James
Williamson
Submitted:
April 14, 2013
Awarded
: $
1000
Contact Information:
James
Williamson
41 Marion St. 2
Medford
MA
02155
USA
8315662956
Reference 1:
Jane Hershey
Reference 2:
Dana Maiben
Summary of Submitted Materials:
Receipt for deposit with payment schedule.
Submitted Documents:
Submitted Recordings:
Committee Notes:
Project Description:
I am currently in my final semester of a masters program and I am going to be entering the professional world upon graduation. As such, I will be entering into territories of financial uncertainty. Firstly I have a a fair amount of student loan debt, on top of the cost of occasional further study and the cost of living in greater Boston. Although this is not an optimal time to be buying instruments, I have been getting professional work playing tenor viol so I need an instrument of my own, especially as I will no longer have unrestricted access to the borrowed instruments I have been using while in school. The other means with which I am going to raise funds for the purchasing of this instrument include selling a bow that I rarely use anymore and soliciting contributions from friends and family. The balance will be made up from loans from my family.
Request Amount:
$
1500
Total Project Cost:
$
Budget and Additional Funding:
Qualifications:
I am currently completing a degree at the Longy School of Music in Baroque Cello with secondary studies in viol. Despite my major in school I have been playing predominantly violso much so that many of my colleagues and teachers have been known to be confused about which instrument is my major. I have taken on a leadership role in Jane Hersheys consort repertory classes, often playing all three sizes of instrument in a single concert. I have also been getting professional consort work, playing almost entirely tenor viol. For that professional work, I have been lucky enough to be able to borrow Longys beautiful Linda Shortridge tenor, but unfortunately my access to that instrument will be curtailed once I graduate. I believe that with a professional quality instrument I can continue to make an impact in the Boston consort community.
Letter of Reference 1:
Reference from Jane Hershey:
Hello Marie,
I am not sure if I am writing to you at the proper address for a G-i-A recommendation, but here it is.
James Williamson has been my student at the Longy School of Music of Bard College for the past two years. Although he has been a gamba minor (a cello major) he has played gamba in all of the repertoire classes and ensembles at Longy. He has a passion for the earlier repertoire which gamba leads him to, and his musical and technical skills are an asset to every class he has participated in. He has played vielle, and all sizes of viol in his classes with me, Laurie Monahan and Dana Maiben. His musical expressive range has increased dramatically while at Longy and the depth of understanding of the music he plays is impressive. He is an excellent colleague to his fellow students; he also writes well and follows through on assignments, and is a fine singer.
I think James should be supported by the VdGSA in his quest to have a large tenor viol for consort and lyra playing. This would afford him an excellent alternative to his 7-string, which is primarily a Baroque instrument. I think James will make an important contribution to our field during his career, and is a fine person, well-worth our encouragement.
Jane Hershey
Letter of Reference 2:
Reference from Dana Maiben:
Dear Marie et alia,
I am writing in support of James Williamson's request for funds to help underwrite his purchase of a tenor viol.
James came to Longy as a cello major a couple of years ago. He was a novice viol player at the time, but at Longy he had and took every opportunity to play the viol, and has become a player of great promise. He is musical and smart and collegial, and the kind of player everyone wants to play with. His temperament and keen intelligence suit him very well for polyphony, and he's a good ensemble musician and a good colleague, so his initiative to add a tenor viol to his instrumentarium is well grounded in his interests and in his outstanding potential as a professional gambist, teacher, and consort player.
I urge you and the Viola da Gamba Society to support his request for funds to the full extent the Society is capable; I'm sure that in the coming years everyone will concur that this was a good investment in the mission of the Society, and in an individual who will contribute much to our field.
Thank you for your consideration,
Sincerely,
Dana Maiben
Early Music Faculty, Longy School of Music of Bard College