But every Saturday she makes the 10-mile drive with a viola in tow for orchestra practice at the prison just north of Anchorage. Coffman, a founding member of the women’s string orchestra at the prison in 2003, will debut as a citizen member when the two annual holiday concerts are held Saturday. Acclaimed cellist Zuill Bailey will also perform with the women.

“It probably seems weird to other people,” said Coffman, who was released Feb. 1. “A lot of people I love and care about are here, my friends. It’s almost a little comforting to see them, but I’m very happy to leave when it’s time to go.”

This year’s concert is also a milestone for another founding member, cellist Dana Hilbish, convicted for the 1991 murder of her common law husband in Ketchikan. She received a 60-year sentence, with 25 suspended.

It will be her last performance. Hilbish has been granted parole early next year. The parole board “could have chosen to release me at that moment, and I was actually hoping they wouldn’t release me before the concert because this is a closing piece with friends that have become family for me,” said a beaming Hilbish.

Pati Crofut, director of the Anchorage-based Arts on the Edge, founded the orchestra nine years ago at the suggestion of a friend, who was the educational coordinator at the prison. Crofut said she took up cello as an adult, and actually played in her son’s school orchestras in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

A Women’s Prison Orchestra Thrives BehindBars

“I ran out of orchestras,” she told her friend, who suggested she start an orchestra at the prison. Crofut says there were some rocky days in getting the orchestra started, including a revolving door of prisoners in the program.

Since then, rules have been established, including only allowing women with long prison sentences to become members since it takes time to learn how to play a stringed instrument. Orchestra members also have to working with other rehabilitative programs in the prison, promise to practice and take part in the annual concert, which is a fundraiser to help sustain the orchestra.

The orchestra has grown from eight to 30 members, divided into three separate groups: beginners, intermediate and advanced. The latter, Crofut says, is playing at a high-school orchestra level. Conductor Gabrielle Whitfield, also an Anchorage public schools teacher, said the Saturday practices at the prison are the highlight of her week.

“They always say the greater a person’s sadness in life, the greater their capacity for joy,” she said. “I totally find that to be true here.” For the prisoners, the hour-long Saturday orchestra practice gives them a break in their highly structured prison routine. Hilbish said she’s so protective of that hour, she tells people not to visit her on Saturdays.

“The routine is the same, you get up at the same time, everything is the same. With music, it’s going to be different, it’s going to be challenging,” said Coffman, who was convicted in 1997 of stealing marijuana and the murder of the homeowner in Willow, even though she didn’t enter the house. The jury found she was the leader of the people who did, however.

Music gave her “something to focus on besides being unhappy and walking around like a robot,” she said. Beyond a reward, being in the orchestra gives the prisoners an identity. “So much of the time in jail, your life is really compartmentalized and very structured, and you have to wear a certain thing and follow a strict schedule, and orchestra is like, ‘Well, I’m a musician,’ and music is a certain kind of freedom, to be able to make music and make music with your friends, so it is really a sense of being free,” Whitfield said.

Whenever anyone outside of prison shows any positive interest in the inmates, Coffman said it helps the women’s self-esteem. “Sometimes you feel like you don’t matter because you know you’ve done something wrong and this is your punishment, and you don’t really deserve to be recognized, and so when people do, it’s surprising and it feels really good,” said Coffman, who now works for an accountant and is taking classes.

“That’s huge in transforming a person’s life because they want to keep doing that,” she said.

Download the appropriate part or all the parts and learn them as well as you can.

Record yourself using the click track in ear (not audible on the recording) and SPREND the file to pierre@fiddlerman.com (Do not email any files, they will be too big)
Deadline for turning in the audio or video files is for now, December 10th. Please spread the word to everyone you know that plays the violin. The more the merrier. Ho – ho – ho!!!

If you don’t wish to be seen just record audio. I will mix the parts first then add the video. Sending a video gives Fiddlerman.com the rights to use the video as seen fit for a youtube project.

Demo and help videos of the violin parts by Fiddlerman soon to come.

Everyone is welcome to participate in this fun and exciting project. I encourage you to recruit players to make this event even more fun.

Download any or all parts and choose the most appropriate one to record based on your capabilities.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen PDF sheet-music parts:

Violin

• Christmas Project – Score
• Christmas Project – Violin 1
• Christmas Project – Violin 2
• Christmas Project – Violin 3
• Christmas Project – Violin 4
• Christmas Project – Violin 5

Viola

• Christmas Project – Viola 1
• Christmas Project – Viola 2
• Christmas Project – Viola 3
• Christmas Project – Viola 4
• Christmas Project – Viola 5

MP3 files from Finale file

• Christmas Project – MP3
• Christmas Project – Violin 1 – MP3
• Christmas Project – Violin 2 – MP3
• Christmas Project – Violin 3 – MP3
• Christmas Project – Violin 4 – MP3

See previous projects:

Ghostbusters Project

Bile Em Cabbage Down Project

He’s a Pirate Project

Christmas 2011 Project

Twenty one members of Fiddlerman.com / Violaman.com particapated in the Halloween project 2012. A few members recorded all five parts. Eight members sent in videos. This is the result. Special thanks to all the participants:
Violin 1: Adverse, Esse, Fiddlerdude, Fiddlerman, Janet, Minh, Sara
Viola 1: HeadCheese
Violin 2: Fiddlerman, Heather, Jake, Minh
Violin 3: Fiddlerman, Minh, MusicLover, ViolinGirl
Violin 3 and Cello: Xavi and Dani
Violin 4: Fiddlerman, Julie, Minh, TunesB
Violin 5: Alma, Diane, Minh, Naska
Violin 5 and Cello: Xavi and Dani

Stay posted for information on the next project which will be ready in time for Christmas.

Join the forum discussion on this post

Upon receiving a brand new violin from the internet or local retail store, chances are you need to set or move the bridge in the right location and position and tune your violin up from almost or complete loose.

Learning to easily set up a violin with loose or new strings will make all kind of jobs much easier. Don’t be afraid to work on your instrument. The more you do it the easier it becomes. When changing a whole set of strings, simply loosen, remove, change and re-tune one string at a time.

• Arrange a stable working surface with a soft cover such as a large towel.
• Make sure the center of the bridges feet line up with the inside f-hole notches.
• While looking over the violin, insure that the strings are centered over the fingerboard by lifting and sliding the bridge to the right or left accordingly.
• Constantly check that the bridge is not leaning too far forward or backwards.
• Keeping the bridge at a slight back angle will insure that the strings do not pull the bridge over and even risk snapping.
• Tune each string one by one while controlling the angle of the bridge.
• Tightening one string will change the pitch of another requiring you to tune over and over between the different strings.
• Remember to frequently check the bridges angle.

All interested violists and violinists are welcome to learn the parts arranged and available here on Violaman.com for the “Ghostbusters” International Youtube Project for Halloween 2012.

At the beginning of October members will record themselves individually using a click track and send the files to Fiddlerman (at Fiddlerman.com) who will create a memorable combined “Ghostbusters” International youtube video just in time to post to all your friends on Halloween.

Download the appropriate part or all the parts and learn them as well as you can.

Record yourself using the Click-track (soon available) in ear (not audible on the recording) and SPREND the file to pierre@fiddlerman.com (Do not email any files, they will be too big)
Deadline for turning in the audio or video files is for now, October 8th. Please spread the word to everyone you know that plays the violin. The more the merrier.

If you don’t wish to be seen just record audio.  I will mix the parts first then add the video. Sending a video gives Violaman.com and Fiddlerman.com the rights to use the video as seen fit for a youtube project.

Demo and help videos of the violin parts by Fiddlerman soon to come.

Everyone is welcome to participate in this fun and exciting project. I encourage you to recruit players to make this event even more fun.

Download any or all parts and choose the most appropriate one to record based on your capabilities.

Ghostbusters – VIOLA

• Ghostbusters – viola 1
• Ghostbusters – viola 2
• Ghostbusters – viola 3
• Ghostbusters – viola 4

Ghostbusters – VIOLIN

• Ghostbusters – violin 1
• Ghostbusters -violin 2
• Ghostbusters – violin 3
• Ghostbusters – violin 4
• Ghostbusters – violin 5

Midi parts:

• Ghostbusters Project – Score
• Ghostbusters Project-Violin 1
• Ghostbusters Project-Violin 2
• Ghostbusters Project-Violin 3
• Ghostbusters Project-Violin 4
• Ghostbusters Project-Violin 5
• Ghostbusters Project-Viola 1
• Ghostbusters Project-Viola 2
• Ghostbusters Project-Viola 3
• Ghostbusters Project-Viola 4

See previous projects:

Bile Em Cabbage Down Project

He’s a Pirate Project

All interested violinists and violists are welcome to learn the parts arranged and available here on Fiddlerman.com. for the Bile Em Cabbage Down International Youtube Project.

At the end of July members will record themselves individually a click track that will be posted here to create a memorable Bile Em Cabbage Down International Youtube Project.

Download the appropriate part or all the parts and learn them as well as you can.

Record yourself using the Click-track in ear not audible on the recording and SPREND the file to pierre@fiddlerman.com (Do not email any files to me, they will be too big)

Deadline for turning in the audio or video files is for now, July 30th. Please spread the word to everyone you know that plays the violin or viola. The more the merrier.

If you don’t wish to be seen just record audio. I will mix the parts first then add the video. There is a possibility that not every video will be seen but all the appropriate audio from the video files will be. Sending me a video gives Fiddlerman.com the rights to use the video as seen fit for a youtube project.

Demo videos soon to come for help on how to play the parts.

Everyone is welcome to participate in this fun and exciting project. I encourage you to recruit players to make this event even more fun.

Download any or all parts and choose the most appropriate one to record based on your capabilities.

Bile Em Cabbage Down for VIOLIN

Bile Em Cabbage Down for VIOLA

Bile Em Cabbage Down – viola 1

Bile Em Cabbage Down – viola 2

Bile Em Cabbage Down – viola 3

Bile Em Cabbage Down – viola 4

MIDI PARTS

Bile Em Cabbage Down – Four Parts – MIDI file

Bile Em Cabbage Down – violin/viola 1 – MIDI file

Bile Em Cabbage Down – violin/viola 2 – MIDI file

Bile Em Cabbage Down – violin/viola 3 – MIDI file

Bile Em Cabbage Down – violin/viola 4 – MIDI file

CLICK TRACK – for recording in unison – download, save, practice with, and record while playing in-ear. Bile Em Cabbage Down – Click Track – to save, right click (control click for Mac) and choose “Save Link As.”

via Fiddlerman’s Bile Em Cabbage Down International Youtube Project | Fiddlerman.

Join the forum discussion on this post

The rules for the giveaway were as follows:

1. Make a video advertisement to promote Violaman.com
2. Make sure your video mentions Violaman.com and reasons for visiting.
3. Upload that video to Youtube and attempt to get as many views for your video as possible.
4. Include links to Violaman.com in your description text on Youtube.
5. Share this post with as many friends as possible.
6. LIKE this page. The link can be found on the top of the right hand sidebar.
7. Post your youtube video on Violaman.com’s forum.

Members of Violaman.com and Fiddlerman.com will vote on their favorite video out of the top three most viewed eligible videos.

However, we did not receive three videos until much later than the original deadline. Because of complaints for one of the contestants being an administrator though in reality he is just a contributor, I have decided to remove him as administrator instead of eliminating him from the contest.  I would like to see the winner as a frequent visitor and contributor and therefor cannot see a valid reason to eliminate his entry.

The winner of the CVA-500 will be announced on May 29th if there is not too many questionable votes such as repeated votes from same IP, or many registered users from the same server etc. Please keep this competition fair.

Good luck to all three contestants who did a great job and deserve to win.

Jessica

Kristen

HeadCheese

Join the forum discussion on this post

High quality hand made carbon fiber viola bow with a round stick. Full size. Nicely decorated copper mounted ebony frog. Quality Siberian horse hair. Great balance. Very nice arch with good bounce and action. If you are not satisfied with this bow return it to me within 15 days for a full refund. You only pay for the postage. Carbon fiber bows are dependable and strong

Fiddlerman's Carbon Fiber Bow - Viola

Learn to play Danny Boy by Violaman. See fingers close up, copy and learn to play this piece just in time for St Patrik’s Day. Find the sheet-music for this along with fingerings here:

http://violaman.com/sheet-music/