Who
the heck is Edly?
Hi.
Edly here. Here's a bit about me. I'm a multi-instrumentalist
(clarinet, sax, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, piano, bones,
recorder, electric bass, and assorted other things), composer,
performer, and teacher. I listen to, love, and play, many types
of music. Most recently I taught piano, theory, and musicianship at Bennington Vermont's "Sonatas," a piano camp for adults of all levels. Before that, I wrote music articles for the Maine Times for a while,
and my article "Teach
Your Children Well" was published in the January 1993
issue of Keyboard Magazine as the guest editorial "Blood
on the Battlefield of Music Education." Check
it out! But let me back up.
I have a B.A. with Honors in music from Wesleyan University.
I also attended the Berklee College of Music and the University
of Michigan at Interlochen.
After
college, I played here and there and tried to glean meaning from trying
to market noncommercial music to commercial markets until I had an
epiphany, and began teaching. Things blossomed from there, until I was
teaching quite a lot. During that time, I began typing and printing on
my computer stuff that I'd been writing out by hand for students for
years: triads. This eventually became Edly's
Music Theory for Practical People written over the course
of four years. Encouraged by the success of the theory book,
I decided to write more books: (see Edly
Paints the Ivories Blue).
I
was a featured author on CNN On-line's weekly chat in 1998 and am a
past member of the Casco Bay Tummlers Klezmer band. I also performed
solo for many years. I've played in orchestras, rock and folk bands,
string quartets, various commercial bands, informal jazz and ethnic
groups of various persuasions, and sung in choirs. I've written music
in a handful of different styles, both commercially and
noncommercially, for many ensembles, including orchestra, chamber, and
synthesized.
I've lived in the Boston and San Francisco Bay areas. In San Francisco I repaired furniture
for a while 'til I joined a folk show-band for just under a year,
entertained at retirement homes and convalescent hospitals (great
times!), and then moved to Maine. I moved
to the Amherst five college area while the millenium was still
relatively new. I now live in a geodesic dome with my wonderful wife and best friend Heather, and my main man and son Bowen.
I
haven't made any pottery or origami in years. Nor have I brewed beer.
But happily, I am juggling a lot. I can also be found paddling and
rolling my kayak in the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers whenever
possible.
Want to
know more about the history of my books? Click here
to read Kevin Crossett's March, 2000 interview with me. Kevin
is the owner of Play It Again Sam, a fine music store in Montpelier
Vermont. My friend Lawwy says it's a very fun interview. And
Lawwy knows fun when he sees it.