Three new summer day camps at OLD SONGS, Inc. in July 2008!
CAMP BROCHURE PDF with application
Fiddle & Strings - Weeks I, II
WEEK I - July 7-11 - ages 6-18 - ASTA level 2-3
WEEK II - July 14-18 - novice to intermediate level adults - ASTA level 2-3 - Faculty - Weeks I & II: Groovemama members Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield, George Wilson & Max Cohen.
Fiddling Demystified for Strings - Week III
WEEK III - July 28-Aug 1 - Fiddling Demystified for Strings - intermediate to advanced fiddlers of all ages, string players, string and fiddle teachers. ASTA level 3-4. Faculty - Donna Hébert, cellist Renata Bratt, guitarist Max Cohen. Uses Donna's Fiddling Demystified for Strings curriculum and method.
At Fiddle & Strings summer day camps, musicians of all ages acquire efficient ear-training methods to learn fiddling on any stringed instrument. Style is broken down tune-by-tune, with theory lessons embedded in each melody. Harmonies, backup lines and arrangements are created on the fly in class and more informally in jams, with the emphasis on rhythmic improvisation over a core melody.
Week I (July 7-11) is for ages 6-18 at all skill levels, Week II (July 4-18) is for adult novice and intermediate players and Week III (July 28- Aug 1) is for intermediate to advanced level fiddlers of all ages and for string players, string and fiddle teachers. Weeks I-II are both ASTA Level 2-3; Week III is ASTA Level 3-4. All require at least a basic knowledge of your instrument, with the exception of the Fiddle/banjo/guitar from scratch classes in Weeks I-II.
Camp weeks are held at the air-conditioned Old Songs Community Center in the charming village of Voorheesville NY, about 20 miles west of Albany, NY.
Each week is limited to 30 participants.
mp3: A Jigger of Blues - Donna; mp3: Irish Alleluia - Donna & Jane; mp3 Cluck Old Hen - Donna, Jane (fiddles), George (banjo);
Donna Hébert (all three weeks) is adjunct fiddle instructor at Amherst College and has taught fiddling at Wesleyan, The Hartt School, Central CT State, ASTA conferences, summer camps and workshops as well as folk venues nationwide. Donna is presenting Franco-American fiddling repertoire, style and teaching methods in Feb. 2008 at the ASTA Conference in Albuquerque and is currently working with string teachers in Massachusetts on a regional pilot program for Fiddling in the Schools. String music pioneer Darol Anger says in his foreword to Donna's Fiddling Demystified: A Practical Guide for String Players "Donna gets it all right! I suspect that the general level of fiddle knowledge and playing will take a major uptick soon after Fiddling Demystified is published, just as other great music books such as Earl Scruggs’ original banjo book, O’Neill‘s great Irish fiddling reference and the infamous jazz Real Book influenced the course of musicians’ lives and work."
A well-known Franco-American concert and dance fiddler, Donna directs The Great Groove Band of young musicians at both the Old Songs Festival in Altamont NY, where the program is in it’s 9th year and at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, now in its third. Donna teaches, performs and records solo and with her teaching partners in five-member string band Groovemama and with Franco-American heritage quartet Chanterelle. With Beaudoin family members, fiddler George Wilson and the Vermont Folklife Center, Donna co-directs The Beaudoin Project and The Beaudoin Legacy, documenting, preserving and presenting the music of Vermont fiddler Louis Beaudoin and his family. Summer and fall 2007 performances included the Lowell Folk Festival, Champlain Valley Festival and Catamount (VT) Arts. Six-times recognized as a master Franco-American fiddler by New England arts councils and a 2005 Massachusetts Artist Grant finalist, Donna has helped to create and nurture a community of fiddlers, singers and lovers of Franco-American music. Recorded twice on Smithsonian with other recordings on Philo/Fretless, Flying Fish and Chanterelle labels, Donna is the director of all three camp weeks and publisher of Fiddling Demystified for Strings.
Jane Rothfield (Weeks I & II) teaches novice to advanced fiddle, banjo, plus tune composition, arranging and Southern Old-Time fiddling, specializing in making the tune accessible to the newest players. Jane easily moves between Appalachian Old Time, Scottish and Irish music while maintaining the essence, rhythm and feel of each fiddle style. She teaches, performs and records solo and with her teaching partners in five-member string band Groovemama as well as in Jane's Gang and Atlantic Bridge, the Sensations and The Pearls. Her tune “Too Late for the Bacon” won the coveted award for Best Non-Traditional Tune at the 2006 Clifftop Appalachian Mountain Music Festival Contest. Jane's recordings include There and Back (Jane Rothfield and Allan Carr), When These Shoes were New (Hadden Rothfield and Carr), Atlantic Bridge (Jane Rothfield and Allan Carr), Northern Lights (Jane Rothfield and Selma Kaplan), with appearances on recordings by Rude Girls, Jim Gaudet, and Gil Burns. Her most recent recording is the critically acclaimed In the Moment (5-string productions), which features Jane’s fiddling on traditional and original tunes with help by top Old Time Musicians Pete Peterson, Paul Sidlick, Matt Brown and Bob Taylor .
George Wilson (Weeks I & II) teaches intermediate to advanced fiddling, banjo and string bass, harmony and "Bowing 707," as well as Cape Breton fidding. Also a skilled luthier, he can adjust fiddles to maximize their sound. A mainstay of the Northeast's fiddling community, George plays for dances with many people and performs with Groovemama, The Beaudoin Project, in Fennig's All-Stars with hammer-dulcimer legend Bill Spence and in the Whippersnappers with Peter Davis and Frank Orsini. George also plays for school dance programs with caller Paul Rosenberg. With Beaudoin family members, fiddler Donna Hébert and the Vermont Folklife Center, George co-directs The Beaudoin Project, documenting, preserving and presenting the music of Vermont fiddler Louis Beaudoin and his family. Summer and fall 2007 performances include the Lowell Folk Festival, Champlain Valley Festival and Catamount (VT) Arts.
Max Cohen (all three weeks) will teach beginning-advanced guitar - standard and open tunings, flatpick and fingerstyle. Bring your own or borrow a guitar! Max covers the basics of playing for the novice and will also challenge the experienced player with advanced tunings and chord progressions, theory and arranging, backup styles and rhythm patterns. An audio engineer and producer, Max will demonstrate easy digital audio editing, so bring your laptop. A master of many grooves, Max plays for the daily jam sessions and works with small groups throughout the week. Max performs and teaches with Groovemama and folk singer Priscilla Herdman and is an independent record producer.
Max also teaches guitar for the Great Groove Band of young musicians at both the Old Songs Festival in Altamont NY and at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Max rocked the dance stage at Philly in 2007 with Groovemama, combining with 'Mama's bassist and dance veteran Stuart Kenney to stir up what Pittsburgh caller Ron Buchanan called, "a wild and unstoppable storm of music!" An accomplished fingerstyle guitar player who has recorded tracks for Dar Williams and others, Maxrecently joined folk legend Priscilla Herdman as her accompanist and opening act. His musicianship has drawn accolades from critics and fans alike. Guitar for the Practicing Musician says Max is "among the most musically complete players" they have seen, and Guitar Player Magazine has raved about Max's playing, saying it was nothing short of "immaculate."
Renata Bratt (Week III), cellist and clinician
photo with Donna in 2006 at Mark O'Connor's San Diego Strings Conference
As 2007 chair of the ASTA Alternative String Styles Steering Committee, Renata is helping to revitalize and reinvent string teaching at every level. Renata is also president of the International Association for Jazz Education String Caucus. In addition to working from Donna's Fiddling Demystified for Strings book and Renata's own Mel Bay publications, Renata demonstrates adding rhythm and chords to a melody and finding and playing counter and rhythm lines under a tune. Teachers will work with her to develop lesson plans using fiddling, swing and jazz rhythms to create a fertile learning environment in the classroom that also meets the National Standards for Music Educators.
Renata writes and has been interviewed about improvisation and fiddle styles for Strings Magazine, ASTA and the Suzuki Music Association. In addition to editing the cello transcriptions of Donna's "Fiddling Demystified for Strings," Renata has authored "The Fiddling Cellist," “Celtic Grooves for Two Cellists, 47 Irish and Scottish Tunes” and the arrangements for Dix Bruce’s “BackUp Trax: Old Time & Fiddle Tunes for Cello” for Mel Bay Publications. She has taught classical styles, jazz improvisational and fiddling techniques at national string workshops for children and adults (including the Mancini Institute, Mark O'Connor's San Deigo String Conference, Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling Camp, IAJE, ASTA, MENC and Suzuki institutes and conferences). She is also is a past president of the Suzuki Music Association of California. www.renatabratt.com.
Which camp week is best for me?
If you are between the ages of 6-18 and play your instrument at the novice or intermediate level, then Week I of Fiddle Camp for Strings from July 7-11 will likely fit your needs. If you are an adult and play at the novice and low-intermediate skill level, then Week II of Fiddle Cmap for Strings from July 14-18 will probably be your best fit. If you are an adult, a teacher, a string player or play at the high intermediate to advanced levels, then you'll be most at home at Fiddling Demystified for Strings Camp, July 28-Aug. 1. Week I and II offer banjo and bass. Week III offers cello and lesson plan development. All three weeks offer fiddle and guitar.
Fiddle music is an oral tradition and though we will use written music, fiddling style and tunes are taught by ear. All students are strongly encouraged to bring an audio recording device of some kind. If you have a computer at home, we recommend a digital voice recorder with a USB connection to download directly to your computer desktop. We recommend the Olympus 100 DVR at about $100, but iPods can be used to record with external attachments (about $50), while for the serious tekkie, the Edirol is fast becoming the field recorder of choice (about $400).
CLASS TIMES are M-F, 9:30-12:30 am, 1:30-4 pm. The hall opens at 9 am for supervised jamming and warmup. To enable us to eat lunches together, we collect lunch money ($10/day or $50 for the week - you can pay when you register) to provide varied, healthy and delicious on-site lunches each day. Thursday afternoon potluck party - familes invited - with a short faculty recital. Student recital is Friday afternoon.
DEADLINE: 6/1/07. REFUNDS: All but $50 before 5/30, all but $100 before 6/25, no refunds after 6/25.
FIDDLE & STRINGS - Week I, ages 6-18, July 7-11 - $325
Week II, adults July 14-18 - $375
FIDDLING DEMYSTIFIED CAMP - Week III, all ages, July 28-Aug. 1 - $425
Voorheesville is about 30 minutes west of Albany NY. When you register, Old Songs will send you a list of motels, campgrounds and B&Bs in the area.
Old Songs
37 Main St./PO Box 466
Voorheesville NY 12186-0466
for more information, go to: www.oldsongs.org/camps.html
info@oldsongs.org • 518-765-2815