♪ >> And one of the things about Childsplay that you're gonna recognize before you leave tonight is that it's a band full of all-stars.

>> Childsplay is a group of fiddlers that come together from all walks of life.

>> And also to hear his instruments.

>> It's a party, it's fun.

>> Whether they're the front people of their own band, they're touring around the country playing with different people, they play in the Boston Symphony.

We even have two organic farmers in the band.

They're the real all-stars.

>> It's an interesting concept because it's a group that's sort of defined by these players who play instruments made by the same man, made by Bob, but they're players who come from all of these different traditions where it could come from classical music, could come from Scottish music backgrounds or old-time or Irish.

Players who wouldn't necessarily have a reason to get together and play.

>> To create something that's much greater than any individual viewpoint.

That is what Childsplay is about.

>> There's still our individual personalities and traditions that we bring into the mix and that's pretty fun.

>> One of the special things that I always appreciate is that people are able to step back from their ideas and let another idea come forward and they have great respect for each other and that sort of creates a collaborative process.

And I think that's what really makes the community that's become Childsplay so very special and you're gonna witness that tonight and the great fun and excitement the band feels at being here in front of you.

And, very important to us, is that that community feeling extends outward to the audience.

We hope that you take home some musical memories from the show that'll last you a week, a month, maybe even a lifetime, we don't know, but the important thing is that someway you get moved or experience something new for yourself.

Thank you very much.

♪ >> My day job is I play violin in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and I've been there for about 25 years.

The amount of dedication, the amount of talent on both fronts is really comparable.

Well, in a symphony, there are as many as 100 people on stage at any one time and as you listen, you're looking across the orchestra and listening and trying to plug in to a very large picture, your job is to fit in and make it all click together with the help of the maestro up there on the podium.

Whereas Childsplay, with a much smaller group, everybody's very responsible for driving, I would say.

Turka was something I wasn't sure Childsplay was going to take to.

>> I love playing Turka.

>> Bonnie arranged it and I was lucky to get to play that with her.

>> Bonnie and Sheila just like playing crazy, crazy, virtuosic stuff.

All of that just makes us all have a great time.

>> Quite honestly, I gave her the harder part, because my part is the tune, the melody, and I wrote all these hard licks for her a third below.

>> You just pray that you remember your part.

>> It's a hoot.

It's really, really intensely fun to play that with her.

♪ >> One of the centers of the sound of Childsplay is that there's a soulful quality to the voices of all the instruments and all the musicians that are being expressed through our sound, and then to add in the mixture of the voice, to me, is incredibly exciting and incredibly moving because you get to hear the fabric of the human voice woven around the voices of the violin.

I think one of the unique things that people see when they come to a Childsplay concert is they get to see, uh, old traditions, sort of historic traditions in all these different kinds of cultures that make up America, but what they get to see are living traditions.

And historically in the kind of music that we play, not only has singing and the voice been a big part of that, you know, there have been a lot of different types of traditional dance that have made up, you know, this form of music.

>> ♪ Said the hawk unto the crow one day ♪ ♪ Why do you in mourning stay ♪ ♪ I was once in love and it did prove fact ♪ ♪ And ever since I wear the black ♪ ♪ ♪ I was once in love and it did prove fact ♪ ♪ And ever since I wear the black ♪ ♪ ♪ Next up spoke young Willie wag-tail ♪ ♪ I was once in love and I did prevail ♪ ♪ Once in love and I did prevail ♪ ♪ And ever since I wag my tail ♪ ♪ ♪ I was once in love and I did prevail ♪ ♪ And ever since I wag my tail ♪ ♪ ♪ Next up spoke the little brown thrush ♪ ♪ She was singing in yon holly bush ♪ ♪ The way to court I have heard them say ♪ ♪ Is to court all night and sleep the next day ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, the way to court I've heard them say ♪ ♪ Is to court all night and sleep the next day ♪ ♪ ♪ Last there spoke a young Jenny wren ♪ ♪ Do you know what I'd do if I was a man ♪ ♪ If I feared my love would wriggle and wriggle and go ♪ ♪ I'd tie two strings unto my bow ♪ ♪ ♪ If I feared my love would wriggle and wriggle and go ♪ ♪ I'd tie two strings unto my bow ♪ ♪ >> There was a moment in my violin-making career where I wasn't sure I would continue because of my eye problems.

On the cusp of moving up to Boston before I was gonna open my own shop, I had this dream.

I'm at a border-crossing, there's a guard standing there and he won't let me in.

Instead, he marches me over to the customs house and we start marching back, each room gets darker until finally, at the center of the house, we're in a completely pitch-black room except for a light that's shining on the table.

He pushes me over to the table and I pick up a violin that's laying there.

Inlaid into the back of the violin is an image of a small boy crying.

It was at that moment I knew I had to continue making violins, that I needed to have a larger voice that ultimately became Childsplay.

>> ♪ Once I had a dear companion ♪ ♪ Indeed I thought his love my own ♪ ♪ Then a dark-eyed girl betrayed me ♪ ♪ And now he cares no more for me ♪ ♪ ♪ Just go and leave me if you wish to ♪ ♪ And it will never trouble me ♪ ♪ In your heart you love another ♪ ♪ And in my grave I'd rather be ♪ ♪ Late last night while you were sleeping ♪ ♪ Dreaming in some sweet repose ♪ ♪ And I a poor girl broken-hearted ♪ ♪ Listen to the wind that blows ♪ ♪ ♪ When I see your baby laughing ♪ ♪ I think of your smiling face ♪ ♪ When I see your baby crying ♪ ♪ I think of my disgrace ♪ ♪ Just go and leave me if you wish to ♪ ♪ And will never trouble me ♪ ♪ And in your heart you love another ♪ ♪ And in my grave I'd rather be ♪ ♪ ♪ In the dark the blackbird's silent ♪ ♪ And at the dawn the blackbird crows ♪ ♪ And if I had my own true lover ♪ ♪ I would not cry again I know ♪ ♪ >> I always think about, well, what is it that they can't get enough of?

>> I just want to be up there.

I want to be with those people.

I want to hang out with them and how do I make that part of my life?

>> It is unique, I don't think there's anything else out there like this.

>> It's the connection to people.

>> I get an incredible feeling of...of satisfaction and warmth and happiness, I think, just kinda being part of this really wonderful group of people.

>> How refreshing it is to be a part of something that is genuinely about collaboration and community and connecting.

>> Sheila Falls is a lovely Irish fiddle player and she's written a slip jig for the band that's called Slips and Falls.

Slips and Falls.

And it's just a really great piece and Nick's gonna come out and dance on it and then we're gonna sort of put it into overdrive and play some reels for you and at the end there's gonna be some real fireworks.

So, put your seatbelts on.

Here we go!

♪ >> I couldn't make music like this anywhere else.

>> When I'm leading the tune I just feel so supported by everybody.

>> The experience is something electrifying.

The moment you walk in the door, it's about coming together, it's connections and coming together and sitting down and immediately getting to work.

You have to be on it the whole time.

>> It can be a little bit stressful sometimes, but the group has really kinda learned, kinda worked within those parameters to kind of, to sort of contribute and have a collective process, but without... without things kind of, you know, devolving into mayhem.

♪ >> So there's a way in which, you know, there is a quality to learning how to listen to the wood and how to feel the wood that is really connected deeply to my own personal story.

And the dream captures that.

Which is that, you know, that there is a way in which, in the early years of my life, I didn't have a lot of sense of connection or a deep sense of being loved, in fact.

Because in my early years, I was in five different foster homes when I was a little guy.

And, um, so there's a quality where, uh, I think I bring to my work a desire to connect deeply with the process of making an instrument and with the people that I'm making the instrument for, that I am 100 percent committed to that.

And part of that is that there is a way in which I'm willing to go all the way to, uh, to make the instrument sound the best that it can and ultimately, to have the depth of a relationship with each person I'm working for, to really have a quality of connection that I believe is a genuine, loving connection, that they can feel my commitment and my openness to making the instrument sound and to making them ultimately sound as good as they can be.

♪ >> ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm comin' from the ball ♪ ♪ Nashville's full of big hotels, Chattanooga's got saloons ♪ ♪ Knoxville's got Republicans and Memphis got the blues ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm coming from the ball ♪ ♪ Big bee sucks the blossom, little bee gets the honey ♪ ♪ Poor man picks cotton and corn and the rich man gets the money ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm coming from the ball ♪ ♪ ♪ Well, I wish I had a sugar rump ♪ ♪ Sugar by the pound ♪ ♪ Great big bowl to stir it up and a pretty boy to hand it around ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm coming from the ball ♪ ♪ ♪ People on the corner, watching us go by ♪ ♪ Did not see us very long, 'cause Bobtail, he could fly ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm coming from the ball ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm comin' from the ball ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, don't get weary, children ♪ ♪ Don't get weary, I'm comin' from the ball ♪ ♪ >> I love Hanneke's piece, "The Last Alleluia."

There's just-- there's something really glorious in that piece.

>> But it's kind of an epic piece, and it's very, like, an emotional piece and having just all the strings from Childsplay just made it really, um, yeah, really strong and really powerful.

It's opened up with just me and Bonnie and Sheila playing.

And then, you know, the flute enters and there's harp and there's all the strings and there's this big rise and I feel like the band did just a really great job of-- of playing it really emotionally and... dramatically.

>> And I think this particular piece of music is like a gem.

You're gonna hold it up-- we're gonna hold it up for you tonight, it's gonna sparkle a little bit.

I hope you catch the sparkle, and I hope it takes you to someplace you've never been before.

"The Last Alleluia."

♪ >> Well, there's certainly a defining sonic quality to Childsplay that comes from the fact that all of these fiddles are made by the same-- by the same maker, and there's a real kind of organic quality to kind of the way all those instruments play together and sound together.

>> There's this sound quality, a characteristic to them, and yet they're all different.

>> When they're being played together, there's this great voice that comes out.

>> There's a voice, a singing quality.

>> Well, just the tone is gorgeous.

♪ >> ♪ The submarines are stationed and the allies are aligned ♪ ♪ The olive trees were stolen from the banks of Palestine ♪ ♪ Look it over from the inside, take a breath, relax the mind ♪ ♪ And the things that we are seeking, we will find ♪ ♪ In the city, folks are banging pots and spoons from balconies ♪ ♪ 'Cause the Pennsylvania police are bewildered and diseased ♪ ♪ But the journalist on death row is refusing to resign ♪ ♪ And the power and the glory will be thine ♪ ♪ ♪ Leave no millionaire behind, boys, leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ I'll get yours if you get mine, we'll leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ ♪ The inspector says he doesn't think he trusts the engineer ♪ ♪ We're sleeping by a fire 'cause we're told that danger's near ♪ ♪ Mesmerized by burning, mesmerized by fear ♪ ♪ We are waiting for a hero to appear ♪ ♪ Leave no millionaire behind, boys, leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ I'll get yours if you get mine, we'll leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ ♪ But our children's eyes can see what we so long could not ♪ ♪ Beyond the crooked road, upon which we were caught ♪ ♪ Through a haze of trouble, a sky that starts to clear ♪ ♪ Beyond a littered land of greed and fear ♪ ♪ Leave no millionaire behind, boys, leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ I'll get yours if you get mine, we'll leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ Leave no millionaire behind, boys, leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ I'll get yours if you get mine, we'll leave no millionaire behind ♪ ♪ >> We've had a very special evening here and we really appreciate you coming out tonight, so thank you very much.

♪ If I imagine it, if I can--if I can dream it up in my mind, if I can imagine it, then I can create it.

The question of where that trust comes from is really something I've never thought about before.

One of the unique aspects of being in foster homes and then being adopted is that there's always a quality where I always had the feeling of never quite fitting in or always being an outsider in some way.

And then I've had to come really rely on myself, to really trust myself-- what I'm reading, or what I'm seeing.

And then it took me years to have trust that I could express that in a voice, that I could speak it.

And that maybe at some level, when you're watching one of our shows, you're gonna get inspired to trust that in yourself, too, and that in this culture, in this day and age, you know, where we're kind of force-fed so many ideas, force-fed so many ways of thinking about things, that you can sort of step outside the box and have faith that if you do it and you surround yourself with the right people and you, uh, you really are committed to it, that you're gonna get to it, to a new thing and that the world is gonna be a better place because of that.

♪ Captioned by Video Caption Corporation www.vicaps.com