MP3 Eric Eid-Reiner - On a Meadowlark Night: Dance Music from New England, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, and Cape Breton

Dance Music from New England, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, and Cape Breton. With guests including fiddlers Kimberley Fraser, David Reiner, and Andy Reiner; clarinetist Billy Novick; hammered dulcimer player Ken Kolodner; and flutist Anna Grosslein.

17 MP3 Songs in this album (70:20) !
Related styles: WORLD: Celtic, FOLK: Contra Dance

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Details:
Eric Eid-Reiner has been a part of the Boston area music scene for most of his life, and performs throughout New England as the pianist for numerous groups. He also performs solo at weddings, parties, and receptions, and is about to release his second solo CD. Currently a sophomore at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, Eric is majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Music.

On his new CD, âOn a Meadowlark Night: Dance Music from New England, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, and Cape Breton,â Eric plays with friends and family including fiddlers Andy Reiner, Dave Reiner, and Kimberley Fraser; hammered dulcimer player Ken Kolodner; flutist Anna Grosslein; clarinetist Billy Novick; and bass player Will Lydgate. The CD was released in April, 2009.

Eric started playing violin before he turned five, inspired by music by the music he heard around the house from his family. He enjoyed learning Suzuki violin techniques and repertoire from Helene Kamen in his hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts, and old-time, bluegrass, New England, and Irish tunes from his dad, Dave Reiner. When he was in elementary and middle school, he won the kids' division several times at the Concord, NH, fiddle contest, and placed well at other contests in Massachusetts and Vermont.

At the age of seven, Eric took up piano and has loved it ever since. He began taking classical lessons with Kimberly Howe at Harrington Elementary School, and has since taken classical lessons with Sharon Timm, Mary Nolan, and Lisa Romanul. A few years later, Eric wanted to learn how to play and accompany traditional music, and had the first of many lessons with Jacqueline Schwab. At Lexington High School, Eric took jazz classes with Eric Schedin and Justin Aramati. During the summer, Eric enjoys going to weeklong music camps and has learned a lot in piano classes at these camps. He has worked with instructors including Keith Murphy (New England and French-Canadian music), Rachel Aucoin (French-Canadian music), Stephanie Wills (Cape Breton), Jeremiah McLane (New England, French-Canadian, and more), and Howie MacDonald (Cape Breton).

Eric has played with his Dad, Mom, brother, and friends in the Reiner Family Band since its first gig at Upper Story Books in Lexington, when he was six years old. The band soon began playing other local venues, including local record shop Overall Music, Discovery Day in Lexington Center, and contra and square dances at all six of the townâs elementary schools. These days, they can be heard at contra and square dances, weddings, parties, festivals, and annually Codman Farms in Lincoln, MA, and Old Home Days in Carlisle, MA. The Band released its CD, âLive!â in 2003.

In 2005, Eric began playing in the Rachel Cole Band. Rachel Cole is a rising star on the Jewish pop/rock music scene. The band played for a crowd of several thousand in 2006 at the Walk, Talk, and Rock for Israel event in Boston, at City Hall Plaza. They have played at the New England celebration of Israel in 2008 when it was held in Waltham, MA. Eric and Rachel have played together on WERS radio, and for a Friday night Shabbat service at a New Hampshire synagogue. The band has played at many synagogues and venues throughout Massachusetts. Eric can be heard on Rachelâs CD, âTake My Hand.â

Eric also plays occasionally for Friday Night Live services at Temple Sinai, a Reform Jewish congregation in Worcester, Massachusetts. He has played in the past for musical services at his home congregation, Temple Isaiah, in Lexington. He is also a member of the Temple Isaiah Klezmer Band, which gets together a few times a year to play at area nursing homes, as well as at Temple Isaiah.

At a benefit for Cape Breton fiddler and composer Jerry Holland in 2007, Eric played with Cape Breton fiddler extraordinaire Ashley MacIsaac, as well as Irish guitarist John Doyle and Irish fiddler Tony DeMarco. On Brian OâDonovanâs âA Celtic Sojournâ Boston Session show in January, 2009, Eric played with The Hay Brigade, fiddler Oisin McAuley from the band Danu, and others. Eric has also played and performed with fiddlers including his brother Andy Reiner, his Dad Dave Reiner, Brendan Carey-Block, and Julie Metcalf. At the annual âFiddle Hellâ gathering in Groton, MA, Eric has been the backup pianist for lively sessions and individual performances.

In addition to playing a great deal, Eric is an avid composer. He has written more than 20 tunes, including reels, jigs, waltzes, a ragtime piece, and more. He is working on compiling the tunes into a book.

Eric released his CD "Grand Tour: Traditional Music on Piano" in 2005. The CD received great praise from Celtic Beat Magazine, Dirty Linen magazine, The Lexington Minuteman, and The Colonial Times. The CD has a mix of Irish, bluegrass, Cape Breton, New England, old-time, Jewish, ragtime, and jazz music. It is available through his web site, http://www.EricEid-Reiner.com and through CD Baby.