Fiddle

Singer-songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins is known best for being one-third of the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band Nickel Creek. In 2007, the band decided to take a break. But Watkins' career was by no means on hold, and decided to launch her solo career. "It wasn't hard at all (to go solo) and I love it," she said during a telephone interview while stopping in Philadelphia for her tour. "Largely, if you're in one band, you should be in two bands. You should have something else that you can jump into.

Stubborn. Pigheaded. Those were some of the descriptions people used Sunday, with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts, to describe their basset hounds. The love was returned Sunday as several of the short-legged, long-eared breed put up with wearing costumes, had their earspans measured, and had to turn around to show judges their back ends for the butt contest. At least one person put herself in the basset hounds' place by getting down on her hands and knees to participate in the pie-eating contest, alongside about eight basset hounds.

katec@herald-mail.com Fingers and strings will be flying Friday, Jan. 9, at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Md. Doc Watson and Sam Bush will perform at 7:30 p.m. Watson, born Arthel L. Watson in 1923 in Deep Gap, N.C., has become an icon. President Jimmy Carter called him a "national treasure," and President Bill Clinton awarded him the National Medal of the Arts in 1997. Watson's mother sang traditional songs; his father played the banjo, and it was the son's first instrument, as well.

Music classes SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Shepherd University Department of Music Preparatory Division is accepting applications for the fall 2007 semester. There are several study options: · Students interested in studying woodwinds, brass, percussion, piano, voice, guitar, bass guitar, strings (violin, viola, cello or double bass), theory or jazz improvision should contact Anne Munro at 304-876-5555 or e-mail amunro@shepherd.edu . Instructors set their own weekly lesson fees and teach half-hour and hour lessons.

Music classes SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Shepherd University Department of Music Preparatory Division is accepting applications for the fall 2007 semester. Students interested in studying woodwinds, brass, percussion, piano, voice, guitar, bass guitar, strings (violin, viola, cello or double bass), theory or jazz improvision should contact Anne Munro at 304-876-5555 or e-mail amunro@shepherd.edu . Instructors set their own weekly lesson fees and teach half-hour and hour lessons.

Ensemble Galilei By MEG H. PARTINGTON / Staff Writer The group Ensemble Galilei was founded in 1990, the year the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. Its name pays tribute to the astronomer Galileo Galilei and his father, Vincenzo Galilei, who was determined to reinvent the music of the 1500s. The group will perform Saturday night at Kepler Theater as part of Mountain Green Concerts. If you go: Ensemble Galilei, a Mountain Green concert Saturday, Nov. 11, doors open at 7:30 p.m., concert starts at 8 p.m. Kepler Theater Hagerstown Community College Hagerstown Tickets cost $15 for adults, $5 for those younger than 18; free for HCC students and staff.

Folk performers Kelly Armor and David Sturtevant bring diverse influences to their concerts. They also bring a lot of equipment. Armor said she has so many instruments that Sturtevant has placed a moratorium on getting any new ones. "I have about 11 onstage at any given time," Armor said in a telephone interview from Erie, Pa., where she lives with Sturtevant, her husband of 312 years. "It never fails," Armor said. "When we arrive at a gig, people say, 'Wow, you have a lot of stuff.

The delicate dancing squeak of the fife and the rum-pum stickings and rudiments of the calfskin drums called Saturday afternoon visitors to Antietam National Battlefield to a shady patch beneath the trees just behind Dunker Church. The sounds luring them were the tunes of the Fort McHenry Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Led by Director Tim Ertel, the corps demonstrated Union field music that marked the moments of a soldier's day. "We give a program teaching music through the day of the soldier from 'Reveille' to 'Tattoo,' or lights out," Ertel said.

Parade rest A U.S. Army rock band will perform Motown classics at 4 p.m. Sunday at Hagerstown Community College's Alumni Amphitheater as part of the Alumni Association's Red, White and Blue Concert Series. The band is the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Band's 10-piece rock band. Fore! The Ryder Cup competition kicks off at 4 p.m. today on ESPN News with opening ceremonies. Will the U.S. retake the team-golf cup from Europe? 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on NBC; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday on NBC. Closing ceremonies from 6 to 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN News.

SHARPSBURG - Architectural guidelines being considered by the Sharpsburg Town Council hit a major snag Monday night when the town attorney said it would require creation of a historic district. Some council members said the guidelines don't have a chance at being adopted now that "the big H word" has been spoken. Councilman Russell Weaver said after the monthly council meeting that residents are opposed to the unnecessary government restrictions that come with a historic district.