Vance Violin - Brandon Vance - News

Alchymeia's Kickstarter Campaign

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

My new Seattle-based band, Alchymeia was awarded a Jack Straw Residency to record an album. We're almost done, but we need funds to manufacture the CD, so we're doing a kickstarter campaign. We have until Nov. 5th to raise$5,000. Here's how it works. You pledge money (any amount!) If we receive $5,000 in pledges before Nov. 5th, you credit gets charged on Nov. 5th and we receive the funds. If we raise less than $5,000 we get nothing and your credit card is not charged. If we raise over $5,000, we receive that money and your credit card is charged on Nov. 5.

Please know we would LOVE to make more than $5,000, as kickstarter takes 5% of of the total raised and amazon takes 3-5% to cover fees.

I am asking you to please support this project. Go to the following website:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/193395816/alchymeia-album

and pre-purchase our CD for $25. We'll have the whole band sign it for you!

Thank you so much for helping us out on this!

-Brandon

Two Days in the Recording Studio!

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

My new band, Alchymeia, recently finished two intensive days at Jack Straw Studios in Seattle recording tracks for our new self-titled debut album, due to come out in the Fall of 2011! We spent a total of 11 hours and laid down 10 rough tracks. We still have a few more left to record, but over half the material is laid down. Now comes the nit-picky work of selecting exactly which takes were primo, and where we want to edit. We've done some preliminary listening and hope to schedule a date with our amazing recording engineer, Tom Stiles, where we'll do all the fine tuning and splicing and dicing.

There's still A LOT of work to be done, but we are making marked progress, and we'll keep people up-to-date as to CD release concerts and other promotional events. We still have to raise money for graphics, CD replication, and a little bit of extra studio time, so look for us on Kickstart within the next month and please support our music! Thanks so much!

Yours in music,

Brandon

Whidbey Island House Concert with Alchymeia

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Alchymeia received a warm Whidbey Island welcome at the "Chicken Farm" or "Ed's Workshop" last night in Clinton. I think we played one of our better sets so far, which was quite encouraging!

Afterwards they served us excellent homemade Chili, made from local beef, and really good fresh bread. The beer was great, too! I guess musicians are really all the same ... in the end, we just ask for good food and good beer/wine (although a little money to pay the bills helps, too).

Thanks to Ed Fickbohm (and Carol!) for your hospitality. Thanks to all who came! I think you'll be hearing a lot more about Alchymeia in the next few months.

Cheers,

Brandon

Alchymeia accepts a "Jack Straw" Fellowship ...new album in the works!

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Just yesterday my new band 'Alchymeia' received a "Jack Straw" fellowship, which will provide us with 20 hours of free studio time to record a project of material that we have been arranging, composing, and performing for the past three years. I'll be working with amazing folk singer and ethnomusicologist, Nadia Tarnawsky, in addition to some other great Seattle-based musicians.

This is a very exciting time for the band, especially as we're just getting off the ground here in Seattle. Look for a recording within the next 12 months!

Thanks to all of our patient fans! It's been a long time in coming, and I hope it won't be the last recording that comes out in the next couple of years ...

Cheers,

Brandon

New Violin/Fiddle Studio Starting In Seattle!

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Hey Everyone,

Starting in August, 2010, I'm offering violin and fiddle lessons out of my new house in Seattle!

Rates:

30 Minutes: $30
45 Minutes: $40
60 Minutes: $50

First Lesson is FREE!

House Calls Welcome!

If you're interested, visit my website at brandonvancestudio.com or email me at brandonvancestudio@gmail.com

NYC Seven Deadly Sins Concert

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

I recently returned from a great week of singing workshops and a brilliant performance last Saturday with Nadia Tarnawsky, Alex Fedoriouk (Cymbalom), Brano Brinarsky (Upright Bass), and a seven wonderful workshop participants as part of CTMD's "Womens' Voices." After the concert on Saturday night we went to the Ukrainian National Home on the lower Eastside, where I ate perogies with onions and "smetana" (sour cream) and drank Obolon (pronounced Oboloin). Afterwards, Brano, Alex, Nadia, and myself, played everything from traditional Ukrainian songs to Gypsie tunes and Jazz standards. The restaurant had this old beat up piano with half the keys either missing or sticky, and, despite the limitations of the instrument, Alex pumped out some serious licks (I had no idea he was a closet Jazz pianist!) Anyhow, really great times!

Cheers,

Brandon

Memories from Seattle Folklife

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Folklife was a ton of fun. I got to see a lot of cool bands, like Billet-Deux, a Jazz group from Seattle that specializes in Django-style music. There were also a ton of fun French Canadian Fiddlers there, and I enjoyed playing some Scottish tunes with a great fiddler from Corvallis, OR, Rebecca Lomnicky. On Saturday evening, I got to witness a wonderful meeting of Ukrianian and Russian culture as two beautiful singers, Nadia Tarnawsky and Juliana Svetlichnaia, sang together from their hearts. All in all, a fantastic event and one of the best years yet.

Seattle Folklife/New York!

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Greetings Everyone!

I'm really excited about a few upcoming performances ... two with Nadia Tarnawsky and Mark Minkler at the Seattle Folklife Festival this weekend (May 29th), and another with Nadia, Alex Fedoriouk and Brano Brinarsky, at the Ukrainian Museum in New York City next month. I hope some of my friends from either coast can make it to one of these concerts, because they promise to be unique, and a lot of fun! See you on the road ... Brandon

New Tunes

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

I've been composing some new tunes ... you can check out samples of "Pigasus" by clicking on the Music link.

Scotland Journey, September 24th, 2009

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

I have arrived at Gartmore House, a lovely manor house west of Stirling at the gateway to the Trossachs. I left at 4:30am yesterday from Seattle, and had a hard time sleeping, as the plane didn't pull into Iceland until 12am Pacific Time (7am Iceland Time). I wrote a strathspey on the plane without my fiddle, which I don't usually do. It most likely needs some adjusting. For lack of a better title I've called it "Islenska," which is Icelandic for "Icelandic." :-) I also did a couple of easy Sudokus, which were given to me by the attractive redhead sitting next me, who was on vacation with her mother.

I met Ed Pearlman at the Keflavik airport and we talked shop about fiddle music as well as some of the historical texts that we had both been reading in preparation for the trip. The following is an interesting factoid about Scotland's legal history. In most legal system's there can be only two possible outcomes of a trial: guilty or not guilty. However, in the Scottish legal system there third possibility: not determined. Apparently one of the only other countries to have this "undetermined" sentence is Israel.

The flight to Glasgow (via Manchester) required us to go through customs again to get our passports stamped (I had to get it stamped two times at two different stations at Keflavik). Once Ed and I arrived in Manchester (about a 2 hour trip from Iceland), we had to disembark the plane, go through security again, and get little passes to get back on the same plane for Glasgow (45min flight). It was a lot of waiting in line, but Ed got out his mp3 player and we listened to some good tunes. Once we got to Glasgow they wouldn't let us off the plane for 30 minutes. Apparently, someone didn't communicate to ground control that an Icelandair flight from Manchester was flying in at 1:30pm. Once we got out of the plane, we had to go through yet another security checkpoint, this time giving them detailed information about our intentions for coming to Scotland. At this point Ed and I got separated, because he had to wait at the other side of the checkpoint for someone, and I realized too late that he wasn't coming.

I got my passport stamped again, and retrieved my luggage at the the "baggage reclaim." I was still waiting for Ed to get past the checkpoint, so I decided to christen my arrival in Scotland with a couple tunes: The Laird of Drumblaire, and John McNeil's Reel. I think the only person left at the baggage reclaim was the currency exchange clerk, who seemed to enjoy it in a quiet, friendly sort of way.