Holly E. Tripp demonstrates the power of music with her award-winning, interactive anthology series, Stories of Music, which brings together authors and artists from around the world who tell their personal stories of how music has affected—and changed—their lives.
Sat. January 28th
1-4pm
Barnes & Noble
12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive
Fairfax, Virginia 22033
Tripp will be joined by Hungry for Music founder and director, Jeff Campbell as they share readings from the book and how it helps to raise funds for nonprofit music organizations, and they will also showcase the interactive features of the books. The two-volume series is emotionally impactful. Full of photos, poems, and essays, and designed for readers to interactively experience original music and videos, the books offer a full sensory experience.
The anthology series celebrates how music can propel people forward—despite obstacles, pain, and uncertainty—and in some cases, save lives, which Tripp feels is timely in today's world. "It has the power to bring us together," she said. "And in a time of astonishing turmoil occurring all over the world, I'd say we need it more now than ever before."
In his foreword to recently released Volume 2, Campbell wrote:
Music's ability to heal, to communicate peace, to express love, to inspire change, to build community, and to give us hope is helping to enlighten and open us up to a more harmonious existence. Holly Tripp's multimedia anthology series, Stories of Music, gives us hope that it is a real possibility. Holly's compilation of stories are beautiful examples of music's magical qualities that can help mend an ailing world.
Volume 2 starts off with a section called "Origins" and a fascinating story, "The Magic of the Mouth Harp," which provides a historical look at the mouth harp—one of the oldest instruments known to man—and how harpist Neptune Chapotin discovered the instrument and created the World Mouth Harp Festival of India. Another section of the book includes "Against All Odds," and perhaps one of the most inspirational stories, "Lost and Found," about a man who is fighting MS with the healing qualities of music. And quite touching is "The Deaf Composer" by award-winning poet Darrell Lindsey, about a man who was left deaf in a trauma, but still enjoys the world through remembered sounds and the new way in which music reaches him. The anthology ends with the section, "Ghosts" and a striking photo, "Prayer with Conch Shell," taken on the steps of the Hindu holy city, Varanasi, India.
Among the 45 works that appear in Volume 1, readers learn how rock and blues music helped to heal the war-torn country of Bosnia, about the tradition of candombe drumming in Uruguay, and about the history of musicians who travelled on foot—from the balladeers of Victorian England and the Delta bluesmen of the early 20th century to present day musicians who participate in the Massachusetts Walking Tour. Also included is a story, "The Audacity of Children" from Heidi Swedberg who is best known for her role as Susan on Seinfeld. Now an ukulele performer and teacher, her story takes place in Haiti where she taught children in an orphanage how to play the instrument. Her story also features a song inspired by Haiti's call-and-response tradition.
Tripp grew up in a musical family, co-writing songs with her brother Brandon, and playing music with her parents. She also loved hearing stories of how her great-grandmother listened to music "jam sessions" through a telephone party line. It was after Brandon was killed in an auto accident in 2008 that she fully realized the impact music has on emotions. Since the siblings were bonded through music, music was how she finally coped with his death. She wrote 20 songs that year, and the songs, in a way, brought a part of him back to her.
"There's a certain mystery to music that we can't explain, in the way that it touches us," said Tripp. "Music gives us an opportunity to communicate with one another in a profound way, beyond language."
Each of the anthologies is a masterpiece of mixed medium, and will reach audiences of all ages, races, and lifestyles. Acting on her belief that music heals, Tripp donates 10% of all proceeds to nonprofit organizations Hungry for Music and Music & Memory, the latter of which was the subject of the award-winning documentary Alive Inside.
Stories of Music, Volume 1 is the winner of two 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and a 2016 Colorado Book Award. Stories of Music, Volume 2 promises to be an award-winning publication as well.
Both Volumes 1 and 2 will be available for purchase and author signing at Saturday's event from 1:00 to 4:00 pm: Barnes & Noble, 12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22033. Learn more about the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/1260519167389193/.
Stories of Music, Volume 1 ISBN: 978-0-9969327-0-7 (pbk), 2015, Timbre Press, Interactive paperback $29.00, 176 pages; Stories of Music, Volume 2 ISBN: 978-0-9969327-4-5 (pbk), 2017, Timbre Press, Interactive paperback $29.00, 192 pages. Each book includes URLs and QR codes throughout to direct readers to free companion web editions for accessing audio and video pieces. The books are available at https://storiesofmusic.com Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
About Holly E. Tripp
Tripp grew up in a musical household with musician parents and a passion to follow in their footsteps. These musical beginnings, and a love for storytelling, inspired the Stories of Music series, with which she has set out to celebrate the ways in which music is changing lives around the world. She lives in Denver, CO with her husband, and has just released Stories of Music, Volume 2.
Hungry for Music is an organization that supports music education and cultural enrichment by acquiring and distributing quality musical instruments to underserved children with willing instructors and a hunger to play.
At Hungry for Music, our most important service is putting musical instruments into hungry hands. We serve children who demonstrate a desire to learn music as well as teachers who have students willing to learn.
Music is the prayer through which the world heals itself. We believe that by sharing instruments and musical experiences, children who would not normally have the opportunity can experience a kind of freedom and self-discovery that is often stifled in an atmosphere of economic hardship.
All of our events, benefits, instrument drives, & CD production are aimed at uplifting those lives and enriching culture at-large by supporting the availability of music education. http://www.hungryformusic.org/about.html
Media Contact: For a review copy of Stories of Music, Volume 2 or to arrange an interview with Holly E. Tripp, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com http://www.book-marketing-expert.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on twitter @BookPublicist