to Chris’s bio, he also included a kind statement about the contest.

I think what Greg is doing here is a spectacular example of the spirit of traditional music, and regardless of the outcome of this little experiment, I think the world is a better place for having given folks the opportunity to add just a little more beauty to it.

Thank you, Greg.

Thank you, Chris.

Donald Heminitz plays the fife and the flute. He contributed two tunes: Misty Morning, which was the winner, and The Royal Troubadours.
 

 

Currently a junior music major at Millersville University of Pennsylvania with concentration on the flute, Donald has been both a re-enactor and fifer since he was 11 years old. He was awarded the “Most Improved Fifer” Award in April 2004 at the Don Hubbard Field Music School and in June 2006 was given the title “Master Fifer” by George Carroll under the ranking system of the International Association of Field Musicians. He currently plays with the Mifflin Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the Colonial Musketeers Senior Ancient Fife and Drum Corps, and the 3rd New Jersey Field Music, which on July 4, 2006 performed live at Times Square in New York City on ABC’s Good Morning America. He has also been the fife instructor for the Boy Scouts of America Troop 53 Fife and Drum Corps of Maytown, PA since October 2005.

His web site is http://ancientfifeanddrum.com

Congratulations again Donald.