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Who Are The Contraptions?
                                                                                   
A Philadelphia based contra band, the Contraptions have been having fun playing together since June 2006. We've toured in Washington State (June 2008) and we've been to Texas to play for the Fire Ant Frolic in Austin (November 2007). Other places we've played include Glen Echo and Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia, Elverson, Bethlehem, State College, Lancaster, and Harrisburg PA; Princeton, Lambertville, and Chatham, NJ; Greenwich, CT; and New York, NY.

 
Chloe Maher (piano) enjoys eating good food. She has been involved in the traditional dance and music community for her whole life. Beginning with Scottish country dance, she has subsequently enjoyed English country, contra, clogging, rapper sword, and morris. Singing has also long been a hobby for Chloe, and she became an avid shape note singer while at Oberlin College, an activity that culminated in co-editing (with Charles Wells) and publishing Oberlin Harmony (2001), a compilation of songs sung and enjoyed at Oberlin. Chloe loves playing piano for English, Scottish, and contra dances. She is on the board of the Country Dance and Song Society . Chloe is in graduate school at Temple University for Community and Regional Planning.

Bill Quern (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, harmonica) plays in more bands than anyone we know. His father filled the house with instruments for Bill and his 10 siblings to explore, so Bill developed into a multi-instrumentalist. Fiddle, banjo, concertina, mandolin, harmonica, and bodhran became his selection as an adult. He has a degree in Fine Arts from MA College of Art where he studied performance, sculpture and instrument making. He plays for Contra and Square dances, English Country dances, teaches Morris dancing (at Saint Peter's School in Philadelphia) and Scandinavian dancing. He dances with Kingsessing Morris Men (7 time winners in the Philadelphia Mummer's Parade) and plays for English Rapper and Longsword dance teams. Other performances include; Enscaded Festival in Holland, on Chinese television, the New England Folk Festival, the Butterball Dance Festival, and the Heritage Dance Festival.

Nora Smith (fiddle) began playing for dances while getting a biology degree from Haverford College. Since then, she has gotten her MLIS and a certificate in Healthcare Informatics from Drexel University. She is now working for one year at Hopkins as a Basic Science Informationist Trainee. Nora plays for contra, Scottish, and English dancing and can often be found at Irish sessions. She also plays with the band Glenfiddle.


The Contraptions often play with caller/fiddler Rick Mohr.

Contact Info
Booking: call Chloe 267.240.5227 or email cmaryamm@yahoo.com