The O-town Scene

Music People Susquehanna String Band member Rick Bunting took talked to the Scene about music education, Bainbridge gigs and on-the-fly performing. The Susquehanna String Band, a group that has been performing together since 1979, will have its annual Bainbridge concert at 8 p.m. Friday at the Bainbridge Town Hall. The Susquehanna String Band has been playing together since 1979: How did you all meet each other? We met when I was teaching at SUNY Fredonia and John was a voice student of mine. When I moved to Bainbridge in 1976, John and Danny would come to visit. In 1979, The Town Hall in Bainbidge featured a Backstage Coffee House, and we decided to play together there. River bands were big then, so The Susquehanna String Band was born. What instruments are incorporated into your performances? Fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, hammered dulcimer, lap dulcimer, concertina, pennywhistle and piano. Are you all from the area? Do you all live in the area now? Dan lives in Red Creek, which is up on Lake Ontario west of Oswego. John lives in Green- field Center outside of Saratoga. What does it take to have such longevity as a band? Patience with one another. This band is unique because we don’t play together all the time and we all have our own professional life outside the group. The other main ingredient is respect. We all bring different strengths to our performance, and we each respect the others’ gifts. You are a former chair of music education at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam: How has teaching music influenced your music playing and performing? Part of the teaching process is getting stu- dents to focus on their own performance and reduce competitivness and comparison. I try to practice what I preach. Dan and John are also instructors: How do you all find time to rehearse and perform together? We don’t get much time to practice, but occasion- ally we do have time to develop new mate- rial. We function more like a chamber group in that respect. We have our repertoire, which we add to when we can. There have been many times when the first note we play together is in front of the audi- ence. That sounds dangerous, but when you really know your cohorts it doesn’t take long to gel as an ensemble. Contributed photo Dan Duggan, John Kirk and Rick Bunting make up The Susquehanna String Band. How often do you perform as a “The show is our ‘hometown’ party.” group? Where do you perform? As a group, we have performed all over the Northeast in venues ranging from The Ken- nedy Center to kindergarden classrooms. Since both John and Danny maintain a busy sched- ule performing with other groups, our playing is limited (another reason for longevity). We do quite a bit of performing in the months of September, October and April, with scattered perfor- mances at other times. What advice do you give students who are interested in becoming profes- sional musicians? It is most important that you know what you want to do. All too often dreams are built on specific goals ( i.e., I want to sing at the Met or I want to play a specific festival, etc.). The real prize is performing itself. No audience is too small, and every gig is a chance to grow and hone your craft. Who are some of your favorite non- bluegrass or string musicians? Does popular music ever influence your songs? In the spirit of the answer to the last ques- tion, fellow performers of all genres come in and out of “favor.” I try to keep myself open to anyone becoming a favorite at any time. The popular music I grew up with was cer- tainly a part of my musical development, but I don’t perform any of that repertoire. The bulk of what we perform as a group is drawn from the Celtic and Appalachian songbook. What do you like about performing in Bainbridge, where the group first performed in 1979 and where you’ll perform Friday? The annual Bainbridge performance is spe- cial to all of us. It is indeed home to me, and throughout the years both John and Danny, too, have devoloped strong connections with so many people in this area. The show is our “hometown” party. — Cassandra Miller Want to interview musicians, chefs and artists, or write stories and reviews? E-mail Cassandra at editor@otownscene.com Jan. 6, 2011 O-Town Scene 15

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