Junior Hoedowner
Vol 4, Nr. 1
January, 2010
Music Inspires: An Interview with the Beckman-Saito Sisters
The following interview by Michelle Harvey appeared in the October/November issue of True
North Parenting Magazine, and is used with permission. (Part 2 of 3) (Continued from December.)
MH – Do you ever use these skills in your other studies?
Mia – Yes. There are so many parts of math. We learn to work with equations and graphing certain points. It is like music where there is rhythm and intonation. The parts seem separate but when you put them all together they work out. And if I don’t spend time on the facts that are hard, it will come back later and be a problem.
Jan – What I see that maybe the girls don’t is discipline in practicing. I think it gives them a longer attention span.
Bob – You develop a tremendous ability to focus and remain attentive when you practice hard for a couple of hours over and over again.
In a 1997 study by Dr. James Catterall at UCLA, reports showed that music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those with no musical involvement. Mia and Kiarra practice for more than an hour each day. This is in addition to their homework schedule. Both the girls perform very well in school and receive high grades. There parents, though, invest many hours assisting with homework, school projects, and music practice. It is what they do as a family.
MH – What makes the difference for you two? Why do you think you are successful?
Mia – I think it is practicing for long periods of time and focusing on one thing.
Jan – Plus, we started the kids on violin at 3 years old. We also started taking them to concerts when they were young. They had to get used to the fact that they might not be interested in something but they have to sit there.
MH – What have you sacrificed as a family?
Mia – I had to choose between playing volleyball and music. It was too much. At first I was sad to give up playing on a team. But then I realized that music would probably take me further than volleyball would.
MH – Do you feel different than other kids?
Mia – A lot of people don’t understand why we have to practice so much when we are already good. I always tell them what my dad said. Music is a lifelong process where you are always learning.
Kiarra – Kids don’t really say a whole lot to me about it. I don’t feel different.
The enrichment that music brings to a young person’s life goes beyond understanding scales. As stated in a 2004 report in Forbes Magazine, music exercises parts of the brain useful in mathematic, spatial intelligence and other intellectual pursuits. “With music lessons, because there are so many different facts involved—such as memorizing, expressing emotion, learning about musical interval and chords—the multidimensional nature of the experience may be motivating the IQ effect,” said E. Glenn Schellengerg, of the University of Toronto at Mississauga.
MH – Clearly the rewards are so much more significant than the challenges. What are the personal rewards?
Mia – Well I know that it is enriching my life and I know that I am doing something productive with my life… It is also a time when I get to express who I am through my playing.
Gum Tree Canoe
Gum Tree Canoe: Here is a cute little ditty that you will enjoy. There are two versions on Youtube by John Hartford, Gumtree Canoe – John Hartford http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkVAK60lqzQ and/or
John Hartford – Learning To Smile -10 Gum Tree Canoe
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiGUMTREE%3bttGUMTREE.html
Gumtree Canoe
Gumtree Canoe
Click on Gum Tree Canoe for words and music
Gum Tree Canoe
I’ll sing you a ditty a sweet little song
It will just take a moment it wont keep you long
I will sing of the days when our love was so new
And we sailed down the Murray River boys
In a gum tree canoe
Chorus
We rowed we rowed o’er the water so blue
Like a feather we would float along
In a gum tree canoe
My hand on my banjo my toe in my oar
I work all the day and I sing as I go
At night time I turn to my Julia so true
And we sail down Murray River boys
In a gum tree canoe
I once left the river and went on the land
To set myself up as a cocky so grand
But the life didn’t suit me it made my heart sore
So I went to the Murray River boys
And my Julia so true
Gumtree Canoe
Printed in Gumsuckers’ Gazette April 1963
The song was sent to Frank Nicholls of the Billabong Band in WeMelbourne in 1957. Frank Nicholls wrote “It was sent to us by Mrs J. Wilson, who we met at one of our functions. The song was remembered by members of her family who learned it from
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Junior Hoedowner
Vol 3, Nr. 12
December 2009
Music Inspires: An Interview with the Beckman-Saito Sisters
The following interview by Michelle Harvey appeared in the October/November issue of True
North Parenting Magazine, and is used with permission.
The music coming from the stage sent chills down my spine. Scottish music has a way of
reaching into my soul like that. Excusing myself from a friendly chat, I turned around to face the
musicians who were so stirring my emotions. What I saw did not match what I heard. Two very
young girls poured their hearts and souls into their fiddle and cello, evoking sounds that could
only possibly come from an accomplished adult musician.
Mia, 13, and Kiarra, 9, have been playing violin since they were three. Music is their life. The
Beckman-Saito girls have given up many traditional youth activities to pursue their musical
careers. Still, they lead a very balanced and happy life, committed to music, and clear about their
dreams to become accomplished musicians. Their parents, Bob, builder of custom touring bikes,
and Jan, a full time piano instructor, not only support them but they lead and guide them,
believing that what the girls experience now as aspiring musicians will make them successful in
all areas of their lives.
In an interview that took place next to Jan’s grand piano in their family room, the Beckman
family shared their experience of a musical journey that promises a vibrant future for the girls
and sheds light on the importance of music to family.
Michelle Harvey (MH) – The girls are incredible musicians for such a young age. What makes
them so unique? Why are there not more kids like Mia and Kiarra?
Bob Beckman – Learning to play music is a long term process. It is the antithesis of instant
gratification. Our society has fundamentally become used to instant gratification and we depend
on others to entertain us. But if you learn like our girls have, how to make music and entertain
yourself…you are not dependent on others and you don’t expect to be instantly gratified.
MH – How do you learn to not be dependent on instant gratification?
Bob – If you consider academics, it is easier to understand. In school, kids have to accept the fact
that you have to do the work; you have to stick to it. Everything is learned over a period of time.
You don’t go from 1st grade math to calculus in one year. It is a long term process. But it needs to
be fun too. That is a challenge for educators.
Jan Saito – You also have to explain that it is not always fun and that is just the way it is.
Mia – In the long run, it pays off. If you work on the hard stuff or not fun stuff, what you can get
out of it makes it amazingly enjoyable.
MH – What do you do to push yourself then?
Mia – For my sister Kiarra and me, it is a matter of really trying to work things out. When I am
practicing and I come across something that just isn’t right, you know, it just isn’t working, I
know that if I skip over it, it will come back later and maybe screw up the song.
(To be continued next month)
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Junior Hoedowner
Vol 3, Nr. 11
November 1, 2009
Junior Hoedowner
Mulligan Stew
In June of 2002 at a music camp in Pendleton called Summer Strings, Mulligan Stew was born. The group originally consisted of ten kids, but over the years (the first couple years especially) some drifted away as other activities crowded in to each student’s available time.
During the first five years, we played for many events and earned enough money to finance a music retreat at Wallowa Lake (’05) and attend music camps in Alaska (’05) and Colorado (’06), where we studied under a number of renowned musicians. We took classes in Irish fiddling, old-time fiddling, tin whistle, harp, keyboard, bodhran (Irish drum), guitar, banjo, bass, hammered dulcimer … maybe some others. I’ve forgotten.
By the summer of 2007 the group had assumed its final form: Kodria Haddock, Holly Warne and Blaise Grant on fiddles, Barry Grant (Blaise’s dad) on bass, and Peg Willis on guitar. Blaise and Barry stuck pretty much to their own instruments, but Kodria, Holly and Peg could often be found playing mandolin, cello, viola, keyboard, harp, hammered dulcimer, or whistle. The additional instruments gave a very nice richness and depth to our sound.
We released our first CD, The Mountain Road, in the spring of 2007. It has seen very good sales—well beyond our original expectations.
In 2007, rather than attending a summer music school, we rented a house at Seaside for a week. We learned several slow, beautiful tunes that week and had a ton of fun at the beach. In 2008, we rented a house at Rockaway Beach where we finished up our second recording, Sounds of Time.
Both CD’s are now available at http://personal.my180.net/~fiddlepeg/index.htm (in the Music Store)
In addition to playing many free concerts for charity or community events, Mulligan Stew has regularly held concerts or barn dances to raise money for specific needs – a child needing medical help, a church that burned to the ground, etc.
Saturday, September 19, 2009, at 10:30 p.m. Mulligan Stew officially retired. We had just finished playing 16 shows in 6 days for the Pendleton Round-Up’s Main Street Show. We had known for a year or so that this would be our date of retirement. Blaise has been away at college for a year already. Holly is doing half-time high school and half-time college this year. Kodria is a high school junior. So now we will divide up the money in our account and each one will have a good start on paying for college.
This summer Blaise used part of his Mulligan Stew earnings to go to Ireland for 2½ weeks. He took his fiddle and was able to play with musicians there and pick up some great new tunes.
These “kids” were 9, 10 and 11 years old when Mulligan Stew was born. But they’ve grown up, and it’s time to move on. It’s been wonderful! We wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world! (Peg Willis)
ME AND MY FIDDLE
. This tune was used a year ago but has been brought back (through a nice donation to our scholarship fund) by a special friend of young fiddlers. She enjoys it, she hopes you will, too.
