We’ve commented a number of times about the fertile acoustic string music scene in and around Boston, MA. It is fueled in large part by the number of prestigious and highly selective music schools in the area, and a willingness on the part of young musicians there to try some new things.

One interesting new group to emerge from this primordial ooze is Folk Arts Quartet, a group that mixes elements of bluegrass, old time, Celtic and Canadian fiddle music into the traditional string quartet format. Their self-titled CD has just been released and they are getting very positive feedback for their live performances.

Folk Arts Quartet was formed by four young women who met while studying at the Berklee College of Music, where the string department faculty took an interest in the group and provided mentoring and coaching as their sound and repertoire were being developed. The music on their CD is drawn from traditional fiddle music in a number of styles, plus original compositions from the quartet’s members, in a m?©lange they call Chambergrass.

The current group consists of Ivonne Hernadez and Hannah Read on violin, Julie Metcalf on viola and Emma Beaton on cello. All have quite an impressive list of accomplishments for such young musicians, including solo CDs and competition wins to their credit.

The original group included Liz Davis Maxfield on cello, who is featured on the CD. Liz has just graduated from Berklee (as have Hernandez and Metcalf), and she has accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Ireland for a year.

Beaton also performs with Joy Kills Sorrow, a young Boston-based progressive bluegrass band which highlights Emma’s voice and the several band members’ original material.

Here’s a taste of the music from the Folk Arts Quartet CD, a medley they call For the Boys, which includes Cold Fish, Eric’s and Cincinnati.

They perform with a far more relaxed persona than is typical for a string quartet, as this YouTube video from Folk Alliance ‘09 in Memphis demonstrates:

Hat’s off to FAQ for their creative attitude, and to Berklee for fostering the development of new avenues for traditional fiddle music.

We had a piece up on Monday about Sarah Jarosz and her decision to attend college at Boston’s New England Conservatory. But she’s not the only talented, young singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the bluegrass world headed for Boston in the fall.

Sierra Hull, the 18 year old fret wizard from central Tennessee will also soon be packing her grip for the long, long trip to New England, where she will study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Like most high school seniors, Sierra spent a lot of time this past year pondering college, but unlike most of her contemporaries, she was also considering the trade-offs between furthering her education and pursuing an already burgeoning career as a performer and recording artist. Her debut CD, Secrets, was released in 2008, she fronts her own band (Highway 111), and maintains a very active touring schedule all over the US and Canada.

Recently, Sierra shared some of the thoughts that passed through her mind during the decision-making process.

“Berklee was really the only school that made me think very much about actually going on to study music at a college level. Prior to thinking about Berklee, I really didn’t imagine going to college due to the fact that I really want to tour a lot and do what I love – be on the road, make records, play with a band, etc.

They first contacted me when I was a sophomore in high school and at that point I’d never even heard of Berklee. They wanted to let me know that if I was considering studying music after high school that they’d love to have me come to school there. I didn’t think all that much about it then, until people starting saying… ‘Berklee! Wow… that’s a great school!’ So when my senior year of high school rolled around, I really started thinking that it was probably a good idea to at least have options, and that I should pursue the idea a little more and see what all Berklee had to offer. Alison Krauss really encouraged me to at least go check it out.

So… in February, I spent 3 days in Boston touring the college, meeting instructors and students, and discussing my situation. I was amazed to see how supportive Berklee really was of musicians that already have careers going and my current situation. After all – isn’t that the whole idea? For a music school to uplift and support musicians who choose music as a career? I guess it just took a while for me to realize just how supportive they were going to be. I immediately realized upon my visit in February that I was going to be very supported whether I decided to come to school at Berklee, or whether I decided to just go ahead and play music full time.

That really helped the pressure level along the way, and made me respect the staff and faculty very much.” (more…)

Béla Fleck made another of his periodic visits to The Berklee College Of Music in Boston last week, a visit chronicled on the school’s web site.

He was in Boston as a part of the publicity tour for his documentary film, Throw Down Your Heart, a date which coincided nicely with the official kickoff of Berklee’s new American Roots Music Program. B?©la, along with program director Matt Glaser, spoke with a group of students at the school.

From the Berklee report by Danielle Dreilinger:

Fleck started off by giving them practical advice. “There’s a lot more to being a good musician than sitting in a room by yourself,” he said. Even practicing should be tuneful, he said: “Play scales in a musical way.”

He soon segued to bigger questions, urging players to follow their instincts. He cited his old friend Andy Statman, who turned from bluegrass mandolin to klezmer clarinet.

“When you hear something that really turns you on, that’s a cue,” Fleck said. “It’s probably something you’ll be good at. Because usually your inner voice is right.”

Fleck’s inner voice has led him to bluegrass, progressive fusion, jazz, classical and, now, African genres.

“I’m a bit of a dabbler,” he said. Because few forms of music use the banjo, he said, “I feel there are some opportunities I have to do some things that haven’t been done.”

You can read the full reoprt at berklee.edu.

Matt Glaser has been a fixture in the string music scene in the northeastern US since he was in his 20s.

As a young man he recorded and performed with other acoustic string crazies like Tony Trischka, Marty Cutler and Andy Statman as a part of the Wretched Refuse String Band. He received a masters degree in music from Tufts University and was involved in the transcription and authoring of a number of fiddle books for Oak Publications.

Matt always had an interest in a wide range of fiddle styles, from the old time music that first caught his ear as a young boy, to the wide ranging world of jazz violin. He continued to perform and record across these genres, even as he became known as an authority on American fiddle music and a first rate educator.

In the 1980s, two events occurred which changed the direction of his musical life. He was asked by Bob Share, then provost of Berklee College Of Music, to help them launch a string department at the rapidly-evolving college in Boston. He was the lone instructor when the department was announced, and has served as its chairman this past twenty eight years, overseeing a faculty of 8-10 instructors.

Glaser also became acquainted with filmmaker Ken Burns, then not so much a celebrity as he is today, and played on the budding director’s first documentary film, The Brooklyn Bridge in 1980. When work began on The Civil War, Burns’ epic mini-series for PBS, Matt was asked to be a musical consultant, and was a featured artist on the award-winning soundtrack.

His fiddle, and that of Jay Ungar, was heard in the film on Ungar’s gorgeous tune, Ashokan Farewell, which may be the most widely heard piece of fiddle music in the past 100 years. He and Jay also performed together as Fiddle Fever for several years.

Now, with twenty eight years under his belt at Berklee, Glaser found that the job he had so cherished all these years was taking him farther and farther away from what excited him about the position when the string program was first established – that being actually teaching the violin. Realizing that administrative work had nearly removed him from the classroom, Matt approached Berklee president Roger Brown about a role change at the college, with the result being the American Roots Music Program, with Glaser at the helm.

Matt explained a bit about how this all came to be…

“Since he first arrived at Berklee, Roger Brown has been vocal about his desire to create a home for all kinds of American music that feeds into rock and pop – classic country, old time, bluegrass, blues, polka, western swing, gospel…. what have you. When I met with him to share my interest in possibly relinquishing the string chair, we began discussing the idea of creating the American Roots Music Program. (more…)