Celebrating a Celtic Christmas

By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times

The Olive Hill Center for Arts & Heritage (OHCAH) has had a busy holiday season. In addition to their annual Christmas on the Hill musical extravaganza, the organization grew their list of holiday events to include a Winter Wonderland of Trees, and a production of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol.

That in itself would have made for a full slate of events, but the organization had one last show before they started a New Year – a Celtic Christmas celebration with Irish and folk band the Founding.

The sextet, classically trained music students and educators who hail from Kalamazoo, Michigan, were excited to not only bring their music to Olive Hill, but to work with local students who joined them on a pair of tunes at the end of their first set.

While they all grew up playing classical music, fiddler John Robey explained, mandolinist and fiddler Joel Myers had a bit of a folk and bluegrass background, and flautist Elizabeth June had a family who played bluegrass as well. Robey said he had some improvisational experience growing up playing music in his church, but most of their background was in classical music – which is highly structured. It was Myers, he explained, who led the charge and got the others into playing Celtic music.

“We’ve been learning the style for about the last eight years,” Robey said. “I think most of us have wanted to do something a little (different). I mean, we all love classical music. But I think we’ve always wanted to do something outside of the strictly classical realm. So, this kind of really fulfills a lot of that band experience while also having a repertoire that really utilizes our skills.”

Guitarist and cellist Patrick Hartson expanded on that thread, explaining how they ended up working with the students at the OHCAH.

“Like (Elizabeth June) said on stage today, a lot of us are teachers in our daily lives, when we’re not on the road,” Hartson said. “Being able to combine both really satisfies a big part of our musical fulfillment. I feel like, yeah, we love working with students, and we all had experiences like this one when we were growing up. So, that’s really important to us, to try to create the same experiences for other people as well, coming up in the music world, because it was really formative for us.”

Violin instructor at the OHCAH Elaine Swinney Brunelle said it was a fantastic experience for her students.

“I am so over the moon the students had this time working with a professional touring band,” Brunelle said. “The collaboration between both parties was amazing! I loved hearing the interchange of ideas and conversations. Everyone was having a great time. I will always remember the looks of wonderment and excitement on the faces of the students.”

“It was really nice to play with a touring band,” echoed student Bella, age 10. “They were really nice and helpful. I loved it!”
Silas, age 11, said he “loved it” as well.

“It was an honor to work with ‘Da Company,’ and I had a really great time,” Silas said.

Brunelle said she hoped there would be more workshop and performance opportunities for her students in the future.

“I can’t wait for more opportunities like this!” she said. “Having toured myself, and played violin with many well-known entertainers, in addition to being a member of a major orchestra, I have a lifetime of musical experience that I am eager to share with anyone wanting to study an orchestral string instrument.”

For more information on instrument lessons, or any of the programs offered by the OHCAH, you can visit them on Facebook, or online at ohcae.org.

Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com