Renaissance Center adds 3 to music faculty to teach cello, dobro, dulcimer
Release Date: 10/4/2005. Expired: 11/4/2005
Three new instructors have joined the faculty of the Music Department at The Renaissance Center, offering lessons in cello, dobro, dulcimer, guitar and drums.
Now teaching at the center are Lindsey Smith-Trostle, cello, Brad Talley, dobro, and Larry Conger, dulcimer, guitar and drums.
Smith-Trostle is currently a member of the Tennessee Philharmonic, the Jackson Symphony, the Paducah Symphony and a sub for the Huntsville Symphony. She earned her performance degree from Loyola University in New Orleans, where she was the principal cellist with the Loyola Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Loyola String Quartet.
She has participated in several concerto competitions, been featured as a soloist and played in New Orleans with Smokey Robinson and Theresa Andersson. She participated in the Brevard Music Festival of 2001 as well as having an original composition performed by the Nashville Youth Orchestra.
Smith-Trostle is currently pursuing a master’s degree in cello performance and pedagogy at Belmont University. She also is a self-taught folk artist and samples of her work can be viewed at www.bluezeppelin.com/gallery/lindseylulu.
Talley is a dobro player with Daybreak, a new band gaining national attention as an acoustic group maintaining strong roots in traditional music while fusing other genres such as Celtic, jazz, pop, rock and classical to create a unique sound.
While pursuing his already disciplined musical studies, Talley was accepted as the first and only dobro major in Commercial Music as Belmont University. Studying jazz improvisation and classical literature from the renowned violinist Martin Norgaard, Talley developed his own curriculum opening the dobro, or resophonic guitar, to the world of both classical and jazz music.
While at Belmont, Talley co-founded Daybreak with violinist/vocalist DeAnn Whalen and guitarist/vocalist Edward O’Day. All three members contribute original compositions, song lyrics and often write together. They cite influences as varied as Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, U2, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Bach and others. Daybreak’s debut album, First Light, was the only independent release included on CMT’s 2002 Top 10 Acoustic Albums list. Daybreak has shared the stage with artists like Tony McManus, Tommy Emmanuel, Jerry Douglas, The Duhks, Dervish and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
Talley is finishing his Commercial Music Degree at Belmont with plans to graduate in spring 2006 and is still touring with Daybreak in support of its latest release, Photograph.
Conger is a former dulcimer National Champion who has performed frequently at The Renaissance Center. The Paris, Tenn., resident is a renowned builder, player and instructor of the Appalachian mountain dulcimer. He won the 1998 National Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan.
He operates a private music studio in Paris, teaching piano, guitar and mountain dulcimer. Conger is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Music degree and has been a professional musician for more than 25 years, performing at dulcimer festivals around the country.
At The Renaissance Center, Conger will offer private lessons in mountain dulcimer, guitar and drums as well as two dulcimer classes: a beginner’s class and an intermediate/advancing beginners class offered on alternating Thursdays.
“We are truly pleased to be adding musicians of this quality to the staff of The Renaissance Center,” said Elaine Sherrill, senior director of Music. “Lindsey, Brad and Larry are all extremely talented performers and teachers and we are thrilled to introduce them as part of our faculty.”
For more information on classes with Smith-Trostle, Talley or Conger, or any of the music offerings at The Renaissance Center, contact Sherrill at (615) 740-5545 or elaine.sherrill@rcenter.org.
The Renaissance Center offers a wide variety of private and group lessons in its Music Department, including instruction in bagpipes, brass, banjo, bass guitar, cello, dobro, drums, dulcimer (hammer and lap), guitar (electric and acoustic), harmonica, harp, mandolin, piano, upright bass, viola, violin, woodwinds and voice.
The Renaissance Center is a fine arts and technology education center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172. For more information on the center, call (615)740-5600.