The Koontz Brothers of Elda’s Kin Perform at the Bridgehampton Historical Society
aline reynolds :: The Hamptons Music Scene
The talented Koontz brothers–Andrew on violin and Daniel on guitar–brought the house down when they performed a mixed program of folk, classical, and popular music on Saturday, February 16th, at the Bridgehampton Historical Society. Though missing the third member of their family band, Elda’s Kin, they performed admirably as a duo. To complement the broad scope of Andrew’s carefully selected program, the brothers kept the crowd engaged by frequently interjecting jokes and providing intriguing background information about the origins of the fiddle/violin. “It was a wonderful setting to perform in,” said Andrew, high school teacher by day and fiddle player by night. Both Koontz brothers described the audience as “low key, casual,” and fun to entertain.
The brothers recall their dislike of practicing early on, but also their strong attachment to their instruments. While Dan Koontz paved the way as a career composer, concentrating in music theory at the Eastman School of Music and earning his Ph. D in music composition at SUNY Stony Brook, Andrew became a film and T. V. editor for CBS studios in New York for ten years before becoming a TV production high school teacher in Southern New Jersey’s Winslow Township. Only last fall, thanks to the brainstorming of Dan’s wife, Stacey Dermont, did the brothers reunite with their banjo/guitar-playing father, Warren Koontz, to form the trio, Elda’s Kin. “Unlike my brother and father, who kept up their musical instruments, I hadn’t touched the violin in 20 years; so, although I wasn’t starting from scratch, I sounded very scratchy” Andrew said facetiously. “I think Stacey got enough wine into me for me to agree to give it a go!” he chuckled. On a more serious note, Andrew commented on what it’s like to return to the violin as an adult. “It’s far more enjoyable to practice as an adult than as a kid, ‘cause…no one is [forcing me] to play!” The trio’s first performance was held in October 2007 at Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor, where Dan Koontz has been the principal organist and choir director since 2004.
Stacey, who serves as program coordinator of the Bridgehampton Historical Society, introduced the Koontz brothers on Saturday to an audience of about thirty in the East Parlor of the former Corwith House. The duo proceeded to perform for an hour and a half a varied repertoire, ranging from traditional Irish folk tunes to a song by country legend Hank Williams to Bach, Paganini, Vivaldi, and Schubert. Andrew and Dan shared an excellent musical dynamic that reflected their gifted collaborative musicianship and performance abilities.
The brothers were rhythmically sound throughout the performance, playing consistently in sync and capturing the folksong spirit indigenous to the Irish tunes. During the first half of the performance, the duo’s dynamic was superb, as Andrew played his fiddle lyrically and energetically while Dan provided rich harmonic support through solid strumming of the guitar. The Irish Fiddle Tunes, “A Whack at the Whigs” and Hank Williams’s “I Saw the Light”–most of which consisted of a basic I-IV-V progression–were played vibrantly and joyously, causing bobbing heads and tapping feet in the crowd. One elderly woman in the third row was religiously bobbing her head up and down and lightly humming along through the entire performance. Andrew, the musical arranger, tactfully juxtaposed jovial pieces with slower, more nostalgic tunes as Ave Maria, in which he effectively produced a flat, dead tone on his fiddle by bowing on only one string.
Certain parts of the performance were stronger than others. Whereas the folk music was played with great facility and dexterity, the classical component, in which Andrew frequently launched into solo melodic passages, at times needed improvement. At one point, after a Bach Partita, Andrew apologized for a technical slip—unnecessary, really, for the unconditionally appreciative audience. The fiddler redeemed himself, however, by constantly interpolating the classical segment of the concert with recordings by renowned violinists like Midori, Fritz Kreisler and Joshua Bell.
Andrew was able to hold the crowd’s attention with amusing anecdotes of the classical composers and of the musicians involved in the recordings. He discussed, for example, how Paganini, with his oddly enormous hands, was able to make remarkable stretches on the violin, and how he was the primary inventor of the bouncing bow. Andrew also did a nice job of distinguishing between traditional Irish music and classical music with respect to the role of the fiddle and violin, explaining that dynamic contrast and vibrato were normally not used in the Irish genre. Andrew kept the crowd engaged by complementing the more serious information with sarcastic remarks and witty jokes. For example, he compared himself to the contemporary musician Fritz Kreisler, calling him “a man of my own heart, who didn’t like to practice.”
During the early part of the performance, when Andrew and Dan were playing the folk tunes, the brothers often broke into a stand-up-comedy-type dialogue with each other—facetiously telling one other to shut up, for example, or ordering each other to get up from the other’s seat to perform the next piece. The brothers’ musical and personal compatibility permeated the room, creating a refreshing, jovial ambience.
The Elda’s Kin trio will be coming out with their debut CD this year. As for a title, “it doesn’t have one yet,” the brothers remarked, joking that until it does, it can be referred to as the “untitled demo.” The Koontz brothers mentioned that the band will most likely record a dozen or so Irish folk and blues songs in a rental studio up in Rochester, where their father lives. Their next performance as a trio will take place on April 25th at Communiversity 2008 in Princeton, New Jersey.
The Bridgehampton Historical Society’s next musical event will take place on March 8th, welcoming folk singer Terry Sullivan who will be sharing songs and stories of Irish history (as there is limited seating, call (631) 537-1088 to RSVP). For more information about Elda’s Kin, e-mail one of the brothers at andykoontz@aol.com or dankoontz@yahoo.com For more information on Daniel Koontz as a solo composer, visit his website at www.danielkoontz.com.
Aline Reynolds is a magna cum laude 2007 graduate of Barnard College, with a double degree in comparative literature and music. Shortly after graduation, she began working as a freelance arts and culture writer for Long Island periodicals such as Dan’s Papers and Southampton Press. Since June 2007, she has been working in the international sales department at W.W. Norton publishing, where she is responsible for mediating between Norton’s overseas representatives and the Norton headquarters in New York and Pennsylvania. She also does freelance press release writing for Norton’s publicity department, and undertakes various other freelance projects in the college and trade editorial departments on a regular basis.
