October 28, 2017 Flash Mob! Thriller Hannibal, MO

We had a great time downtown last night!

We love our little town on Hannibal, MO.

There is always something going on here!

Our Downtown Historic District is alive and busy and so much fun!

Last night was a Halloween Festivity Evening.

Halloween Parade ...

Living Dead Windows ...

And a Flash Mob!

Thriller!!!

Yes!  

We saw lots of friends.

It was only 35 degrees and the breeze was blowing which made

it seem just a bit colder.

But we were having so much fun that

we really didn't notice how

cold we were until

everything was

over and

we were

heading

to 

the 

car.

I took a video of the Flash Mob

as they danced to Thriller.

Here it is!

Enjoy!

Last Session For Joanne ... For a While

It was a wonderful session at O'griff's last night.

Our Irish Whistle player ... Joanne ...

will be leaving to go on a mission within a few days.

It will be two years before we see her again.

We told her that we will play all of her favorite tunes while she's gone.

She will not be forgotten!

We all wish her well

and much success!

We will be thinking of you

while you are gone.

Hopefully you can close your eyes on a Wednesday night ...

Just for a moment ...

And hear the sweet spirit of our music reaching out to you.

You are a wonderful friend!

I will be praying for you!

I will be playing tunes for you!

Wishing you much love and success!

The Future Looks Good

As I sit here thinking and pondering ...

making a list ...

evaluating ...

I can't help but smile.

This is going to be a fabulous music year.

Both for me ...

and for my students.

We are going to go on a bit of an adventure.

We're going to stretch out of the box a little bit.

We're going to explore ...

expand ...

try ...

succeed ...

we are going to reach.

I ...

knowing the plan ...

am wound like a top ...

trying not to explode and start all of these activities all at the same time.

One at a time ...

pace ...

no stress ...

prizes ...

fun ...

smiles ...

giggles.

That is our future at Miss Ava's Music Instruction.

The future looks good.

Day #7 Old Joe Clark with Doug on Tenor Banjo

Day #7

Old Joe Clark

with Doug on tenor banjo!

This project of video recording is turning out to be quite the adventure!

Fun ...

Pressure ...

Time together ...

Many re-takes ...

and

Lots of music!

We hope you enjoy it!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

One Of My Favorite Things To Do

Yes,

it sure is one of my favorite things to do ...

Music!

My wish for the world ...

is that every one of us has something in our lives 

that makes us happy.

For me it is music.

Music never lets me down.

Here's Doug and I ... 

and the rest of the group ...

Doing what we love!

Happy Music to You!

Day #6 Dubuque

Day #6

Dubuque

Doug Potterfield on guitar

Ava Potterfield on fiddle

Playing with RagTag Irish Band

at

O'griffs Irish Pub in Quincy, IL

Thanks for stopping by the blog!!

We appreciate you!

Happy Music To You!!

Day #5 Amazing Grace

Day #5

Amazing Grace

Guitar and Vocals by Ava Potterfield

Happy Music to You!

Day #4 Angeline the Baker

Day #4

Angeline the Baker

with

Ava Potterfield on fiddle

Doug Potterfield on guitar

Happy Music to You!

Day #3 Cotton Eyed Joe

Day #3

Cotton Eyed Joe

Doug Potterfield on Tenor Banjo

Ava Potterfield on Guitar

Day #3 ... 

And many more to go!

It's going to be an adventure!!!!!

Happy Music to You!

Ava Potterfield

Day #2 The Girl I Left Behind

Day #2

The Girl I Left Behind

It's us again!  

Day #2 

Doug and I Playing The Girl I Left Behind 

Only 363 Days to go!

Whoo hoo!!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Cooley's Reel ... Day #1

Doug and I are going to be doing a video a day on our youtube channel.

This is going to keep us pretty busy!

But that is a good thing!

Right?

Right!!!!!

Here is Day #1

Cooley's Reel

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Swallow Tail Jig and Road to Lisdoonvarn on the Fiddle

I am sitting here smiling a great big smile.

You all know that I am a musician.

I play the piano, violin, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, five string banjo, tenor banjo, penny whistle, hammer dulcimer  ... and some other things.

When I suffered a hand injury last May in 2016 it put a stop to all of that for a while.  

The piano and my tenor banjo were the first two instruments that I was able to play after my injury.

This is a video of the first time I've been able to play my fiddle since last May.  

St. Patrick's Day 2017

I was so happy to have everything work like it should!

It still hurts to play ...

and I have to limit my time ...

but it's progress and will only get better from here!

So happy!

Here's the video ...

Me on the fiddle and Doug on guitar ...

Swallow Tail Jig and Road to Lisdoonvarna.

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Happy St Patrick's Day! Cappamore Polka/Bill Sullivan's Polka Medley

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!!!!

Doug and I will be playing Irish music all day today!

Getting ready to get dressed and hit the road!  

Here's a medley we played with RagTag Irish Band.

Cappamore Polka and Bill Sullivan's Polka ...

Enjoy!

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Red Wing

We took some time out of the day today to sit down and make a new video.

This time Doug played his mandolin.

He was a mandolin playing man when I first met him.

The sexiest mandolin player I've ever seen.

There we are!

And there's Dooley asleep on the couch behind us.

Holding hands while we listen and watch our recording to see how we like it.

Doug is pleased.

I'm pleased.

Now we can stretch out and rest for a moment.

Here's our video.

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

The Crawdad Song

Doug and I met while playing music at a Bluegrass Festival in Hannibal, Missouri.

I was playing the fiddle and he was playing the mandolin.

A few months later we began playing music together and this is one of the songs that we learned to play together with the Potterfield's group called North Ely Opry.

It remains one of our favorites to this day.

This video was made in our living room.

You can see one of our dogs, Cookie, laying in the recliner next to Doug.

All of our dogs ... we have four ... are used to us playing and singing all kinds of music and they usually lay right down and go to sleep while we do it.

Cookie spends the whole song in the recliner.  

She is such a sweetheart.  We love her.

Here's our video and we hope that you enjoy it!

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Who Put The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's Chowder

Here's a video I recorded for you.

My glasses kept sliding down my nose but there was nothing that I could do about it.

LOL

I'm just now able to play guitar again for short periods of time ... 

about two songs ...

then I have to stop.

This tune is called

Who Put The Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's Chowder

Enjoy!

January 11th, 2017 Wednesday

Doug and I played with RagTag at O'griffs!

No new videos to share because I forgot the memory card for the camera.

It was still in my computer from earlier in the day when I was loading pictures.

We had a good time though!

Lots of fun playing music!

A great crowd!

Friends who came to listen!

I had my own pitcher of sweet tea!

That's what I always have.

Toasted to my birthday (the 5th)  and Dotty's birthday (the 12th).

Can't wait until our next session!

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield

Sailors Hornpipe with RagTag Irish Band DSCN0661 Sailors Hornpipe

Here's Doug and I playing with RagTag Irish Band in Quincy, Illinois.

We play there every second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 6pm to 8pm.

If you find yourself in Quincy, IL at that time ...

come on out and cheer us on!

As always ...

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Happy Music To You!

Ava Potterfield