Folk Music at Pinewoods

July 24 - 31, 2010

Program Description

Folk Music week is always a very special experience in a very special place. To sit amid the tall pines and gaze out over Long Pond as a traditional ballad or fiddle tune drifts on the evening air is surely magical. But that is just the beginning! For a whole week we aim to bring together the very best of the best of traditional singers, musicians and dancers to teach, perform and lead daily workshops and master classes on Singing, Music and Dance traditions from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. After a week of singing, playing dancing and learning together a new community of friends and acquaintances emerges inspired .

As well as a range of daily workshops and concerts there will also be plenty of opportunity to sing play and dance in a number of organized and impromptu sessions.

A Morris Intensive (pre-registration required) runs concurrently with Folk Music Week at Pinewoods Camp and there are opportunities for campers to attend some sessions on both courses.

-- Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman, Program Co-directors

Class Descriptions

Carl Jones

Carl Jones

Carl Jones toured with James Bryan, Norman and Nancy Blake as part of the Rising Fawn String Ensemble, playing mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. He now plays as a duo with Beverly Smith and is sometimes found pickin' as part of a trio with Bruce Green and Don Pedi. Carl has been an instructor at Pinewoods, Port Townsend's Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Mars Hill Old Time Week, and the Swannanoa Gathering. His songs have been recorded by the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Rickie Simpkins and others.

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

As well as exploring his wealth of great songs and tunes, Carl will teach classes in Mandolin, Banjo, and lead some one-shot classes in Song writing and Duet singing (with his music partner Beverly Smith). Campers will need to bring instruments as all workshops will  be based on practical learning. 

• Mandolin: The class will explore: basic mandolin technique, song accompaniment backup, and tunes for the mandolin 

• Banjo:  Carl will explore claw hammer and picking styles for the banjo and will include basic technique and tunes for banjo.

• Carl will also contribute to the Playing with the Dancers Class with Bob Walser and Beverly Smith preparing for the evening dances.

Len Graham

Len Graham

Irish singer Len Graham offers traditional songs in English from the North of Ireland, with memories from a lifetime of collecting and singing. Len's extensive repertory of songs covers the gamut of themes and human experience as portrayed in the old ballads, local songs, lyric folksongs, music hall pieces, songs on politics, murder, love, emigration and more.

http://www.chivalry.com/len_graham/

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

Lens will share his extensive repertoire and his in deep knowledge of the social context of the songs.

• Songs of the Heart - Songs from Ireland on the theme of love.

• The Irish Soldier/Sailor Boy - Songs of war and peace.

• Farewell Old Ireland - Songs of parting including, of course, songs of immigration.

Michael and Carrie Kline

Michael and Carrie Kline

Michael and Carrie Kline are soulful singers preoccupied with West Virginia songs, from the ancient ballads of the Hammons Family in the central highlands, to mining laments and songs of resistance in the coal fields. They enjoy love ballads and country songs as well, especially the poignant imagery of Kate Wolf and Laurie Lewis. They present their music both as entertainment and social history, with engaging ease and hard-hitting passion. As two people absorbed in the study of oral tradition, they spend time with old-time singers and tellers living in the Appalachian region. Singing to audiences of all ages, they perform in a variety of situations; from classrooms to prisons, from coffeehouses to picket lines. Their style is an amalgamation of musical and oral sources representative of places like Cherokee, North Carolina, the Appalachian coal fields, and industrial cities from Cincinnati to New England. Their high mountain harmonies meld with Michael Kline's well-loved melodic flat-picking-style guitar.

http://www.folktalk.org

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

Michael and Carrie will teach two workshops a day

• A handful of significant ballads and play party songs from the Hammons family and central WV sources. Providing a contextual running narrative throughout the week so that campers can internalize some details of the singer's lives and the region as a whole.

• Coal mining classics as well as other country harmony duets from coast to coast.

Alison McMorland

Alison McMorland

Alison McMorland was born in Renfrewshire into a musical family. Since then she has enjoyed a long involvement in traditional music on various levels: singer, collector, broadcaster, author and tutor on the Scottish Music course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow. Alison has worked closely with and learning from traditional singers, such as Willie Scott and Lucy Stewart. Since 2001 she has recorded a solo album and in partnership with Geordie McIntyre. Alison particularly enjoys working with young singers and introducing them to the rich Scots song tradition.

http://www.alisonmcmorland.com/

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

and Geordie McIntyre

Geordie McIntyre

Geordie McIntyre is a Glaswegian of Highland and Irish descent, his lifetime involvement in song, ballad and poetry is reflected in his singing, collecting and songwriting. He has an extensive repertoire and has sung at clubs and festivals in most corners of Britain and Ireland and more recently in the USA. Geordie has just released the book Inveroran, a collection of 22 original songs with music in the traditional idiom. Many have already been recorded by Geordie as well as other artists.

http://www.alisonmcmorland.com/

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

• Interpreting the classic Scottish ballads: We will explore two each day.

• The Scottish Collectors: Burns, Tannahill, Ord/Ford /Greig, Henderson, Fullerton: We will focus on songs from these different collectors on consecutive days.

• The Scottish Singers/Song Carriers: A look at a pot pouri of singers, their background and their songs) including Family songs, (Elizabeth Stewarts family and the new book we have been working on) , Willie Scott and shepherd community, Tannahill (relative of Robert Tannahill).

Beverly Smith

Beverly Smith

Beverly Smith is a fine caller of contras and squares, and one of today's shining lights in old time string band music. She is a member of Big Hoedown and former member of The Heartbeats. She's interested in music ranging from old time mountain to Irish. She currently lives in Georgia with 2 goats, 1 guinnea and 13 chickens when she is not out touring the world with musical partner Carl Jones.

http://www.smithnjones.net/index.html

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

Beverly will teach Guitar and Fiddle and possible one-shot workshops on Duet singing with her music partner Carl Jones.

• Guitar .  Exploring the role and application of the guitar in the old-time style bring your instrument as the workshops will be practical.

• Old-time Fiddle Tunes and Technique 

• Beverly will also contribute to the Playing with the Dancers Class with Bob Walser and Carl Jones preparing for the evening dances.

Bob Walser

Bob Walser

Bob Walser received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. He has presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the U.S., and as a clinician for the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Formerly music coordinator in the education department of Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT, he also served as consultant to the education division of the National Park Service at Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco. Recent publications include a vocal arrangement of a Swedish folksong and Saman: Dance of a Thousand Hands both published by World Music Press, and “Here We Come Home in a Leaky Ship!” The Shanty Collection of James Madison Carpenter in the English Folk Music Journal.

http://www.bobandjulie.net/

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

Bob’s classes will include:

• Further exploration of the Carpenter Collection

• Traditional Music from the Source of the Nile: This workshop will focus on the traditional xylophone music of Uganda. For this the class will help to build a full size community Xylophone (played by a number of people) and will explore this very unique playing style and sound.

• Bob will also lead the Playing with the Dancers class with Beverly Smith and Carl Jones and leading the evening dance.

Anni Fentiman and Dave Webber

Anni Fentiman and Dave Webber

Anni Fentiman and Dave Webber tour extensively on both sides of the Atlantic with their particular brand of harmony and solo singing. Enthusiasm sparkles in their powerful vocal performances which have developed from their involvement in traditional and traditional-style music for over 25 years. They present a varied cross section of material from the delicate solo to the rousing chorus. Their wide-ranging song repertoire brings together traditional, revival and newly written material in programs designed to engage audiences and make joining in irresistible.

http://www.oldandnewtradition.com/daveandanni/

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods

As well as being program directors for this week Anni and Dave will deliver two workshops per day.

• The Navvies Way:  A Ballad Documentary in six one hour workshops will explore the life and music of the Navigators (Navvies ) who built England’s waterways and Railways and latterly the road networks with Blood, Sweat and Beers.

• 40 years On:  Dave and Anni look back at their repertoire for the last 40’s year in the folk revival. They will remember the songs that first inspired them as soloists and revisit their duo song list over 25years including the material from their involvement in over 25 Albums.   A Time for a good sing!