Eric started playing violin before he was five, inspired 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. Eric has played with his Dad, Mom, and brother in the Reiner Family Band since he was seven, and won the kids' divisions at several fiddle contests in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. At the age of seven, Eric took up piano and has loved it ever since. He has been inspired by lessons with many great teachers - Kimberly Howe, Sharon Timm, Mary Nolan, Keith Murphy (at Meadowlark Music Camp in Maine), Rochelle Aucoin (at Groove Camp in Pennsylvania), Stephanie Wills (at the Ceilidh Trail School in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) Jacqueline Schwab, and Eric Schedin (at Lexington High School). He learns from Keith every year at Meadowlark Music Camp, and learned from Rochelle at Groove Camp in Pennsylvania in 2004, and from Stephanie at the Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 2005. Playing for contra dances with local callers Tony Saletan and Susan Elberger, as part of the Reiner Family Band, helped teach Eric a solid sense of rhythm as a backup player. He soon began playing more and more leads on the fiddle tunes and other melodies that were running through his head. His influences range from traditional fiddle tunes to jazz, from Jewish music to modern folk, from ragtime to the blues. Eric has composed a number of excellent original tunes, including Fiddle Bottle Waltz, Snapping Turtle, Coming Soon, and Fiddler's Challenge. Eric performs solo at weddings, receptions, parties, and regularly at Fairlawn Nursing Home in Lexington. He is also part of the Reiner Family Band, which plays for weddings, festivals, farms, dances, parties, and other events. The Temple Isaiah Klezmer Band, which he plays in, gets together a few times each year to play at area nursing homes, as well as at Temple Isaiah. He has recently been joining Jewish singer-songwriter-guitarist Rachel Cole at her CD release concert and other synagogue concerts and events. The tune you're hearing is Inisheer, by Thomas Walsh, from Eric's new CD, “Grand Tour: Traditional Music on Piano.” Find out more and listen more here. | |
