The Four Hour Day Lutherie

This evening (Saturday, May 16) at 7:30p - we’re excited to welcome Barnstorm! They’ll be playing a combination of songs that dive back into the old-timey roots of the Appalachian tradition- much of which is sing-along material There will also be some 1950-60s vintage country songs, storytelling and more. It’s looking to be a great show!

Tonight (Friday, January 30) at 7:30p- we’ll be having an evening of triple celtic duos! Clara & Olivia, Rob & Nathan of Faoileán, and your own Tyler & Joel (The Iron Ring) will alight the night with fiddle, flute and voices. The sidewalks around the shop are all passable, but parking is tricky - I recommend parking at the Safeway lot just up Harford Rd. Donations warmly welcome!

If you can believe it, we first opened our doors just about ten years ago! Our first concerts were held in the late summer of 2015, following a pretty arduous top-to-bottom rehab of the building, which had lain derelict for about a decade. It was smelly, collapsing, and unloved, full of peeling plaster and cracked beams.

But my dad and I worked at it steadily for eighteen months - replacing the roof, rebuilding the floors, drywalling, electrifying and plumbing. There are many stories from that period, which don't fit here but we'll be happy to tell you in person. Ask about the time I fell through the roof, or the time dad cut through the water line, or the single, steadfast roof joist that hadn't cracked, and which the original builders had probably pilfered from a telephone pole.

Ten years on, this building has been filled with music, light, creativity and purpose (and better smells). This was our home when our first child was born, and now it's a musical home for over one hundred students. It's been a tremendous honor to build this place together.

To commemorate ten years, I designed and machined ten panels for our front facade. They're composed of images inspired by our first decade, as well as aspirations, other pursuits we love, and some pure whimsy. Here they are!

This evening at 7p - Pergola, the project of our very own Todd Shelar, will be giving an album release concert. He'll be joined by Irish band The Pilgrims of Deep Run (of which Todd is also a part). It's going to be a really lovely combination of musical meditation & merriment, and I hope you'll be able to join us.

Our strings and piano studios have been humming away for almost ten years now, but it's still a slow process to launch new instrumental offerings, especially for inept social media users like myself. But to celebrate our new cello instructor Ellen and get her studio jump-started, we are offering a free month of lessons for cello students!
I can't over-emphasize how awesome Ellen is - she has a doctorate in cello from the Cleveland Institute of Music, has taught trad cello at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and is equally at-home in classical and traditional playing. She and her duet partner Jocelyn Petit also recently won Traditional Album of the Year from the Canadian Folk Music Awards. So, she's great and we're honored to have her teaching here.
If you or someone you know would be interested in studying cello, there's never been a better time to do it!

Registration for our fall 2024 group classes is now open!

Improve your musical skills or learn new ones in a fun and welcoming musical environment!
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Open to adults 16+ (except Grasshoppers!)
All sections are hourlong and meet weekly
Total tuition for 14-week semester is $420
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To express interest and be included in planning (not a commitment to enroll), please fill out this brief form - https://forms.gle/7f5TxGq8KYKrPqSw5

It's a great time to start or continue a musical journey! I am DEEPLY INEPT at social media, but did you know our teachers collectively have six BAs, four Masters' and one doctorate in music? We're a pretty neat bunch, for that and many other reasons.

This weekend at the shop - there's a bluegrass concert with Ragged Union tonight at 7, and a Balfolk Workshop with Mark Vidor on Sunday at 1p - all instruments, ages and experience levels welcome.

There's not one but TWO exciting shows happening in our orbit this evening! At the shop, the Pilgrims of Deep Run are going to give an energetic show of Irish pub and trad music, and one of our awesome instructors Ellen Gira is giving a house concert with Jocelyn Pettit and Brendan Hearn.