Quick – how many strings does a fiddle have?
In the United States, you’re most likely to answer four. But in Mongolia, the horse head fiddle – the morin khurr – has only two.
Mongol performer Ariunbold Mijiddorj will give a rare performance on the horse head fiddle, Wednesday, May 18, at 7 p.m., in Hot Springs County Schools Auditorium.
Also performing with him is his daughter, Georgia, a traditional Mongol contortionist dancer.
The program is open to the public without charge.
The horse head fiddle was originally a wood-framed body covered with animal skin, like a drum or banjo. Today many are made with solid wood bodies. The body is attached to a long neck with two strings fashioned of horsehair. A bow is drawn across the strings, after the fashion of a cello. It is tuned to what is, in Western music, a minor “pentatonic” scale.
Mr. Mijiddorj travels with an interpreter and his daughter, a contortionist dancer, who will perform to the music. He will be giving demonstrations at the school throughout the day and for the after school Lights On program.
The program is supported in part by grants from the Wyoming Humanities Council, 21st Century Community Learning Center, and Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation.
Mongolia is a land-locked area between Russia and China, mostly pasture and desert, with extreme temperatures. Its people are traditionally nomads, and the horse is very important to them – much as it has been in the wide expanses of Wyoming.

An Evening with Mongol Culture
Ariunbold Mijiddorj, horse head fiddle player
Georgia, traditional Mongol contortionist dancer

Thermopolis, WY
Wednesday, May 18, 2011

9:09-9:39 a.m. Middle School Band
10:00-10:30 Middle School Choir
12:35-1:10 p.m. Elementary School – 3rd grade, Elementary School Music Room
2:00-2:30 Elementary School – 4th grade, Elementary School Music Room
2:30-3:20 High School Band Room
4:00-4:30 Lights on, Elementary School: 3-4th graders – how to play percussion to one song
4:30-5:00 Elementary School gym, student percussion
7:00 p.m. Public performance, Thermopolis HS Auditorium

* “Old-time Classes” all day, starting 9 a.m.
* Horseshoe demonstrations
* Recess games
12:30 – Pie & ice cream sale
3:00 – Live mannequinj hunt
3:30 – Scavenger hunt
5:00 – Roast pig dinner $10/single; $15/double; $20/family of four
6:30 – Special skits, coordinated by historian Dorothy Milek

Sponsored by Hot Springs Co. Museum, Hot Springs Historical Society, Hot Springs County Pioneer Assn., Friends of the County Museum

An Australian storyteller and didjeridoo player – a yodeling cowboy – a Mongolian musician who specializes in the horsehair fiddle – live hawks from the Denver Zoo – national award-winning bluegrass musicians – and the University of Wyoming Artmobile – they are all part of activities in Thermopolis this spring.
The variety of programs is the result of a concerted effort by local groups and the county schools working together to benefit both students and the public. Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation acts as a coordinating agency, according to Richard Salberg, long-time Foundation member who was recently elected president.

“When performers come to Thermopolis, many go away exhausted,” he laughed. “They might do school programs and classroom teaching, a public performance, a visit to the Senior Citizens Center or a Lights On activity, and a small house concert. – all in two or three days.
“The result is that our community is exposed to the quality usually found in larger communities.”
The spring schedule includes:
* Thursday-Friday, April 7-8 – Paul “Walking Stick” Taylor, internationally recognized Australian storyteller and didjeridoo player. The didjeridoo is a long hollow tube-like instrument played by Australian aborigine natives. It requires a special “circular” breathing technique. Taylor, who spends part of each year working with the Native peoples, will be teaching students how to make their own didjeridoos and how to play them. He will perform at the school auditorium, Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. Thermopolis students – and their new instruments — will be part of the performance. Tickets for the performance are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors but students up to age 18 are free.
* April 12 – Buffalo Bill Boycott, a Cody artist, a long-time performer on the Wyoming Arts Roster, will provide a school residency. “Boycott is a great yodeler, singer and teller of tales,” said Salberg. “We are hoping to get him back later in the year to do a public performance.”

Taylor and Boycott are sponsored by Hot Springs County School District #1 and Greater Learning Foundation, with a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

* Saturday, April 16 – Bluegrass Workshop with Keith Reid (banjo), Colorado Springs; Ben Winship (mandolin),Victor, Idaho; and John Lowell (guitar), Manhattan, Montana. “This is a great opportunity for our local musicians,” said Ed Capen, who oversees monthly Music Jams. The workshop is organized by Zieb and Joan Stetler, long-time Thermopolis educators and musicians. “Through their efforts, we were able to get three really top-notch musicians here,” Capen said. They will also be featured at a special limited house concert, April 16 at 7 p.m.
* Thursday, April 28 – Mongolian musician Ariunbold Mijiddorj will perform on the morin khuur – the bowed two-string instrument considered a national symbol of Mongolia. He has performed around the world and was a member of the National Folk Music and Dance Ensemble of Mongolia for 19 years, The program is sponsored by Hot Springs County Schools and the University of Wyoming. A public performance will be scheduled.
* Tuesday-Thursday, May 3-5 – The University of Wyoming Art Express Van will feature the show, “Contemporary Art in Wyoming,” from the University’s collections. There will be school art activities, plus an opportunity for the public to view the show.
* Wednesday, May 11 – “HawkQwest” features Heidi Hunt with the Denver Zoo outreach program. Hunt brings live hawks for her programs. Details will be available in early May.
In addition, Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation continues to support the Community Music Jam Sessions at Southside Shell Station. This spring, there will be jams on Friday nights, 6-8 p.m., April 15 and May 20.
“One reason we are able to bring in so many good people is that we are working together and with other state organizations to identify artists traveling in the region,” Salberg said. “Often we’re able to schedule them as they travel between other performance sites.”
Salberg noted that most programs sponsored by the Foundation are supported through regional grants. “Getting funds is very competitive,” Salberg said. “We’ve developed a good relationship with the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming Humanities Council, among others. But they only pay a portion of the costs. We try to keep ticket prices to a minimum and to provide some programs without a charge.
“But we’re like National Public Radio,” he said. “Every once in a while, we have to stick out our hands and ask for help from our friends and community.”

The Tremors, a respected Casper music duo, will give a special limited house concert in Thermopolis, Saturday, Feb. 26.

Cory McDaniel and Dale Bohren are skilled musicians whose eclectic music ranges from blues to humorous and original songs with plenty of vocal harmony. McDaniel plays a variety of guitars; Bohren plays the stand-up bass.

McDaniel is a skilled songwriter who was inspired by such diverse musicians as 1940s Big Band groups to Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen.

Bohren was born into a talented family of singers and began playing string bass in elementary school. He has played with both the Montana and Wyoming Symphony Orchestras.

Because of other professional commitments, the duo play a limited number of concerts each year.

Tickets are $40, and include the evening with the artists, an informal performance and refreshments. The program is sponsored by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation and Broadway Bygones. For more information: 864-4070.

January 28-30

Boysen State Park

* Ice fishing derby Jan. 28-30
* ORV Poker Run Jan. 29 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Continue reading →

“They Served With Honor,” an exhibit commemorating Wyoming World War II veterans, will be on display Feb.1-8 at Hot Springs County Museum. The exhibit includes 52 feature stories printed in the Casper Star-Tribune over the past year, along with metal plates used for printing.

A special commemoration service will be held in Thermopolis Tues., Feb. 1, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the museum. The Veterans of Foreign Wars will conduct the opening flag ceremony, with the help of local Scouts. Short presentations by area residents will include World War II music and poetry. Kids can try on a vintage helmet and gas mask. Refreshments will be served. The event is free to the public.

The feature series is a collaboration of the Casper Star-Tribune, Casper Journal and trib.com. The idea was sparked by reporter Kristy Gray, after she accompanied veterans on an Wyoming Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

The veterans had so many stories, and something needed to be done to preserve their stories, she told editors. They agreed, and the first feature ran in the Casper Star-Tribune Veterans Day 2009. “We assigned three reporters – Kristy, Margaret  Matray — who had also gone on an Honor Flight – and Christine Peterson,” said Casper Journal editor Dale Bohren. “We originally meant to run the series a year. But the profiles have been so popular with readers that we are still running them.”

This month, the newspaper series received a 2010 Pacemaker Award from the Wyoming Press Association.

“The surprising thing we discovered was veterans don’t talk about their experience much,” Bohren said. “In fact, many veterans’ families don’t hear their stories until they read it in an obituary. It’s not that the veterans don’t want to talk about their experiences; in the case of WWII veterans, they’d had their belly full of the war and were happy to just move on. Besides, nobody was asking to hear their story. But we are.”

The featured veterans include men and women officers and enlisted personnel from across Wyoming, including Riverton, Shoshoni, Buffalo, Casper, Lusk and Dubois. Since the series began, several of the veterans interviewed have died.

To reach a wide audience, the features and videos of the interviews are posted on the Casper Journal website (www.casperjournal.com). Bustard’s Funeral Directors, W.N. McMurry Construction and Pathfinder Renewable Energy helped with extra expenses of travel and videography. The Marine Corps League is transporting the exhibit to every Wyoming county.

Local event sponsors are Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation and Hot Springs County Museum.

Special Consensus, nationally recognized bluegrass band from Tennessee, will perform in Thermopolis, Thursday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m., in the Hot Springs County School Auditorium.

Special Consensus is number one on bluegrass music charts. Continue reading →