Music is an important part of my life. As well as listening to a wide range of different styles of music, I play a number of different instruments. I'm interested in most kinds of music, especially jazz and folk.
What do I play?
My main instrument is the fiddle, but I like to try and play anything I can get my hands on. I gravitate mostly towards stringed instruments. Instruments I actually own and have some ability at playing include: violin, viola, mandolin, (5-string fretted and fretless) banjo, guitar, bass guitar, balalaika, bouzouki, (small Celtic-style) harp, ukulele, recorder, tin whistle, nose flute, harmonica, kazoo, trumpet, djembe, bongos. I also play double bass and tuba, although I don't own ones of my own.
Where do I play?
Since the Summer 2000 I have played the fiddle, with a bit of banjo and tin whistle (and occasionally other things too), in the twmpath band Defaid Du. In case you're wondering, twmpath is the Welsh word for "barn dance" (and, interestingly, also for "heap" and "speedbump"), while defaid du means "black sheep" (plural). Sometimes I go to folk music sessions at local pubs too, although not so often as I used to.
I also play double bass as part of a trio called the Rice Hooligan Orchestra. The other members of the band are a fiddler (who also owns the bass that I play) and a guitarist, both of whom share lead vocal duties. I sing occasional backing vocals and play a spot of nose flute in addition to holding down the low end on the bass. The music we play is a fairly eclectic mixture ranging from jazz and swing standards to Welsh folk songs, with covers of songs by Tom Waits, Harry Belafonte and others. Perhaps the best, and certainly the most amusing, description I've so far heard of our sound is "demented Western Swing".
I like to return occasionally to my classical roots, and I am currently a member of the first violin section in the Bangor University Music Society (Musoc) Orchestra. My most recent new musical venture is to take up the tuba, which I am playing with the Beaumaris Seindorf Silver Band - I play with the adult beginners' band (the "Last of the Summer Wind" band).
Since moving to Bangor, I have been a regular member of the music group at Penrallt Baptist Church, where I currently play violin for most evening services and guitar (or sometimes bass) for mornings in alternate months, with occasional forays onto other instruments. Another place where I discuss issues of music in the wider context of Christian worship is Worship Released, an online Christian forum focussing (as the name suggests) on issues of worship.
