Meet Jocelyn A. Brown (co-writer/Jocelyn/Meara) 
What excites you about Celtic music?
There is a rich Celtic history of stories and tunes being passed down over generations and new musicians and storytellers making the pieces their own. It has been a great joy to have the band tackle such a wide range of musical styles, from the more raucous, toe-tapping jigs and reels with unbelievably swift fiddle playing, to deceptively simple, ethereal and heart-wrenching ballads, to witty song-stories that take you on a journey as you listen to every word, to more contemporary Celtic pieces with rock and folk roots. Personally, I have fallen in love with two Celtic music traditions, vocal ornamentation and lilting, so I have purposefully made sure we have good examples of them in A Celtic Holiday. Vocal ornamentation is when additional notes are added in between notes or note is replaced by a group of adjoining notes creating that distinctive Irish/Celtic form of singing, and it is so much fun to do! Lilting is a form of traditional singing based on Gaelic “mouth-singing” that was used to accompany dancing when no instruments were available. Rhythm and tone dominate and often times the lyrics are nonsensical, similar to scat singing. You can hear its influences in Appalachian music and bluegrass in the United States today.
Since the band is also the cast, what are the challenges of doing double duty?
I’ve been listening to Christmas music since February! Since the spring, my focus has been on researching and writing the ancient poetic Celtic story as well as arranging much of the music to fit our storytelling construct. Focusing on the roles I’ll be acting and singing didn’t really happen until much later in the process since, first, I needed to make sure the story and music have the impact we’re hoping for.
How was the process of being part of the creation of a new show?
When we first came together in the spring, we just had this amorphous idea for a holiday concert with traditional storytelling of some kind that would be written specifically with our band’s talents in mind. We brainstormed various themes and ideas with the band about what people experience during the holidays and what we love about Celtic music. Jen [Ruckman], Karen [O’Hanlon] and I took those ideas, read many old Celtic tales, and finally decided upon one we thought would resonate. As Jen and Karen focused on fleshing out the contemporary story, I focused on the history and translations of the Voyage of Bran from ancient literature as well as selecting the music and figuring out how each song would fit into the ancient and contemporary stories. Although much of the music in A Celtic Holiday is traditional, there are many different lyrics and versions of tunes; while staying true to the original song, I often needed to rewrite sections of lyrics to fit our story, and the band needed to approach the arrangements of each song to best serve the storytelling. Throughout the process, Karen, Jen and I continued to bounce ideas off each other, making adjustments over months.
We know that the show is dedicated to the memory of David McCormick, a founding member of Craic in the Stone and a Chance Resident Artist. Do you have anything you’d like to add or share about David?
Last winter when Oanh Nguyen first proposed having Craic in the Stone create this new project, David was really excited to tackle this new endeavor, even though he had already been diagnosed with cancer and knew he’d be going through treatment in the spring. He was supportive throughout; David took the initiative to ask James to fill in for him when he was no longer able to play. Throughout the summer as his body continued to fight, I sent David updates on the script and the music. He desperately wanted to just sit in the room and listen to the music as we rehearsed. Two of the new songs in this piece were inspired by his indelible warrior’s spirit; before he passed, we were able to share an early version of Sea Warrior with him. David’s presence has been with us all as we’ve worked on this show, every step of the way.
If you met any of the characters on the street, who would you share a pint with and who would make you turn and walk away? And why?
I’d hang out with Sean and Eric any day and have a pint! Sean is that down-to-earth friend who always has your back, and Eric, well, I just love his book-nerdy approach and ability to see through Meara’s tactics. Although it is entertaining as heck to be a fly on the wall when Aunts Rita and Helen go at it, I think being the subject of their attentions is more than most people could handle…especially during the holidays! So, maybe not turn and walk away…but make the attempt to sneak by before they notice you’re there!
What’s the biggest challenge for you in this production?
Trying to do justice to an ancient Celtic tale and make it accessible to a contemporary audience. Most Celtic tales from the 4th to 9th century were passed down only orally in Gaelic because the early medieval form of Irish writing, Ogham, was primarily used only for stone and tree inscriptions. The stories were passed down over generations and translated into English much later, often with inaccuracies. Depending on the translation and story thread, different versions of each story emerged. Our goal was two part: to recapture into English the beauty and poetic nature of the original Gaelic Voyage of Bran story as well as to further flesh out the events and characters’ motivations which are seldom explained in the original tales.
Tell us something most people don’t know about you.
I studied in England in my early 20’s and while I was working on a show, my Irish director heard me singing along to a fellow cast member’s guitar strums. She encouraged the two of us to play around more and we ended up opening for a couple Brit Pop bands while I lived there. That is the moment for me that I truly started enjoying singing. I acted in and directed quite a few Irish plays as well as visited many pubs in my three visits to Ireland and Scotland to experience the music; all this has fueled my continued interest in Celtic culture and music over the years.
Leave a Reply
