Half Past Four

[Denman John]

My son is applying for a scholarship and asked me if I could post here for him. He has enrolled in a 5 week summer music program in Boston next year and is required to submit 3 videos and write an essay for his scholarship application. Below is one of the videos that he will be using and could use your help. We were fortunate to see The Andrew Collins Trio here on Vancouver Island about a month ago, and Tai was able to sit down and play with them for a bit before the show.

I hate asking this, but If you like what hear, he would really appreciate a "Like" on the youtube page, as that is what admissions check.

A huge thanks goes out to Andrew Collins, Mike Mezzatesta and James McEleney of The Andrew Collins Trio for taking the time to inspire and play with a young picker!

The tune is called "Half Past Four" by The Harmonic Tone Revealers (John Reischman, Sharon Gilchrist & Scott Nygaard).

[MarkELynch]

John, The best of luck with your son’s scholarship application!

Half Past Four is a very popular old time fiddle tune. The composition is usually attributed to fiddler Ed Haley.

https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/half-past-four

Best Regards,
Mark

[George R. Lane]

Link to the Facebook page please.

[Denman John]

Here's his facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/Tai.McGillivray

[Zach Wilson]

Great tune! You're son is awesome!

[Denman John]

John, The best of luck with your son’s scholarship application!

Half Past Four is a very popular old time fiddle tune. The composition is usually attributed to fiddler Ed Haley.

https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/half-past-four

Best Regards,
Mark

Thanks for the additional information. Tai learnt it from John Reischman this summer at NimbleFinger and I know JR recorded it with the Harmonic Tone Revealers. Sometimes the stories behind the tunes are just as fascinating.

[George R. Lane]

Here's his facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/Tai.McGillivray

Done. Great tune.

[Don Grieser]

I hate asking this, but If you like what hear, he would really appreciate a "Like" on the youtube page, as that is what admissions check.

Like the youtube as well as the fb. Great playing Tai!

[Br1ck]

Great tune! You're son is awesome!

He's not getting any smaller, is he? I remember the clip when he got the Apitus. Fun times.

[bigskygirl]

Great job! Best of luck, I don't have a YT/FB but I’ll "like" it here.

[DHopkins]

I'll give you a "like" but it's a sad state of affairs when that's used as a criterion for a scholarship. Come to think of it, maybe it's normal because many people judge their own success in life by the number of "friends" on FB.

[sblock]

As an academic scholar and educator at a major U.S. university, this whole business offends me. I find it hard to believe that any serious music school would base its student admissions, or its scholarships -- or much of anything else -- in any way on the number of "Likes" someone happens to get on a Facebook video. Consider these reasons:

1) Likes are a measure of popularity, not of musical achievement. Nor of talent, for that matter.
2) Likes are is all-too easily gamed. In fact, the father is doing precisely that on the MC right now, by appealing for our votes!
3) It favors students who are well-connected on the internet, who generally tend to be more urban and affluent.
4) It cheapens the whole idea of a merit-based "scholarship"!
5) It's lazy, lazy, lazy: it abdicates a a clear responsibility on the part of the school to do its homework, and to reward the most deserving applicants, not the most popular ones. They should be listening to all the videos submitted (ideally, without even seeing them, and without knowing the names of the applicants) and disregarding all information about "Likes."

Based on the video, I happen to think that Tai is a very talented young player, and I wish him the very best! This is not about Tai. This is about the school running that summer music program! Denman John: Can you please tell us what the name of that school is? I have a good mind to call them up and complain about their admissions practices.

[wormpicker]

I agree with sblock completely, including his praise and best wishes for Tai. Half-past Four is one of my favorite fiddle tunes, and was one of the first tunes I started working on when I picked up the mandolin about a year ago. I really hope you are mistaken about YouTube like being "what admissions checks."

[sgarrity]

Good stuff!

[Denman John]

First off, thank you very much to everyone that took the time to take a listen. The kind words are very much appreciated!

sblock brought up some very good points that need clarification. For the sake of brevity, I left out some details in my original post that may have caused some confusion. For that, I apologize. The 5 week summer program is at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Let me be clear and say that nowhere does it say that they look at, or take into consideration, the number of likes or views on the video submissions! All that they accept for their scholarship application are 3 videos posted to youtube and an essay. I also want to point out that this is for Berklee's summer program and not their undergraduate program. We haven't crossed that bridge yet as Tai is only 16, and in grade 11 now. I imagine that he'll want to audition for their undergraduate program while he is there next summer, but we'll see how it goes.

The "Like/Views" advice came from a friend that has graduated from Berklee. He told Tai that since they aren't looking at his webpage, social media presence or listening to his CD, the videos carry a lot of weight in their decision making. When I said "this is what admissions check", I was referring to the specific youtube video/page (rather than facebook or mandolin cafe posts, etc.). Again, I should have been clearer and I apologize for that. It was recommended that Tai try promoting his videos as that information would be available to them on same the page. Since this is the first time applying to anything like this, it sounded reasonable.

I'm sure that Berklee will make their decision professionally, based on merit set by their criteria. I'm just a father trying to help his son follow his passion. Since this is the Mandolin Cafe, we thought it would be a good place to share the news and get some help from the mandolin community with the video. For that, we are truly thankful!

I hope that this clarifies any misunderstandings and in no way tarnishes Berklee's reputation of excellence.

[ottawa_adam]

I saw the Andrew Collins trio in Ottawa in May of this year. I was also fortunate to have had Mike Mezzatesta as my mando instructor at BG bandcamp in July in Ontario. These gentlemen are truly fine musicians. Tai seems to be on track to follow in their footsteps!

Good luck with the application, I hope they consider him.

[Pilot172000]

He did a fantastic job.