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Have you met NeidFyre?

The bow flew across the strings producing a bouncy tune as the crowd milled about in the room reserved for vendors catering to fairegoers 18 and older. The stage, high and small at the end of the room on the edge of traffic flow, had almost no audience area but that did not faze the fiddler in the least. She played for herself as much as for the crowd, her concentration fierce but her smile quick when she glanced up and caught someone’s eye. When she began to sing people stopped to listen and, at the appropriate moment, she pulled a kilted lad in for a bit of audience participation. The lyrics to “Angus”—a song about the making and showing of a bridegroom’s kilt—and antics of the two produced much laughter from the growing crowd, movement through the room stopping. This was not the first time I had seen her play under adverse conditions and win the crowd over. Let me introduce you to NeidFyre.

Melissa Ginsberg-Stevens, aka NeidFyre, of upstate New York, is a delightful, bubbly fiddler who has played violin for some thirty years. Though she graduated from Ithaca College in 1992 with a major in English, she has minors in Russian Languages and Music. Her goal had been to major in Music, but a bout of excessive violin practice caused carpal tunnel and tendonitis in her sophomore year, forcing the change in majors. In addition to playing violin, Mel is gifted with the ability to sing anywhere from soprano to tenor, though she prefers singing in the lower tenor range. Experience has taught her that the audience participation is easier to encourage when the songs are in the lower ranges

During her college days, Mel was involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). A friend from the Society encouraged her to attend the Sterling Renaissance Festival for the first time in 1990 and she has been back every year, originally as a garbed playtron. In 2000 friends decided to audition at Sterling and, knowing that she played and sang, asked Mel to be the musical coordinator for Tarnished Sterling, the proposed new act. Although not hired, the group did perform in the local area for a while. That experience was an awakening for Mel, bringing home the fact that she could perform at faire. She auditioned at Sterling the next year and was hired for the price of a ticket, an practice she doesn’t recommend and won’t repeat. In addition, she has played Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, Virginia Renaissance Faire, and at WickedFaire where I first saw her last year.

It has taken years for her to overcome the stage fright that kept her from trying performing earlier. Mel says that the lack of confidence that caused the stage fright has only begun to subside within the last two years. That and her wrist and elbow injuries are the only regrets she has, saying that music is the one job she enjoys doing all the time. Looking forward, she envisions performing and teaching music fulltime, saying it is a dream job that she never tires of. In the meantime, she works a part time job to guarantee health insurance, teaches music (violin and voice), and performs at faires.

The 2008 season will be the first that she is a traveling performer, previously having only booked at faires that were within driving distance of home. She is already scheduled for the final four weeks of the Four Winds Renaissance Faire near Tyler, Texas. The excitement of traveling and being at Four Winds was evident in Mel’s voice. As NeidFyre, she is also booked for the Virginia Renaissance Faire. She will be performing with Blackjacks ‘n Blarney at The Silver Kingdom’s Renaissance Festival and the Southern Connecticut Renaissance Festival. Other shows that she is waiting to hear from include Sterling Renaissance Festival, Florida Renaissance Festival, Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California, Bristol Renaissance Faire, the New York Renaissance Festival at Tuxedo, Maryland Renaissance Festival, and Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Here’s to hoping she gets them all!

I asked her to tell me about her worst day at faire and there was no hesitation as she told me about the damage to her favorite violin “Wilbur”, a Stradivarius reproduction from the 1700’s. She actually has three violins now, the aforementioned “Wilbur”, “Baby” which is a little older and out of commission right now awaiting some repairs, and her newest, “Lily”, a beater that she doesn’t have to worry about playing outdoors or around unfamiliar crowds. However, this incident happened before “Lily” came along. Mel prefers to play Wilbur, playing him everywhere, outdoors, in the weather, etc. Last year at Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, a small child pushed her and Wilbur smashed in to a counter top, breaking off a corner. A woodworker friend tried to glue the corner back on but that did not last. It was not that he did not play Mel told me, “it was just …. he was broken and I didn’t know what to do”. She purchased Lily soon after, to be used in situations where chances of damage to Wilbur exist.

After days like that, it is friends that get her back in the spirit for faire, getting to see the musicians, performers, and booth workers who make up her faire family. She gets a round of hugs and then recalls again the immortal words of Jim Greene, “Dare to suck”. When the gates open and the patrons arrive, it is a brand new day. That is what always pulls her through. When things go wrong—broken strings, flubbed lines, missed notes—she just laughs and the audience joins her, then she picks up and moves on.

Her favorite memory is from her first weekend at Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire last year. During her second show, five young girls—all step dancers—came up and danced. One child, approximately five, did not want to leave, so Mel let her sit on stage through the whole show. It is shows like that, when the audience participates, which are the memories she finds the brightest. Be warned, I’ve seen her offer special encouragement, stopping and saying, “Here’s where you clap now.” It breaks tension and the audience becomes part of the show and builds the community. That is what she feels faire is all about, the community.

Mel asked me to pass along a special message to all my readers—“Thank you. Anyone who comes to faire who appreciates music, Thank you. Anyone who comes and sits to listen, even for a minute, Thank You. I play because I love it, but I also play for anybody who enjoys the music, so Thank You.” And Thank You, Mel, for bringing your joy and brightness to us.

Websites of Neidfyre

NeidFyre
NeidFyre at CDBaby

February 20th, 2008 Posted by Escarlata | Have You Met? | 6 comments