Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Multi-instrumentalist and melodist
Angelus ad Virginem*
Mary Vanhoozer
Bard and Ceilidh
Bard and Ceilidh exists to awaken the child in each of us, creating a sense of wonder so that listeners will be able to recognize and celebrate the beauty and small miracles of every day life.
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer: it sings because it has a song.” -- Chinese Proverb
Bard and Ceilidh, a one-woman recording ensemble, offers a unique blend of musical styles, each of which represent a musical tradition significant to Mary: Celtic, Bal Folk, Appalachian folk, and early music. Rooted in historical and folk traditions, Bard and Ceilidh creates a sound world into which the child in each of us is invited: to marvel, rest, and enter into creative but serious play.
​
"Ever since I was a little girl I remember coming up with tunes: I would think up a melody (usually when I should have been practicing) and arrange it for piano or violin, or both (the hurdy gurdy didn’t come until later.) I would frequently pluck the violin strings while holding it like a guitar to create harmony and more texture to the sound. These tunes would capture a mood or emotion I wanted to dwell in or lift my spirits.
The more complex the arrangements became, the more I started experimenting with recording one part, then play along to the recorded track. I enjoyed imagining I was playing live with other musicians.
​
Music has always been deeply connected to play. Flash forward about twenty-five years and here I am doing almost the same thing: Bard and Ceilidh in a sense remains my imaginary ensemble of players (though occasionally I’m joined by a real friend or two!) As I write tunes, I arrange the music to accomodate my growing family of instruments, then I press record and lay down tracks.
​
The older I get, the more I value the significance of 'play' in music making. One does not work the violin, one plays the violin. In more recent years, two additional words have shaped and colored my music making: Joy and hope. It’s easy for daily life to become more about the urgent than about the important, and for our work schedules to crowd out time for rest and creativity. My hope is that these tunes help listeners slow down, sometimes even be still, and learn to recognize and celebrate the simple joys and quiet victories of everyday life: the more I experience of life, the more I’m reminded to remain hopeful as well. I resonate with Samwise Gamgee’s bold and beautiful declaration: 'There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.' Or in my specific case, it’s worth writing, arranging and playing for.
​
Come, listen, be refreshed and encouraged."
​
- Mary Vanhoozer