Faires, Festivals, and Craft Shows

Vince's area of greatest experience, he's been performing at renaissance faires and festivals for over five years. He typically performs three or four scheduled stage sets throughout the day, spending much of the time between sets strolling and playing along the lanes of the festival. The combination of performing before larger stage audiences and the more intimate interaction in the lanes is his favorite part of such events, which keeps him returning to it as his most typical venue.

Weddings

Vince has performed at numerous weddings in the past, and these joyful events are among his favorites. He is able to perform during the wedding ceremony (including background music while the guests are seated, processional, recessional, and any other musical needs during the ceremony) and at a reception afterward if so desired. He has traded sets with DJ's and other musical acts before, dividing the time between traditional and modern styles.

Pubs

Vince has been playing pubs almost as long as he's been playing festivals, and is able to perform up to three hours of music (more if he brings a band), including two fifteen minute set breaks. Through upbeat music and audience participation he keeps the audience's attention for the duration of the performance. If a less ostentatious presentation is needed for background music, he is also capable of toning things down to an interesting but not overwhelming level.

Coffee Houses

Coffee Houses and Shops are a great place to showcase the more delicate side of Vince's musical repertoire, which he doesn't often get the opportunity to express. A set that includes more storytelling, with background information of the music being performed, is great fun for all involved.

Living History

An outgrowth of his renaisance faire experience, Vince is able to adopt a renaissance or colonial period persona and give educational tidbits about that persona, the social place of musicians in that period, the cultural place of music, and the history behind the instruments and music performed.

Madrigal Dinners

Vince's very first professional engagement was a madrigal dinner, and he has performed at numerous others since. A sometime member of the Akron, Ohio madrigal troupe King Henry's Touring Company, he has gained a great deal of experience at adding musical background to any period-themed dinner event. He has worked both as the main feature of such an event or with a full cast and company, and is able to incorporate what he does into a wide variety of situations.

Christmas Events

Vince performs instrumentally on the hammered dulcimer many well- and lesser-known Christmas tunes, using his own harmonic arrangements. Such performances are particularly appropriate for colonial- and renaissance-themed events, but also work quite well for office parties and other yuletide celebrations.

School Programs

Through the research Vince has done on the music and instruments he performs he has gained quite a store of knowledge. One of his pleasures of playing coffee houses, living history events, and the lanes at renaissance faires is the opportunity to share some of that knowledge. He presents two categories of school programs, described below, which can be given at an elementary, middle, or high school level. The program on renaissance music includes a selection of instrumental and vocal music from Elizabethan England on cittern and hammered dulcimer, with notes on the social roles of musicians and the cultural place of their music both in the court and countryside. The troubador tradition of medieval France and England is explained, as is the historical evolution of the keyboard and mandolin families of instruments. His Celtic program includes a selection of instrumental and vocal music from Ireland and Scotland on cittern and hammered dulcimer, with notes on the social roles of musicians and their music. This includes an explanation of the ballad tradition as well as historical notes on The Irish Potato Famine, English social policy towards Ireland and Scotland, and the preservation/resuscitation of Gaelic culture (whose chief architects were the poets Robert Burns and William Butler Yeats) all illustrated through music and song.

Lecture Presentations

Aside from the school programs mentioned above, Vince also gives lecture presentations that go into a little more depth on one particular aspect of the music he performs. These are intended for a more advanced audience, and are more lecture than presentation. Some topics he has presented include wire-strung instruments of the sixteenth century, the music of Irish rebellion, and the music of Irish America.

General Notes

Vince is willing to travel up to 750 miles (door to door) from Cincinnati for a performance, further if special accomodations are available. He is able to provide amplification if it is needed for a particular event. He prides himeself on flexibility, not only the ability to accomodate many different types of performances but to be able to combine them and alternate between them to suit a particular venue, event, circumstance, and/or audience. Fees are negotiated individually, taking into account the nature of an event, travel distance (generally $0.10 per mile, round-trip, from Cincinnati), duration of performance, and various other factors.