Thursday, December 26, 2013

Join Jim and Maggi at First Night Hartford 2013-14!



Two Shows at the Old State House, Main Street, Hartford
6:25 and 7:20 pm

"Wintertide at Year's Birth: Songs and Stories of the Season"
Drawn from a variety of styles and with historical/folklore narrative
For info: http://www.firstnighthartford.org/

Feel free to download or save this flyer: 


 http://www.firstnighthartford.org/



http://singingstring.org

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Trimmed the tree while watching "Mary Poppins" and "Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol"... having a Baby Boomer nostalgia-fest.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Today, being the Winter Solstice, is the day we remove the fall decor, drape the house in winter finery, and set up the Yule tree! Huzzah!
 

Meet Mr. HollyHead, with his crown of holly and ivy.
He only lasted a day, since we have had 50 degrees or more temps the last two days...but we loved him anyway, and now the snowmelt joins the earth to nourish springtime growth. Not a bad legacy!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Jim and Maggi's Holiday Concerts continue: "A Victorian Christmas with Dickens" Sat. Dec. 14, 1 pm, Danvers, MA

Jim and Maggi's Holiday Concerts continue: "A Victorian Christmas with Dickens" Sat. Dec. 14, 1 pm, Danvers, MA





"A Victorian Christmas with Dickens,"  Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton perform an illustrated concert of Victorian music with excerpts from the Christmas stories of Charles Dickens, 1 pm, Dec. 14, 2013, at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, hosted by the Dickens Fellowship North of Boston. 


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You are invited to participate on Dec. 14, 2013, 1 p.m., at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, 15 Sylvan St., Danvers, Mass., (http://www.danverslibrary.org) when the Dickens Fellowship North of Boston will host a special, family-friendly musical/historical program,  "A Victorian Christmas with Dickens," presented by musicians and historians Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton.

This illustrated Victorian Christmas music program, featuring excerpts from Dickens' various Christmas stories, will use period American and British music. Songs and instrumentals will be performed live by the husband-and-wife team, in costume, and with period-appropriate instruments and style.

Members of the Dickens fellowship will also lead games and dances at special points in the program. Families are encouraged to attend in Victorian costume. 

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Previous audiences found the Daltons to be "engaging, scholarly, delightful, warm, intelligent, flexible, humorous, talented, versatile, enthusiastic, personable, joyful".."Simply put, Jim and Maggi Dalton are a national treasure." The couple specializes in American 19th- and 20th-century music, history, and culture from parlor and stage, performed in historically-informed style. Their programs feature period and period-appropriate instruments. 

The Daltons have toured nationwide and have been featured often on commercial and NPR public radio, on television and in major-market newspapers and magazines.

Praised as "extraordinarily versatile," their performances feature repertoire drawn from the Middle Ages to contemporary music; and popular traditions including blues, jazz and Tin Pan Alley/Great American Songbook programs.

Honored by several state arts agencies, the Daltons have released four recordings and compose and perform original material. They designed a full spectrum of programs which they have performed throughout the United States, appearing at nationally-known historic sites such as Colonial Williamsburg; at colleges, in concert series, at festivals, at historical societies, for organizations of every description. More information may be found on their Website: singingstring.org.

As artists-in-residence at various community and educational centers, they have presented series which address American history and various other topics in the humanities, using music as the core of each session. Jim Dalton is on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory. Maggi Smith-Dalton has published two books of regional history, and wrote a weekly column on Salem history for the Boston Globe from 2010-2012.

Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton are founders and directors of the American History and Music Project, and the Salem History Society, both  of which are administered by the Institute for Music, History, and Cultural Traditions, a 501c3 Nonprofit Cultural, Educational, & Scholarly Organization.


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Hope to see you tomorrow in Cheshire, Ct. at our Concert! Cheshire Public Library, Main Street, Cheshire,  4 pm free and open to the public

HOLIDAY SPECIAL ON OUR RECORDINGS!

Buy two for the price of one if you purchase our recordings at one of our concerts

Buy two for $15.00 ($10 each otherwise) if you purchase from us by mail before December 31, 2013

Please send your check or money order to:
Singing String Music
203 Washington St. #263
Salem MA 01970
we'll pay the postage and handling!

*You can also find our recordings online through ITunes, Amazon, CD Baby, and Barnes and Noble...and other online stores (their regular prices apply)

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Jim and Maggi's Holiday Concerts...YOU are invited!



















Join musicians and historians Jim Dalton and Maggi Smith-Dalton  December 8, 2013, at 4 p.m. when the Cheshire Public Library, 104 Main Street, Cheshire, Ct. hosts their special musical/historical concert program  "300 Years of Christmastide in America." The family-friendly program is free and open to the public.

"300 Years of Christmastide in America" is a musical/historical journey across the United States, geographically, historically, AND stylistically.     

The Daltons will present music from America's past interspersed with poignant, amusing, or surprising anecdotes, most of them collected from primary sources.



More concerts coming up! Dec 14 2013  "A Victorian Christmas with Dickens," Danvers, MA and New Year's Eve: First Night Hartford (at Old State House)  We'll send you an invite for those too!