Grammy-award winning songwriter Jay Ungar presents workshop for local student musicians
 by Kathy S-B  ·  22 September 2011

Fourteen local student musicians had a rare opportunity to be taught by a Grammy-award winning songwriter and then have the added treat of sharing the stage with him at the me&thee coffeehouse on Friday, September 16. A generous donation by the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Marblehead enabled these young musicians to have a musical experience of a lifetime. Jay Ungar presented an afternoon “strings” workshop for the students and taught them how to play a “head arrangement” of two songs — all by ear. Most of the students who participated are members of the Symphony by the Sea Youth Orchestra, which is led by Alan Hawryluk, former Concertmaster and Assistant Conductor of Symphony by the Sea and John Koza, clarinetist with Symphony by the Sea.

Jay Ungar and Molly Mason are exceptional musicians, which many know from hearing them on “A Prairie Home Companion,” from their own live radio program, “Dancing on the Air,” on WAMC in Albany, from film soundtracks such as Legends of the Fall and Brother’s Keeper. Millions were entranced by the music they did for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the Civil War, which features Jay’s “Ashokan Farewell” as its signature tune. The first tune that Mr. Ungar taught the North Shore musicians was “Tombigbee Waltz,” an old-time melody that is named for the Tombigbee River which flows from northeastern Mississippi into the Alabama River. The name “Tombigbee” is rumored to mean ‘coffinmaker’ in one of the Native American languages. Additionally, the students learned “Far from Home,” which is a Shetland Island contra dance tune. Both Jay and Molly accompanied the students on these two songs and delighted the audience.

Student musicians included Jeena DeFrancesco, Ilana Frost, James Ksander, Alexandra O’Donnell, Alise Ritterhaus, and Meredith Schwartz on violin; Reina Sekiguch on viola; and Kathi Allphin, Gabriel Buschsbaum, Diana Kelly, Emilia Ronchi, Maria Ronchi, Nicole Schwartz, and Ben Silverstein on cello.

From the student musicians themselves:

Alise Ritterhaus, 17, of Lynn: “It was a wonderful experience to play with such talented musicians such as Jay Ungar and Molly Mason.”

Kathi Marcos Allphin, 14, of Marblehead: “It was a fun and educational introduction to traditional fiddle music.”

Maria Ronchi, 15, of Marblehead: “It was quite an experience. I’ve never learned and played full pieces by ear before.”

Emilia Ronchi, 12, of Marblehead: “I really liked playing by ear. It was a different type of music that I’ve never played before. I liked how relaxed and fun it was.”

Each year the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Marblehead uses some of the proceeds of their “Beatles benefit” to send musicians into the schools for concerts or workshops. In this case, an arrangement was made with Jay Ungar to work with the students on the day of his concert at the me&thee coffeehouse. A video of the performance can be viewed on the coffeehouse’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/metheeTV.

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