August 22, 2006
Hello dear friends and fans and others,
It's almost cricket season! It's most definitely corn and peach season, and we can't eat those yellow cherry tomatoes fast enough. We (Katryna and Nerissa) are going on vacation with our families next week, to visit with our parents, to climb some peaks, to sit by cold lakes and to play music with our kids. We have lots of shows scheduled for the fall; see herefor the rapid updates.
Also, we have some other activities we want to tell you about: namely our parent/child group (HooteNanny) and Nerissa's teen writing group. Someone asked us in an interview what the future of folk music would be like, and we said, "I have no idea. It's up to the next generation." So to that end, we are spending some time this fall listening to the next generation and hopefully learning from them.
Here's our plug:
HooteNanny!!
Nerissa and Katryna Nields are national touring musicians, a part of the legendary band The Nields who toured North America throughout the nineties and into this millennium. As a duo, they were a part of Lillith Fair, and have shared the stage with Natalie Merchant, Suzanne Vega, Sarah McLachlan, Dar Williams, The Indigo Girls, James Taylor, Joan Baez, the Band, 10,000 Maniacs, Billy Bragg, Dan Zanes and countless others, all of whom informed and enhanced their musical repertoire.
They are also mothers, now, and make their home in the Pioneer Valley. Join them and their children in a new music group for parents and children starting Sept. 14 at 9:30am at the Northampton Friends Center on Center St.
Katryna has participated in Music Together training (and is an alum of the fabulous Hill Town group with Lui Collins in Ashfield.) Nerissa spent four years as the musical director of a day camp of 400 kids. They grew up listening to Pete Seeger and Jack Langstaff lead audiences in song, and fervently believe that a group of people singing folk songs together is tantamount to heaven on earth.
Many studies have shown that early musical education will enhance a child's development and confidence. HooteNanny will help you and your child gain basic musical competence through:
- movement and dance
- instruments
- singing
- quality time spent with your child!
Enrollment limited to 12 families.
Cost: $150 for ten week session plus $15 for materials.
Contact Nerissand@gmail.com to join.
And for Nerissa's Writing Group for Teens:
Wednesdays After School Starting Aug. 30
Nerissa Nields runs a wonderful teen writing workshop out of her house in Northampton. She takes a group of two to six students and works with them for one hour. The main purpose of the groups is to write in a fun, relaxed, nonacademic way. All sorts of writing comes out of these classes: songs, poetry, novels in progress, science fiction, plays. And laughter abounds.
Cost: $30 for an hour class or $300 for 12 week session.
Time: Wednesday 4-5pm.
Nerissa Nields is a member of the folk rock band, The Nields and the author of Plastic Angel on Scholastic Books. She has worked with young people since 1985 in academic and creative capacities and thinks of herself as perpetually fourteen, spiritually speaking.
Nerissa has been leading teen writing workshops for three and a half years, and she is amazed at the consistency of the quality of imaginative writing that comes from the pens of the young writers who meet with her. Some write memoir; many write science fiction and fantasy, some write fan fiction and some write original poetry and short stories. Every week there is a new assignment, though some writers who are working on longer pieces can just dive back in to their work. The emphasis in the group is on kindness, support and enthusiasm. Everyone's work is listened to with respect. We have a great time. Join us!
From Nerissa:
My maternity leave is winding to an end, along with the summer. I spent it learning to be a mother, walking into Northampton and back with Tom and Lila and drinking copious amounts of water. I barely wrote at all, with the exception of a couple of blogs and some songs about Lila taking her bath and her weirder stuffed animals. I barely read at all, either, although I've become addicted to the New York Times, hoping secretly Tom gets a copy every morning when he takes Lila to visit our neighbor, Sahid, at the local Zee Mart. Then, as we're having our morning beverages (tea for me, orange juice for Tom, breast milk for Lila‹by the way: why is it we call cow's milk "milk" and human milk "breast milk"?) we discuss politics down south (Connecticut) and what it might mean for the nation. (I tried to write a blog about this, but instead wrote about Lila as usual. See the blog.)
Lila has very strong opinions about Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont, and also about Brooke Astor and her son and grandson. She is totally into saving the planet, insisting on wearing cloth diapers. (Also gdiapers. I swear they're not giving us an endorsement (yet) but I do have to rave about these. They have permanent outers and flushable inners and now available at Whole Foods. See www.gdiapers.com). Lila also counseled us to buy a diesel Jetta named Olivia, which runs on soybean oil. She says she would like a planet in which one does not need to run air conditioning 6 months out of the year, please, and wishes her parents and their friends would take steps now to occlude any further global warming. (see other blog, "Our Vegetable Sipping Car".)
Katryna convinced Lila and me to go to her Music Together group in Ashfield, MA led by the wonderful Lui Collins last month and we all loved it so much we decided we needed to do it ourselves. We've been singing along to all of Dan Zanes's amazing CDs and to All Together Singing in the Kitchen in our kitchen, but we agree it will be more fun to sing with other parents and kids.
Enjoy this last wonderful month of summer and be sure to eat plenty of tomatoes, corn and peaches. Take in the smell of fresh cut grass and the way the sun bakes into the asphalt.
Love, Nerissa
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