Robert Brereton: News

t was so very much fun playing with the Sherman Chamber Ensemble for their Bluegrass concert series. What a treat to play with such fine musicians. I'll be playing with them again in the future. Thanks for a great turnout.

I'm so happy to announce I just finalized arrangements to teach and perform at The Augusta Heritage Center at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia during Spring Dulcimer Week. I've done Augusta several times in the past and it's always a fun week with great teachers and knock-out performances. Please come and support this internationally know folk center.

Below are the major workshops and performances that are coming up.
There's more information on my website. http://www.robertbrereton.com
Thanks again for your support!

Vanderbilt University
Blair School of Music
Visiting Artist Program
Nashville, TN
September 26-27, 2009: Concert
call: 615-322-7651


DAA Mountain Dulcimer Music Fest
Latham, NY
March 5-6 2010


Augusta Heritage Center
Davis & Elkins College
Elkins, WV
April 18-23, 2010


Northeast Dulcimer Symposium
Blue Mountain Lake, NY
June 26 - July 2, 2010


Stay Tuned!

Rob Brereton

Hi All,
Just finalized the details for the workshop in Bonsall, CA. The
workshop will be held in the home of Diane & Bob Gravlin. The workshop
will be Monday, February 16, 2009 from 6 PM to 9 PM. Cost of the
workshop will be $35. There will be a pot luck at 5:00 PM. The
workshop will be tailored to meet *your* needs. Email me and tell me
what you want to be included in the workshop and I'll do my best to
accommodate everyone. rbrereton@robertbrereton.com

For more information about the whereabouts of the event, please email
the coordinator, Diane Gravlin, at r.gravlin@worldnet.att.net or phone
her at 760-724-6331.

Diane's house workshops are always a fun time with good food. I hope
anyone in the area will consider coming and supporting live music and
events.

I have a few other events happening over the next few months. Most
notably, the post St. Pat's concert in Sherman, CT. This is my
hometown! I hope all locals will be there. Again, i can't urge you
enough to support live music. Please check my website for details.
http://www/robertbrereton.com and click calendar.

All the best,
Rob Brereton

The January 10 benefit concert for George Haggerty in Torrington CT has been postponed due to the impending snow storm. The snow date is next week, January 17 same time and place. We regret that the Hammonds who were scheduled to appear on January 10 will not be able to perform
due to a previous commitment. The information on my website is correct if you need any more information. http://www.robertbrereton.com click calendar. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you missed the podcast on January 5, Stephen Seifert has posted it on his website. Stephen, Aaron O'Rourke and I discussed "clean playing" on the dulcimer. Stephen played a selection from my recording and one from Aaron's recording. Wait till you hear Aaron play! Blew me away. http://www.stephenseifert.com
There will *definitely* be a workshop in the San Diego, CA area during the week of February 15-21. Email me for more details
rbrereton@robertbrereton.com . Thanks to Diane Gravlin for putting this together.

Hi All,

I hope everyone's holidays were filled with love, joy, and *music*.

There are a few local performances I'll be giving in the near future.
As most of you know, much of my work is out of state, so I'm excited
to be performing close to home. Some of the details are still a bit
hazy. But I know with hectic schedules, many of you need to mark your
calendars early. So here are some dates. I'll send out more
information as it becomes available.

Saturday, January 10
The first will be a benefit concert for fellow dulcimer player and
dulcimer luthier George Haggerty. George was in a very serious
motorcycle accident several months ago. His recovery is slow, but
steady. This concert will take place on Saturday, January 10. The
details are forthcoming.

Saturday, March 21
Next is one very close to home. In fact it's in my sweet home town of
Sherman, CT. This will be a post St. Patrick's Day concert at the
Sherman Jewish Community Center to be held March 21. The exact time is
TBA.

February
For those of you on the other side of the country, there may be a
house workshop in the works for February in the San Diego area. I'll
keep you posted on those details as well.

I have a few festivals lined up for the summer months. Check my
website or myspace page for updates. I'll send out another email as
the details become available.

Please let me know if you're interested in any of these. It always
helps to get some preliminary numbers to help out the venue. You can
contact me at rbrereton@robertbrereton.com .

Happy New Year to everyone!

Warm Regards,

Rob Brereton

Hello Everyone,

A quick update: I just opened a myspace account. You can hear samples
of my music there and see a bit more about myself and my music. If you
have a myspace account, let's be friends!

http://www.myspace.com/robertbrereton
All the best,

Rob Brereton

Hi Everyone!

I've received the final lineup of what I'll be teaching at Shenandoah
University and I thought I'd pass the information along.

I'll be teaching the Advanced Mountain Dulcimer Course. In addition,
I'll teach two shorter classes:
"Thinking Outside the Bum-Ditty" is an adv. beginner class to help
you find new rhythms or strums on your dulcimer. "Smoothing Out Your
Playing" is an intermediate to advanced class to guide you into
discovering new playing techniques to end choppy playing forever!

The festival is being held July 6 - 11 at Shenandoah University in
Winchester, VA. You can get a bit more information on the festival at
http://www.su.edu/cont-ed/index_cen.asp .

I'll also be teaching a John C. Campbell Folkschool from July 26 -
31. You can get more information about this very remarkable school at
http://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=class_detail&class_id=2172 .

Hope to see you at one of the festivals!

My very best,
Rob Brereton

Like my music? Click below!

Here's some exciting news. The great musicians at Sweetwater have an internet radio station devoted to dulcimer music. They have just uploaded my recording "Someone To Watch Over Me" and it is now part of their playlist.

To hear my album and other great dulcimer music, you can visit http://www.live365.com/stations/sweetwaterfolk and then click on the yellow speaker icon.

Many thanks to the folks at Sweetwater for maintaining this internet station. You can check them out at http://www.sweetwaterfolk.com/
Enjoy!

Lois Hornbostel and my friends at Mel Bay just published one of my
articles online. The article is about arranging music for mountain
dulcimer in the chromatic 1-3-5 tuning. There's also an arrangement
of "Hello! Ma Baby" and a sound clip to hear the arrangement. Go to
http://dulcimersessions.com/oct07/index.html and click on the link to my article.
While you're at the Dulcimer Sessions site, poke around a bit. It's a
valuable resource for dulcimer players.

I hope you enjoy the article. Any questions, just shoot me an email:
rob@robertbrereton.com. Over the next few weeks, I'll be updating my 2008 summer
schedule. Looks like a busy one!

If you haven't done so, please join my mailing list by typing your email in the space provided to the left and click "join"

This was my fifth time teaching dulcimer at the Swannanoa Gathering. It is among my favorite festivals: the campus is beautiful, the food is wonderful (much of the food is grown or raised on the campus) the jams are lively (complete with a 2 buck local brew beer cart- the mocha stout is awesome- and some of the best hot dogs on the planet) and the gathering is busting at the seams with talent.

It was great seeing some old dulcimer friends. It's becoming more and more difficult to distinguish my dulcimer friends from my "regular" friends as the years roll on. We’ve all become so close.

The mountain dulcimer faculty was comprised of er…well, me, Stephen Seifert, Lois Hornbostel, Neal Hellman and Wayne Seymour. Hammered dulcimer faculty was comprised of Jody Marshall, Guy George, Ken Koldner, Bill Troxler and Joe Holbert.

The heart of Swannanoa is, of course, the participants. Classes are kept small allowing great interaction. I taught intermediate and advanced repertoire. Both classes had a recipient of a scholarship. These two fine young dulcimer players were just terrific. It’s good to know the torch will be carried on.

The concerts were astounding. Each dulcimer artist performed a great set and the music was amazingly diverse. It was one of the finest dulcimer concerts I’ve witnessed. Steve Seifert, Ken Bloom, and I resurrected “Kanonwaltzer” for some reason. We’ve played this together a number of times in the past and always end up having no idea what we’re doing, but laughing wholeheartedly. Well, we finally got most of it right. At least we got to the end at the same time.

Stephen Seifert interviewed Neal Hellman for his now famous dulcimer podcast. Neal's a living legend and told Steve about the "old days" when the dulcimer revival was in its infancy. Lois Hornbostel and I joined Neal and Steve for a little jam at the end of the podcast. Check it out at www.stephenseifert.com.

Dulcimer week runs in conjunction with Sing & Swing week. The S&S week faculty was top-notch. One of my favorite singer-songwriters, David Roth, was on board. It was great getting to know him a bit and listening to his wonderful songs.

So, that’s about it. Don’t forget to join the email list on the left and sign the guest book.

Happy Strumming!
Rob Brereton

I'll be appearing at my hometown's library, April 27 at 8:00. This is a very informal open mic/round robin with great people and a surprising amount of local talent. All are welcome to listen, play and sing.
http://circleoffriends.scriptmania.com/custom3.html

This website was inspired by a webcast interview i just completed with Sephen Seifert. You'll be able to download it as a podcast shortly (or so he says). The website is http://stephenseifert.com/blogcategory/Podcast/
I've got a few gigs lined up. You can check them out by going to the calendar link. Talk to me and the world by checking out the guestbook. If you want to know about updates to the website or upcoming gigs, please join the email list

Thanks!