The Band
Cheryl
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Cheryl started playing violin in the fourth grade after attending a school assembly program about joining the school orchestra. She did join the school orchestra, which later led to college and community orchestras, a string quartet, English country-dance band, Swedish fiddle and Finnish dance groups as well as a career in music and arts education. Cheryl started playing nyckelharpa as an adult, having first encountered the instrument in Sweden at a Midsommar celebration where several nyckelharpa players were jamming together. Seeing Cheryl's interest, one of the players offered to let her 'try' the instrument. After a quick scale to check what notes were where, "Johan pa Snippen" came to mind, and her fingers were hooked!
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Joe
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Joe mowed many lawns when he was 10 years old in order to buy his first guitar. He graduated to bass guitar in his garage band days and eventually he gave up music to raise a family and become an elementary school teacher. One day while cleaning out his basement he came across his bass guitar and amplifier and decided to trade them off at a local music store. A few hours later Joe walked out of the music store with a 1913 Gibson mandolin and has not looked back since. He has played in several folk bands and many folk traditions. Joe and Cheryl met in 1998 after a Väsen concert and she opened the door to Scandinavian music for him. Joe plays guitar and two sizes of mandolin.
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Val
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Erin
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Erin is a multi-instrumentalist who chose cello as a young girl because she liked the sound of harmony parts. Soon she was singing melodies and playing cello harmony at the same time, when not busy putting on extravagant dance performances to her parents' classical records. Now she enjoys community orchestra, and plays in: Compass Rose String Band (at Tapestry Folkdance Center), Twin Cities Nyckelharpalag, the ASI Spelmanslag, Fallen From the Turnip Truck (roots music), and is a former performer with the Ethnic Dance Theatre. She is an elementary string music teacher, private string and piano teacher, and clinician. Her country home houses a diverse collection of instruments, including five-string fiddle, banjo, cajon, upright bass, accordion, näverlur, musical saw, alto horn, shawm, and many more. Her secret passion is composing music of all types, and she keeps staff paper in her car just in case of a random idea!
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Previous Tjärnblom
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Mary Crimi
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