Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) has invited the public to attend the upcoming folk instrument documentation event on Thursday, August 31st from 2 to 6 pm at The Whallonsburg Grange Hall.

This event will focus on the making and keeping of folk instruments, such as fiddles, guitars, and other instruments that are part of regional, community, or family musical traditions.

This documentation day is one in a series of programs that are a part of TAUNY’s next research project and exhibit, “Instrumental Stories: North Country Folk Instrument Making and Collecting.”

Over the coming months, in preparation for a spring 2018 exhibit, TAUNY is documenting makers, keepers, and collectors of folk instruments and the stories that go with those instruments, their creation, and their use.

“For this project, instrument-makers might include anyone from a professional luthier who supplies a whole community to someone who just wanted to try making an instrument and improvised one from materials on hand. Instruments people keep might be an uncle’s guitar, a piano their grandmother played for kitchen dances, or a classical instrument that was used to play in a folk tradition,” TAUNY announced. “The project also seeks to document the making and keeping of instrument accessories, such as cases and covers, as well as instrument repair resources.”

Those interested in sharing their instruments for this documentation event should bring the instrument if possible, and be prepared to fill out a questionnaire about their instrument(s) and related stories. The form is also available online.

Appointments during the documentation hours are encouraged. Documentation events will be led by Camilla Ammirati, TAUNY Director of Research and Programs. Contact Camilla at camilla@tauny.org or (315) 386-4289 to make an appointment or for questions.

Additional documentation events will be Wednesday, August 30, 4 to 7 pm at BluSeed Studios in Saranac Lake, and Sunday, September 10, 1 to 3:30 pm, at the North American Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame in Osceola. Further dates will be listed here.

Research will continue through December 2017.

The Whallonsburg Grange Hall is located at 1610 NYS Route 22, Whallonsburg.

For more information about TAUNY, visit their website.

Photo: Dale Streeter of the Adirondack Playboys shows a guitar he made working with luthier Tracy Cox, 2016, provided.