DECEMBER CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Today we put the Christmas bells out on the porch, the greenery throughout the store and the ginger snaps and hot cider on the front counter. Come by for some seasonal cheer.

On December 2nd, the Half Moon Cafe at Clay on Main will have the Hannah Violet Trio in concert from 8:00 to 10:00 pm. Also, the Half Moon will host its monthly open mic from 7:00 to 9:00 pm on Monday, December 5th.

On Saturday, the 3rd, the Reading Symphony Orchestra will perform with guitarist, Jason Vieaux from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm at Santander Performing Arts Center, 136 N 6th St, Reading. Also on the 3rd, the Reading Choral Society performs Handel's Messiah at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Pottstown at 7:00 pm. On Friday, December 9th, Dave Fry will be in concert at the Kutztown Folk Music Society from 8pm to 10pm at St Johns UCC, Whiteoak and Walnut Streets, Kutztown PA. On Saturday, the 10th, the Reading Choral Society performs Holiday Happenings with the Ringgold Band at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 7:00 pm.

EXTRA DISCOUNTS

ON EVERYTHING

IN THE STORE

SAVE MONEY ON GIFTS NOVEMBER 8 THROUGH DECEMBER 31

WIN A $150 GIFT CERTIFICATE

TEACHER FEATURE: PAULA TAYLOR

Teaches at Meadowood: Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri & Sat

One of Meadowood's proprietors, Paula teaches beginning plucked upright bass (not bowed), beginning bass guitar and beginning violin/fiddle.

Paula began playing guitar when she was in 7th grade, inspired to play by Keith Brintzenhoff's Folk Music Club at Brandywine Middle School. However, Paula's path to becoming a music store owner, musical performer and music teacher was not directly from those first days with a guitar. She studied Fine Art (Drawing) at Kutztown University. Several years later, she returned to University to study Engineering Science & Mechanics (Failure of Solids) at Penn State where she also minored in Technical Writing. While working as a Forensic Engineer for an electric power company, she pursued graduate studies in Materials Science and Engineering (Fracture Mechanics) at Lehigh University She later moved to Maryland to work as an Analyst and then Program Director for a consulting group. It was while she lived in Maryland that she began to again deeply involve herself in music.

Almost 20 years after she got her first guitar, she began to attend jams in and around Baltimore where she sang, played guitar and mandolin and began to play upright bass. When she lived in Maryland, Paula performed with Meg Robinson and Nancy Bell in the folk trio "Imaginary Friends." She studied upright bass with Josh Bayer in Greenbelt MD, guitar and music theory with Grammy-award-winning Robin Bullock and music theory with Peabody Institute's Gretchen Benchoff (both in Baltimore). She met her now husband and business partner, Mike Andrews, at one of the Baltimore jams. The two perform in an acoustic two-piece band, "Mike & Paula."

After Mike and Paula started Meadowood in March 2000, She played bass on the Druckenmillers CD, Morning Star. After moving the store to its current location, Paula studied with several of Meadowood's own wonderful teachers. She studied violin and fiddle with Ted Fenstermacher and Judy Terwilliger and bass guitar and music theory with Gene Cullison.

Paula teaches plucked styles of upright bass and bass guitar, using reading (notation or tablature) as a tool to explore accompaniment for traditional music styles. Paula does not teach bowed styles on double bass. She emphasizes relationships between scales, chords and chord progressions and encourages students to learn to play by ear early in their development. Paula teaches beginning violin and fiddle: reading, theory and playing by ear. 

Paula helps students gain the proficiency they need to play music with others. Achieving this goal allows students to experience the joy of camaraderie in creating music and the opportunity to support community through music. Paula is grateful to be listed among Meadowood's fine teachers.

AT MEADOWOOD IN 2017 - WADDYA THINK?

We're thinking it might be fun to have a silent auction here at Meadowood. Do you like the idea? You can tell us that you like the idea of a silent auction by simply clicking HERE.

We could format a silent auction in any of three ways. You can vote for the format that you like by clicking ONE of the three options listed below (when you click an option, you'll open a page on our website - we've set up a counter to see how many people visit each page).

• CLICK to have all of the auction items out in one big event
• CLICK to have one item at a time in a series of many auctions
• CLICK to have half of the auction items in two separate events

SHAMELESS COMMERCE SECTION

These are a few of the things in the store that we think are especially cool.