Clayville-Prairieland Strings jam sessions in September -- anniversary of first documented dulcimer in Virginia, 1832

Blast email I just sent out ...

Here's a list of events and meetings for the Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music and the Prairieland Strings in September ...

But, first, tomorrow we have an anniversary. Call it a birthday, if you want. To celebrate it properly:

1. Get out your dulcimer and play the "Happy Birthday" tune.

2. The second time through, sing the following verse:

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear dulcimer, Happy birthday to you.

(Be careful to not charge money for the performance, though! The birthday song is still under copyright.)

Anyway, tomorrow is a date that looms large in dulcimer history. The earliest signed and dated mountain dulcimer of reliable provenance was made by John Scales in Floyd County, Va., and dated Aug. 28, 1832. So by my calculation, that makes the dulcimer 181 years old.

To the schedule ...

Since our first-Saturday monthly learning jam session at Clayville conflicts with the New Salem Traditional Music Festival this year on Saturday, Sept. 7, we're especially inviting the Clayville folks to join the Prairieland Strings at New Salem. It lasts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we'll gather somewhere at the lower end of the historic village between the Lukas-Ferguson house and Dr. Allen's. Here's the Illinois Times blurb on the festival (which also includes a Friday night concert):

http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/event-10370-traditional-music-festival.html

We've also got the Clayville Fall Festival Saturday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Sept. 22. We've committed to play from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, and we hope to have groups of Clayville and Prairieland folks playing throughout the weekend. Since it's a festival, we're combining the Clayville and Prairieland groups (we play at each other's jams anyway). The Clayville festivals are getting to be like the ones we used to have there back in the 80s and 90s -- they feature all kinds of arts, crafts and activities, and we've really enjoyed them when we play them. Link here for details:

http://clayville.org/clayville_fall_festival_2013

Prairieland Strings meetings, at Atonement Lutheran Church, 2800 West Jefferson, Springfield, are at the regular times.

So here's a tentative calendar for the month:

-- Tuesday, Sept. 3, 7-9 p.m. at Atonement. Praairieland Strings "First Tuesday." We'll look at more Christmas music, and easy, fun tunes we can play at New Salem.

-- Saturday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. Traditional music festival.

-- Thursday, Sept.19, 7-9 p.m. at Atonement. Praairieland Strings "Third Thursday." Open schedule. If there's something you want to do, let me know!

-- Saturday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Sept. 22. Clayville Fall Festival.

We'll try to have more notices out to you with more details as we figure them out!