For the last ten years, HeartsEase has played for the monthly Rensselaer English Country Dances at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. They have also performed music for dancing and listening at other social occasions (fairs, weddings, parties, concerts, etc.) around the region. They can play modern, Baroque and Victorian music, as well as wearing appropriate costumes. Heart’s Ease is a vernacular name for small pansies, and is also the name of a popular English country dance. The musicians in HeartsEase are Diane Bell on fiddle, Vonnie Estes on piano, Marilee Urbanczyk on Irish penny whistle and percussion, Patricia Kernan on flute and harp, and Gail Griffith on concertina and cello. Gail has also taught and called traditional Baroque, Victorian, English, American, Welsh, and German dances to people of all ages and levels of experience, for over thirty years. Contact Gail Griffith for bookings or further information, at geg345 at gmail dot com or (518) 674-3052, 345 Totem Lodge Rd., Averill Park, NY 12018 Music Sample - The Fork Returner
HeartsEase is a unique musical group from the Capital District, specializing in instrumental, acoustic ‘English country dance’ music. The band performs in an elegant but playful way, improvising harmonies and countermelodies to beautiful tunes from the 17th century up to the present.