Milliner - Koken Fiddle Tune Project

Letter from Shel Sandler, BFOTM Board of Directors

As the letter below from Walt Koken explains, he and Clare Milliner are continuing their efforts to publish their collection of old time fiddle tunes. One of the missions of the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music since its inception has been to preserve and disseminate old time music. The BFOTM believes that Clare and Walt’s project is an important undertaking, and is directly within the scope of its mission. Therefore, the BFOTM is creating a BFOTM bank account set-aside for this project, through which interested patrons can make tax-deductible donations for the purposes of defraying the costs of publishing, supplies, software and hardware to assist Clare and Walt to publish their book. Any unused funds contributed to the BFOTM for the purpose of assisting with this project will be used by the BFOTM for the similar purpose of preserving and disseminating old time music. Please spread the word about this opportunity. More information is available on Walt and Clare’s website at www.mudthumper.com. For questions regarding the BFOTM’s involvement, please contact Sheldon Sandler at (302) 571-6673 or ssandler@ycst.com.

Shel Sandler Board of Directors, BFOTM

Contributions in the form of checks or money orders (please do not mail cash) may be sent directly to:

Milliner-Koken Fiddle Tune Project
c/o Sheldon Sandler
Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP
P.O. Box 391
Wilmington, DE 19899-0391

Checks should be made payable to 'Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music'

Letter from Walt Koken

Dear Folks,

This letter is in regard to Clare Milliner’s and my application to the NEA by way of the Greenville, Delaware-based Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music for grant moneys to produce and publish a volume of Clare's transcriptions of over 1500 traditional American fiddle tunes. We would like to thank each of you for your encouragement and letters of support which we included in the grant proposal.

Unfortunately, we’ve been rejected for the second straight year as of April, 2005. Because of the intricate criteria and politics of the granting process as well as the inordinate amount of time already invested in pursuing such a grant, we’ve decided to continue on our own with the transcriptions. The Appalachian Friends of Old Time Music, who put on the annual Labor Day gathering at Lake Genero have made us a generous gift of $1,000 for the project, and others have expressed interest in helping also. The Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music has decided to assist us and will be accepting donations for that purpose, as described in the (above) letter from them.

We are somewhat dismayed by the fact that our government sets up incentives for musical creativity (copyright laws) which provide for a ten billion dollar per year music industry, while essentially turning its back on its various forms of musical heritage, leaving old time music to the very few who can appreciate its beauty as an obscure art form, and who can manage their lifestyles so as to be able to afford what the tradition offers. We know that fiddle tunes are an oral, or aural tradition, which is why few accurately transcribed written collections have been published, but we still think Clare’s twenty years worth of work (and play) should be made accessible to the public, not only for its historical and musical accuracy, but also its pertinence to the body of tunes played widely today.

Meanwhile, we’re plugging along trying to do the things we love best. Clare has added almost three hundred more tunes to her manuscripts since we started our quest two years ago, I’m still entering them into my computer software as time allows, and we spend our Saturday nights whenever we’re at home entertaining anyone who’s interested in trying to play and learn them with us. We feel this is the heart of the tradition. Please join us if you happen to be nearby. Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,
Walt Koken
Mudthumper Music, Box 791, Kennett Square, PA 19348
wkoken@comcast.net
(610) 268-0217