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Tag: community
Building Community Through Local Music Store Connections
Many local music stores bring musicians together by creating highly successful in-store programs. They give back to their musical communities by interacting with them in new and innovative ways.
House Concerts
House concerts are musical performances generally held in private homes and hosted by fans, friends, or relatives of the performing musician(s). Audiences are usually 25 to 35 people, but can sometimes be as large as 60 or more, and a donation of $15 to $25 is generally requested, but not required. Oftentimes, there is a potluck dinner involved, but wine and cheese events are most common, with guests encouraged to bring a drink to share. Hosts will even sometimes put performers up for a night.
Songwriting With Soldiers
A program created by songwriter Darden Smith, SongwritingWith:Soldiers is not music therapy, nor is it a songwriting workshop. It’s about listening and using music to let soldiers tell their stories, and even more importantly, make them feel heard.
A Love Affair with All Things Ukulele
Some might say the stars aligned. Others might say it was the perfect convergence of a laid back instrument with a laid back community. But when Donna and Peter Thomas threw a “ukulele extravaganza” party that immediately grew too big for the house, the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz was born.
New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village
Calvin Johnson and Margie Perez. Their stories of recovery and careers following Hurricane Katrina were so compelling that I felt I needed to put together a separate article about their triumphs. Neither of them, even when they lost nearly everything they owned, ever thought for a minute about giving up on New Orleans or their music careers.
Nonprofit Gives Guitars to Veterans
As a nonprofit organization, Guitars for Vets provides guitar instruction for US veterans. Since its inception in 2007, it has handed out more than 2,000 free guitars to eager veterans who have attended more than 12,000 lessons taught by 100 volunteers nationwide.
Sturgeon Bay’s Holiday Music Motel
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is home to a very special motel for music enthusiasts. The Holiday Music Motel, an ideal accommodation for traveling musicians, hosts weekly jam sessions, open mic nights, songwriting retreats, and other music events year-round. It has two recording studios and is run by musicians melaniejane, and pat mAcdonald (formerly of Timbuk3), who also perform together as Purgatory Hill.
Drumming Up Nursing Homes
Wahl met a woman in a nursing home. She had been found living on the street and didn’t even know her own name. The patient was anti-social and hostile toward everyone around her. She never participated in any activities at the facility. In her usual custom, Judi Wahl, Chris’s wife, placed a hand-painted drum attached to a walker in front of the woman and reassured her that she did not have to play if she didn’t want to. Weeks later, the woman finally picked up a drumstick and joined the drum circle.
Triple Creek RV Music Park
Folks from all around the state and far beyond arrive at Triple Creek Music Park. Whether they are musical snowbirds from colder climates who come to spend the winter months, music tours passing through the Houston area, or musically-oriented families looking for a unique getaway, park owners Karen and Marc McConnell make them all feel welcome and get them jamming.