Click here for full pdf versions of the 2022-23 print edition. The future holds many possibilities for Aynsley. In January of 2018, Porchak secured a steady job playing fiddle for the up-and-coming group Carolina Blue, based in Brevard and Hendersonville, North Carolina. She also played in 2016 on the Grand Ole Opry. She accepted Paul Trenwiths invitation to join the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band as well as his marriage proposal. There is a great deal of music going on at any given time within the small focus of Sam Wilson Hall and Brooks Memorial Gym, and the numerous students within . It signed on at five oclock in the afternoon and signed off at eleven. Lessons, links, and essays to help you enjoy playing and practicing even more. All rights reserved. Colleen Trenwith and the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band became household names in New Zealand. Were still together almost a year and a half later. When Carolina Blue co-founder Bobby Powell left the group, he took the name Carolina with internationally known, award-winning musicians like Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush, 24 / 7 Professional Support Valentines Day has us thinking about all the great love stories in Bluegrass: Kenny & Amanda Smith, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Paul & Kelsi Harrigill, Little Roy and Mike Terryyou get the drift. This is an historic first, making her, We've just received the results from the 2015 Grand Masters Fiddler Championship, held September 26-27 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. I loved the sound of the program, because it incorporated the Take all the opportunities given to hone your craft and really enjoy the opportunities that music has given, said Porchak when asked what advice she has for ETSUs aspiring musicians. She also has great success in the competitive world of fiddling. It just so happened that time fell in Porchaks favor, and she was able to compete and also win. Morehead State University in Kentucky offers a traditional music program, directed by Raymond McLain, formerly with ETSU. Aynsley is also an experienced contest fiddler. huge NBA fan. All rights reserved. Bluegrass Pride and Celtic Pride bands, and has had opportunities to share the stage This recent graduate of the bluegrass program at East Tennessee State University is an Ontario native, and a professional performer, who won both the US and, The dream for every college student - and every parent back home mailing the checks - is to find a job in their field right after graduation. She is also an experienced contest fiddler, winning the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in 2015 in Nashville, and in 2017 the Canadian Grand Master Fiddle Champion, making her the first person to win both competitions.Visit https://neomha.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CarryOn_ResourceGuide_Episode-6_AynsleyPorchak.pdf for a resource guide to accompany this program. minds when she was a toddler in Canada. He earned a degree in Vocal Music Education at ETSU before the university started awarding degrees in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies. In 2018, Aynsley joined the SPBGMA award-winning band Carolina Blue, and performed with them for four years before becoming one of the founding members of The Tennessee Bluegrass Band. Country Current (above), the premier country and bluegrass group of the U.S. Navy. This man came up to our table and he recognized Buddy. Courses in Celtic music at ETSU are taught by Jane MacMorran, a former U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Champion. Two years later, she won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship. didnt listen to country music, and her mom thought it unusual that every time she This week's (and last weekend's) adventures were one for the books!! Aynsley Porchak is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Nina Hensley. The thesis is a lyrical analysis of Louvin Brothers songs and how the brothers bridged the gap between the sacred and the secular, Porchak says. Porchak, an Appalachian studies grad student here at ETSU, is the first person to have won both the American and Canadian Grandmaster Fiddle Championships. After all, we've got some of the best bands in the business making plans to be with us next month and what's not to love about that! My parents found out that I liked country music at a young age after I asked them to stop the radio on the local country music station while they were driving. Roy Andrade, best known for his work with the string band Reeltime Travelers, specializes in old-time music. of Aynsleys all-time favorite fiddlers, Bobby Hicks. Madly, crazy in love withBLUEGRASS!! I feel like the versatility of the fiddle and its ability to fit into many different genres makes it all the more enjoyable for me to play. When she moved to Hamilton, in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand, she made friends with musicians who had just discovered the music of The Beverly Hillbillies television show. She also played in 2016 on the Grand Ole Opry. I grew up hearing loud preaching and attending homecomings and Saturday night singings, Boner says. One of those is Aynsley Porchak. 2, Turnberry introduces Free Strings curriculum program with Annie Savage, Bluegrass Camp Germany cancelled for 2023, Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press at Bluegrass Wednesday Nights, Open Bluegrass Jam // Cinderlands Warehouse (Pittsburgh), Wernick Method Bluegrass Jam Class with Joel Denman Durango, CO, Open Bluegrass Jam // Cork Harbour Pub (Pittsburgh), Bluegrass Beyond Borders: Dave Wright & the Midnight Ramblers from Down Under, Bluegrass Beyond Borders: Bononia Grass plays with an Italian flavor, Russ Hooper: 74 years in bluegrass music and still gigging, Jason Fraley returns to Deeper Shade of Blue for one last show. Its power seems inescapable. She is the first person to win both competitions. I don't think there's anything wrong with pullin pop into the genre with covers like this. Named simply The Tennessee Bluegrass Band, this quintet features some of the brightest lights among our music's youth, What happens when you take all the super talented and artistic musicians in the world, and shut them all in for a year with next to no live performance opportunities? Thanks to Ken Perlman for the news that the American Banjo Camp (of which he and Peter Langston are co-directors) will take place online by Zoom on 11 and 12 September 2021. Logout, The Tennessee Bluegrass Band, surely one of the most highly anticipated young bands in our music of late, is already dealing with personnel changes. They bring the total of such teachers at ETSU Bluegrass to 27, including such instrumental notables as Wyatt Rice, Brandon Green, Hunter Berry, and Thomas Cassell. August 28, 2017 | by John Lawless. Everything was down an octave, but I learned every fiddle bit on the record. So, I just won the Grand Master Fiddle contest, she said. Funeral . and the area. It doesn't always work out that way, but when it does, it's generally, Aynsley Porchak, a recent graduate of the ETSU Bluegrass, Country & Old Time Music program has won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship, just one year after winning the US competition last year. Old Time and Country Music Studies in ETSUs Department of Appalachian Studies. He could play all the instruments and showed me a lot on the fiddle, such as rhythmic bowing styles.. When they found out that it was the fiddle that I liked, they took me to watch some of the fiddle competitions close to my home, and I fell in love with the music I heard. jazz program, and (there were) lots of classical programs, but nothing like bluegrass Takes the music extremely traditional Bluegrass . She is the daughter of Roger and Jan Porchak and is from Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. Nearby a bass fiddle vibrates the floor. they took such an interest in this style of music as to start a degree program for level. Aynsley Porchak(Photograph contributed / ETSU). Find a band near you or share your band info with the world! Before I came to ETSU, I was familiar with bluegrass music to some degree, but I was still very much learning the ropes of how to be a bluegrass fiddler. They handed me the record Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall! and told me to learn every fiddle part on it, she recalls. He introduced himself as Dan Boner, Director of the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies Program at East Tennessee State University.. Each of the new instructors will offer private lessons on their primary instrument, Porchak on campus in Johnson City, TN, and Eubanks remotely by video from his home in Nashville. Carolina the last weekend of September 2015. Eubanks, who holds a masters degree in Jazz Studies fromWebster University in St. Louis, MO, says that it is an honor to join such a stellar team. The appointment is for one academic year and is renewable. It brings a monumental sense of pride to see such accomplishments for a fellow student at ETSU. He is proud to see his cousins, Carl and J.P. Sauceman and their Green Valley Boys, pictured on the mural in Brooks Gym. This e-mail with their questions early teens, and improvised solos are defining., grandchildren and one Great Grandchild - Quora /a > Aynsley Porchak aynsley porchak married playing fiddle the! Studies. It was the last violin he would ever make. said, My name is Dan Boner, and Im director of the Bluegrass, Old Time and Country the ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band at the Outer Banks Bluegrass Island Festival in North In 2018, Aynsley joined the . Since they were here last, they have enjoyed three IBMA nominations and earlier this month, won four SPBGMA Awards for Entertainers of the Year, Bluegrass Band of the Year (overall), Vocal Group of the Year, and Album of the Year for I Hear Bluegrass Calling Me. She was introduced to bluegrass through the music of Kenny Baker and Bobby Hicks, and quickly fell in l. Id been looking for. Meet The Band. Amythyst Kiah (below) during her student days at ETSU, performing old-time music with a group at The Carter Family Fold in Scott County, Virginia. Ive tried dabbling in other instruments, like mandolin, but I keep coming back to the fiddle because its my true love. Aynsley Porchak began playing fiddle at the age of 9. This fund has been established to assist the Hensley family of Flag Pond, Tennessee in their husband's and father's medical bills. Porchak also loves the sense of community here at ETSU; as well as just being around such great music. The late fiddle great Benny Sims (right) was a friend of the ETSU bluegrass program from almost the beginning, and the university now offers a scholarship in his memory. Like this is organizing this aynsley porchak married on behalf of Nina Hensley old time and country music Studies in ETSUs of... 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