Fiddlin’ Around

Like many of us, I watched the sickening images from the terrorist attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, then I watched the benefit concert that she and other musicians played after the dust had settled a bit. The spunk and attitude from the mostly young girls who are

Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. That is such a cool, Zen-like approach to life, and it comes to us in the form of an English children’s nursery rhyme. The song is actually a round—a musical composition in

By Nancy Buchan Last month the president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, attended a celebration at a school in the Nicoya—an area, along with Guanacaste, that is somewhat known for the making and playing of marimbas. He was treated to some local students playing their marimbas, and then he

The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection—on the past, on the future, on our goals, on our missteps and screw-ups. I am writing this in January and am trying valiantly to let go of the bad and mean-spirited crap of 2016 and move on. But I

To the locals who love this place and live here all year long and to the travelers passing through, welcome to a new year in this beautiful and inspiring little part of the planet! Personally I’m glad to be done with 2016, ‘cause I think it sucked, and I found

If you live here and are a compulsive and insatiable book reader like myself, then you probably get frustrated with the fewer options and availability of cheap reading material, and are always checking out who has free book exchanges. But it’s frustrating when you find a good stash of used

There’s a home place under fire tonight in the Heartland, and the bankers are taking my home and my land from me. There’s a big achin’ hole in my chest now where my heart was, and a hole in the sky where God used to be. There’s a home place

The Hollywood Hoopla and show biz aspects of the American political election process are often embarrassing, and music is almost always part of the staged background. By the time this goes to print there will probably be radical changes in the political landscape, but ‘ya gotta admit it’s certainly been

There’s a feeling that can quietly creep over us and which is painful, but also kind of unique to each of us, which makes it even more powerful. I’m talking about being lonesome. Some sounds and musical efforts to explain this isolating and singular sorrow do better at defining this

April Fool’s Day was just a month or so ago and for once no one master-minded any mean or rotten tricks to play on me. Not even any little playful pranks. My friend Danielle and I have been pulling stuff on each other for decades, and we are both wary

How do you make the transition from reading the notated music in front of you on a piece of paper to closing your eyes and just playing the music that somehow occurs to you? I’ve been asked this question a lot, especially from classically trained violinists who for some reason

Like an insistent, chattering monkey, I am always telling folks to get out and listen to live music. Now clearly that is somewhat self-serving, since as a working musician it is always more fun for me to play when there is an audience. I want people to listen, and re-act

By Nancy Buchan During the first week of December the fine folks who run the Escuela de Musica Sinfonica de Perez Zeledon, a private music school in San Isidro, schedule the end of the year examinations for all the students who study and receive music instruction there. There’s all ages