Country Dance and Song Society Folk Music Week at Pinewoods July 22 - 29, 2000

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Folk Music Week at Pinewoods July 22 - 29, 2000 Program Director: Sara Grey Staff: Mark & Sarah Bazeley Bob Bovee Ken Hall Gail Heil Annie McKenzie Bobby McMillon Anne Neilson Jason Rice Graeme Scott Joan Sprung Sheila Stewart Pete Sutherland Peta Webb Advisors: Joanie Bronfman Judy & Dennis Cook Brad Foster Suzanne Mrozak

Program Description: [Back to Top]

We have a very interesting and full schedule for Pinewoods Folk Music Week in the year 2000. The primary focus is to provide opportunities throughout the week for singers, storytellers and musicians from the British Isles and North America to show the movement and change of traditional music, song and story across the Atlantic. Through their spontaneous interaction, members of staff will share their cultural heritage with each other and with campers and it should prove to be a very exciting and rewarding week.

We have a wonderful young band from Southwest England, The Pixies, playing for dances as well as teaching classes on West Country music, song and dance. Bob Bovee and Gail Heil from the midwest will be playing and singing a wide variety of tunes and songs from the States as well as alternating with The Pixies in playing for the dances. Anne Neilson and Sheila Stewart will be singing songs and ballads and telling stories from their native Scotland. Graeme Scott will be teaching a wide range of classes on traditional Highland fiddle music. Pete Sutherland will be teaching traditional American fiddle styles as well as song-writing and arranging. Annie MacKenzie, Peta Webb and Ken Hall will hold up the Irish end of things with great humour as well as serious Irish ballads. Ken will be looking at Irish history in song. Joan Sprung will be involved in a wide variety of classes ranging from song-writing and guitar classes to interacting with other singers of ballads. Bobby McMillon will be teaching songs and stories from his native North Carolina. There will be morning community sings in the Camphouse and presentations throughout the week by members of staff. There will be a camper concert as well as plenty of the usual evening jams and singing.

Staff: [Back to Top] We have sound samples of the staff.

The Pixies hail from the south west of England and are a band whose focus is mainly on the traditional style and tunes associated with the northern edge of Dartmoor and passed down several generations in their respective families. The Dartmoor Pixie Band, started 40 years ago by Mark's grandfather, Bob Cann BEM, plays for barn dances and ceilidhs most weekends. The band is represented at camp by some of their members including Sarah & Mark Bazeley and Jason Rice.

Bob Bovee and Gail Heil play American traditional music with a faithfulness to the vocal and instrumental styles typical of vintage country recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Their repertoire is large and varied, interspersed with anecdotes, stories and poems that are sometimes poignant and often hilarious. Bob is a Nebraska native whose family sang and played old-time songs. He can drive a dance band with his guitar and harmonica and also plays banjo and autoharp, sings, yodels and is an entertaining storyteller. While growing up in Missouri, Gail learned many tunes and songs from traditional musicians in the Ozarks. She sings and plays fiddle, banjo, guitar and autoharp, and is an outstanding teacher and caller of square, contra and circle dances. Bob and Gail's research of the music covers the period from about the 1850s through the 1940s. The Southern, mountain and cowboy songs that they perform are adaptations and variations on unaccompanied ballads and fiddle and dance tunes brought from the British Isles when this country was settled.

Anne Neilson, born 1944, has been singing since 1957 and her range of material is extensive including spirituals, Gaelic waulking songs, ballads, calypsos, bothy ballads and children's street songs. Her preference is for the songs of North Eastern Scotland and the ballads in particular. For the past 17 years Anne has been a member of the group Stramash, five singers whose intention has been to promote the cause of song at a time when it seemed that instrumental music had grabbed the limelight. Anne is very active in the Traditional Scottish Music Association and has done a number of workshops over the last few years with Gordeanna McCullough on traditional ballads and song styles.

Graeme Scott, from Inverness, Scotland, is aged 42 and has been playing the fiddle since the age of 8. He was senior solo fiddle champion at the National Mod (the premier festival of Gaelic music and culture) on three occasions in 1986, 1987 and 1995 and is now frequently asked to adjudicate at competitions and festivals including the Mod. He is a member of the Inverness Fiddlers Society and is an experienced and regular player in folk groups and ceilidh bands. Graeme has a particular interest in the Highland/Gaelic influenced fiddle style. Recent tours include The St Andrews Society of Moscow, Russia in Nov '98.

Pete Sutherland, a native of the Champlain Valley in Vermont, is a singer-songwriter with over twenty years of performing. He toured full-time in the 1980s with the Indiana-based trio Metamora. Pete's songs have gained attention from acoustic and traditional music fans, the media and from other artists. Interspersed with Pete's originals will be songs and tunes from his extensive traditional repertoire, featuring guitar, clawhammer banjo and of course, fiddle.

Sheila Stewart, from Blairgowrie, has a rich repertoire of traditional ballads and songs, which have been handed down through the many generations of her family. She has sung all over the world in festivals, concerts, ceilidhs and folk song clubs. She has roots in the rich story telling tradition of the travelling people and she has a treasury of wonder tales, comic tales, ghost stories, fables and legends and Burker stories and tales of witches, changelings and the supernatural. Sheila is one of the original Stewarts of Blair, a dynasty of singers, storytellers and musicians from the travelling people in Scotland.

Annie MacKenzie from Co. Fermanagh, N. Ireland, is a singer of traditional songs, a recounter of ghost and fairy stories and a reviver of traditional mumming drama. She is one of the real bearers of traditions handed down through generations of her family. The mumming tradition was all but lost in the area when Annie revived it by breaking the strict tradition and becoming the first woman to participate in the local folk drama. Annie is the landlady of the Linnet Bar in Boho, a focal point for local singers and musicians. Originally from Derrylin in south Fermanagh, she learned most of her songs from her mother and from "farmers boys" - hired men, mainly from Leitrim, who came to work in the area. She learned songs and often performed them with her twin sister.

Joan Sprung is an excellent traditional singer, a songwriter "in the tradition" and has taught guitar for many years. Joan lived for many years in Connecticut and has recently moved to Vermont. She has written a number of songs that have passed into a tradition of their own and are now being recorded by musicians including Gordon Bok. Joan has recorded with Folk Legacy Records.

Peta Webb and Ken Hall - Peta Webb, a Londoner, specialises in the art of traditional Irish singing, especially travellers songs, but is also well known for her Music Hall repertoire and she enjoys interpreting American blue-grass and old-time songs. She has performed over the years in Britain with a number of musicians and singers including Sisters Unlimited, Alison McMorland and now Ken Hall. Ken, originally from Liverpool in England, first started singing at the Islington folk club in London and was much influenced by Bob Davenport and Reg Hall, traditional singers living in London. He has, over the years, developed a keen interest in the Northern Irish singing style. He has a fine voice and has fast built a reputation for his amusing songs and poignant ballads. Ken is currently completing a degree in Irish studies specialising in the depiction of Irish History in song.

Bobby McMillon was born and reared on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwestern North Carolina by forebears from the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee. He began early in life committing to memory and page the ballads and tales he learned in his mountain home. His presentations include ballads learned directly from the lips of the mountain people; Appalachian versions of stories handed down orally for generations in their unexpurgated forms; personal and family anecdotes; mountain customs and mores; folk; early country; and meeting-house (religious) songs.

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods Tentative Schedule:
9:00 - 10:00
Scottish & Irish Traditional Song	Annie & Anne
Arranging Songs	Pete
West Country	Mark & Jason
Scottish Fiddle (elementary)	Graeme
Goin' to the West	Bob & Gail
Guitar	Joan
10:15 - 10:45
All Camp Sing in Camphouse
10:45 - 11:30
Staff Presentation in Camphouse
2:00 - 3:00
Irish History in Song	Ken
Anne Neilson on...	Anne
Writing Songs	Joan
Southern Fiddle (elementary/intermediate)	Pete
Mumming Play	Annie
Stewarts of Blair	Sheila
3:15 - 4:15
Singing Styles	Peta
Scottish Fiddle (intermediate)	Graeme
Dartmoor Dances	Pixies
Pete Sutherland on...	Pete
NC Songs & tales	Bobby
Song Accompaniment	Bob & Gail
4:30 - 5:30
English Folk Revival	Ken & Peta
Scottish Fiddle Influences	Graeme
Call & Learn Dances	Pixies
Storytelling	Sheila, Bobby, Annie
Unaccompanied Singing	Sheila, Bobby, Annie, Anne, Peta
Old & Schmaltzy	Bob, Gail, Joan
8:00 - 9:00
Concert	Staff
9:15 - 11:00
Evening Dance Party

Class Descriptions: [Back to Top]

Scottish and Irish Traditional Song - Anne Neilson and Annie McKenzie alternate with classes on Scottish and Irish traditional song

West Country Music & Song - Mark & Sarah Bazeley and Jason Rice deal with topics from the West Country in England including box playing, songs and Mark's grandfather the legendary Bob Cann.

Scottish Fiddle - Graeme Scott will hold classes each day for elementary and intermediate fiddlers and if there is a demand for it he'll gladly do some one shots for advanced fiddlers.

Going to the West - Bob Bovee and Gail Heil will hold classes on cowboy & western songs, railroad, hobo and Carter family.

Elementary Guitar - Joan Sprung has a unique and very successful method for teaching guitar.

Irish History in Song - Ken Hall will look at Irish history as it appears in song. His sub-topics include Rebellion and Resistance, Emigration and the Diaspora, Urban Songs (Dublin and Cork) and Contemporary Social and Political Songs.

Writing Songs - Joan Sprung will work with campers to look at the writing of songs from the "outside".

Pete Sutherland on... - Pete will cover a number of one-shot topics including New England Fiddle, Ethiopian Tunes, Lotus Dickey and Record Production

Anne Neilson on... - Anne will cover a number of one-shot topics including Adapting text for Songs, the Scottish Revival, and Tackling a Ballad

Mumming Play - Annie McKenzie will introduce mumming plays and, through the week, work with campers to produce a play to be performed at the end of the week.

Stewarts of Blair - Sheila Stewart will work with campers to help them "miss out using their heads" and sing from the heart ("an conyach".)

Singing Style - Peta Webb will teach a number of singing styles including Sean Nos and the Northern Irish style, Ballads and the Travellers. Campers can also bring their own styles to share.

Dartmoor Dances - The Pixies will teach several forms of dance from Dartmoor including Step and Broom dances and country dances from the area..

Learn and Call Dances - Sarah Bazeley will teach many types of dances and give a chance to call with the Pixies.

English Folk Revival - Peta Webb & Ken Hall look at the days of the folk revival in England with particular emphasis on London, The Watersons and the wider scene. Ken Hall will take one class to look at songs from East Anglia.

Southern Fiddle - Pete Sutherland will run classes for people wanting to learn southern fiddle style.

North Carolina Songs & Tales - Bobby McMillon will look at Love Songs and Ballads from British Isles as sung in Applachian Mountains; Appalachian versions of Jack Tales and Wonder Stories; Tales and Ballads of True North Carolina Murders; and The Appalachian Ballad Tradition.

Song Accompaniment - Bob Bovee & Gail Heil will teach song accompaniment and Gail will teach a couple of banjo classes.

Story Telling - Bobby McMillon with Annie McKenzie and Sheila Stewart will tell stories from their own traditions and look at the common threads running through them.

Unaccompanied Singing - Sheila Stewart, Bobby McMillon, Annie McKenzie, Anne Nelsen, Peta Webb, Ken Hall and Bob Bovee & Gail Heil will sing unaccompanied songs from their own traditions and look at the common threads running through them.

Old & Schmaltzy - Bob Bovee & Gail Heil, sometimes joined by Joan Sprung will sing old-timey and sentimental songs with plenty of opportunity for all to join in.

Program Description Staff Class Descriptions & Schedule Top

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Country Dance and Song Society 132 Main St/PO Box 338 Haydenville, MA 01039-0338 Office Hours M-F 9:30am - 5:00pm EST

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