| Emma Hardin |
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 Emma plays the cello and sings in the Rockin' Acoustic Circus. She enjoys laughing until she cries, does not wear shoes unless it is absolutely necessary and is always cold. That is why you will most always she her carrying her "blankie." "I don't have much of a life outside of music, except for the occasional trip to the zoo or guitar hero competitions with my brother, although, technically that counts as music." Emma began her musical career in the school orchestra when she was twelve and quickly fell in love with the cello. A short time later, she accepted a musical scholarship to the Barthelmes Conservatory of Music where she stills studies classical music today. At the Mark O'Connor String Conference in San Diego-2007, is where she first saw people taking cello "out of the box." "I quickly went from loving the the classical cello to realizing I too wanted to go outside the box by fiddling it, chopping it, etc. Zac, (Emma's brother) was already a band member in the Circus; I wanted to develop that sort of acoustic music on my cello." Because fiddling the cello is such a new concept, there aren't many guidelines. Musicians like Rushad Eggleston and Ben Sollee have developed a unique style of playing the cello in a nontraditional way. "They have been an inspiration for my approach to the world of the unconventional cello I am certainly enjoying the challenge of bringing it out of it's classical restraints and into a new, altogether different realm of music.." Emma finds it a privilege to be in the middle of a lifelong process of breaking the cello's musical mold and creating her own style. "I never know quite how to answer people when they ask what type music I play; I am still figuring that out." |
Along with playing "bluegrass cello," Emma is an accomplished classical cellist...