Country Dance and Song Society Folk Music Week at Pinewoods August 25 - September 1, 2001

As of June 18, there is still space at this week.

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Program Description Staff Class Descriptions & Schedule Programs Homepage

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods August 25 - September 1, 2001 Program Director: Sara Grey Staff: Cathy Barton Mary Virginia Brooks Anni Fentiman Richard Forest Tom Gibney Tess Le Blanc Tim Lyons Dave Para Brian Peters Bill Vanaver Livia Vanaver Dave Webber Advisors: Isobel Abelson Joanie Bronfman Judy and Dennis Cook Brad Foster Neal MacMillan Dave MacLurg Suzanne Mrozak

Program Description: [Back to Top]

We're really excited about Folk Music Week this year as it focuses on participation in a diverse range of ethnic styles of song, music and dance ranging from American to Balkan to Israeli to French Canadian. We aim to bring a wide view of the world's music with people from the U.S., England, Ireland and Canada and their songs, music and dance from a much wider range of countries. There will be a lot of pairing of staff to compare and contrast the diverse styles and approaches to music as well as a chance for each staff member to shine. In the classes there will be plenty of hands-on opportunity for campers. We have a strong staff, well balanced between song, music and dance. There will be classes in banjo, melodeon, concertina, button accordion, guitar and Quebec and old-time fiddle.

The dance portion of the program includes contras as well as dances of French Canada and the Balkans.

Staff: [Back to Top]

We have sound samples of the staff.

Cathy Barton & Dave Para
Cathy and Dave have celebrated the musical traditions and folklife of Missouri and the Ozarks in venues across the U.S. They play several stringed instruments including hammered and fretted dulcimers, banjo, guitar and autoharp as well as "found" instruments like bones, spoons, mouthbow and leaf. Their music ranges from the lively dance tunes they have collected in their home region to old ballads to new songs. Putting the song before the singer, they are caretakers of a long musical heritage, and they are known for deep understanding and affection for traditional music.

Tom Gibney
Tom is known for his extraordinary singing and deft instrumental work. His repertoire draws from traditional songs, hymns, and ballads from the southern U.S. and the British Isles. He accompanies his songs on guitar, fiddle and banjo, and also sings unaccompanied songs. His strong voice and straightforward delivery compel even the casual listener to take notice. Tom's parents came to the U.S. from Ireland, and both his mother's and his father's families were musical. His mother's family, the O'Dowds of Sligo, includes well-known fiddlers and singers.

Tess Le Blanc
Born in New Brunswick, Canada, Tess began singing alongside her musically talented father and sisters. The Le Blanc home regularly resounded with bagpipe and fiddle tunes, Tess's interest in stepdancing and Gaelic singing led her to attend University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she studied Gaelic. Her voice, stage presence and charm have captivated audiences at festivals and concerts across Canada, the Northeast U.S. and France. She offers a fresh, interesting approach to a repertoire of traditional Acadian, Celtic and Quebecois songs with call-and-response songs, haunting ballads and lively stepdancing.

Brian Peters
Brian has been described as "one of British folk music's finest ambassadors." Retaining a deep commitment to musical traditions, he is a leading English squeezebox player, accomplished on melodeon (diatonic button accordion) and anglo concertina, as well as guitar. He is a passionate singer who studies traditional technique but knows how to use modern dynamics as well. Brian specializes in the great ballads of the British Isles. He has been a mover in the creation of a distinct identity for Northern English dance music. He has also become known for daring forays into ragtime, blues and rock'n roll on his squeezeboxes.

Richard Forest
Richard, from Montreal, Canada, has played fiddle for more than 20 years. In addition to his mastery of several traditional styles, he has written about 30 original tunes. He has performed and taught at numerous festivals and camps, including American Fiddle Tunes, Pinewoods Camp (American Dance Week 1999 and 2000), Augusta, Summer Solstice Folk Festival and many dance weekends. He has also performed during the Olympics in Atlanta. He plays with the band Domino mainly for American contra dance, and has toured across Canada and throughout the world.

Anni Fentiman & Dave Webber
Dave and Anni's enthusiasm sparkles in their powerful vocal performances which have developed from their involvement in traditional and traditional-style music. Their first love is a capella singing, solo and in harmony, and they acknowledge the debt of gratitude that is owed to source and early revival singers who have helped to keep it alive. They present a varied cross section of material from the delicate solo to the rousing chorus. From the Northeast of England, Anni is a "Geordie" and presents an unusual repertoire featuring dialect songs earning Anni a well-deserved reputation in English traditional music circles. Dave is also a song writer with many of his better known songs often assumed to be "traditional."

Bill Vanaver
Bill, a well-known musician and composer, has been playing to audiences throughout the world for the past 35 years. He does stellar instrumental work on 5 string banjo, as well as a myriad of other folk instruments. He has a vast knowledge of traditional songs and musical styles.

Livia Vanaver
Livia has researched and performed dance styles from the U.S. and abroad for the past 25 years. She writes a regular dance column, Steppin Out, for Sing Out! Magazine. A leading authority in dance education, she has pioneered the exposure of World dance styles to schools, conferences and workshops in the U.S. and Europe.

Tim Lyons
Tim is from Cork in Ireland and now lives in Galway. He is one of Ireland's finest exponents of traditional singing and songwriting. He has been very active in the traditional music scene throughout the south of Ireland for many years. He has performed at festivals and clubs throughout the United Kingdom as well as many radio and television appearances. He has toured with De Danaan in both Europe and the United States. He is a fine player of the two-row chromatic button accordion. His wit and repartee along with his exceptional singing, playing and songwriting make him a delight to listen to. We are fortunate to have him on staff this year.

Mary Virginia Brooks
Mary Virginia is a contra dance caller from Brooklyn, NY, who loves to put fun and playfulness in the dances. She will coordinate a dance for all each evening and offer a "one-shot" in contra dance basics on Sunday to give novices hints to enjoy the dances.

Folk Music Week at Pinewoods Tentative Schedule: click for Detailed Daily Schedule last updated June 18
9:00 - 10:00
Ozark Songs	Cathy & Dave P
Song Interpretation and Accompaniment	Brian
Performance workshop	Bill & Livia
Call & Response	Tess & Daniel
Elementary Fiddle	Tom
10:15 - 10:45
All Camp Sing in Camphouse
10:45 - 11:30
Staff Presentation in Camphouse
2:00 - 3:00
Balkan Songs and Dances	Bill & Livia
French Canadian Dances	Tess
Theme Song Swap	Tom
Banjo	Cathy
Songs of England	Anni & Dave W
Button Accordion Irish Dance Music	Tim
3:15 - 4:15
French Canadian Themes	Tess
Traditional Songs from Ireland, England & Scotland	Tim
Song Construction	Dave W
Group Singing	Tom
French Canadian Band Lab	Richard
Melodeon/Concertina	Brian
4:30 - 5:30
Ballads	Brian
Juba to Lindy Hop	Bill & Livia
Harmony Exploration	Anni & Dave W
Songs of the Civil War	Cathy & Dave P
Irish Song Writing	Tim
French Canadian Fiddle	Richard
8:00 - 9:00
Concert	Staff
9:15 - 11:00
Evening Dance Party

Class Descriptions: [Back to Top]

Song
Songs of the Civil War - Cathy Barton & Dave Para
The most musical war in American history. Song topics include soldiers songs, songs of engagements, propaganda songs, abolitionist songs, post-war songs and contemporary songs with some emphasis on those from the Trans-Mississippi West.

Ozark Songs - Cathy Barton & Dave Para
Categories will include ballads, lyric and religious songs, sources such as Ollie Gilbert and Glen Branscum, collectors such as Vance Randolph, H.M.Belden, Max Hunter and Loman Cansier and more recent writers such as Jimmy Driftwood and Charlie Sandage.

Singing As A Group - Tom Gibney
Slightly formal group singing from printed texts will be the subject of intensive work on getting a few songs "right". We will work on shape-note singing in which there will be emphasis on "singing the shapes" as well as singing the words of hymns from The Sacred Harp; some of the great songs from the Copper Family tradition; other arranged songs, such as "Daniel Prayed" and "Will My Mother Know Me There".

Theme Song Swap - Tom Gibney
Each day will have a theme such as:

Kipling/Bellamy - discussion and performance Peter Bellamy's settings of Rudyard Kipling's poetry.

Balkan Songs and Dances - Bill & Livia Vanaver
Learn to sing some of the favorite songs of Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia that Bill and Livia have collected over the last 30 years with beautiful harmonies, high lonesome sound and calling voice. Some songs have accompanying dances.

Traditional Songs from Ireland, England & Scotland - Tim Lyons
Tim will teach and sing songs from Great Britain and Ireland by oral imitation. He will describe the melody, talk about melodic decoration and teach the decoration.

Irish Song Writing - Tim Lyons
Humourous songs from the Irish tradition and self-penned songs. Tim's classes will involve creating songs in the traditional idiom using existing traditional tunes, melodies and doing asonance rhyming

Music
Guitar - Dave Para
A couple of "one-shots" on guitar backup techniques for fiddle tunes and dance music emphasizing flatpicking techniques.

Intermediate Banjo - Cathy Barton
Emphasizing Midwestern fiddle tunes for frailing banjo.

Elementary Fiddle - Tom Gibney
An introduction to fiddle playing. Tunes from the southern U.S., New England and Ireland

Melodeon & Concertina - Brian Peters
This class will include hints on techniques appropriate to English dance music, using two row melodeon (button accordion) in D/G, as used commonly by English players and demonstration and instruction of the potential of the anglo-concertina in C/G for tune playing and song accompaniment, including chordal work.

Northern English Tunes for Melodeon, Concertina and other instruments - Brian Peters
Exploration of English dance tunes from 18th and 19th century manuscripts, now being revived and gaining popularity. One session at least will be open to fiddles and other instruments.

Banjo Styles - Cathy Barton & Bill Vanaver
A "one shot" class to look at various styles of banjo playing.

French Canadian Fiddle - Richard Forest

French Canadian Band Lab - Richard Forest
Play and get tips on French-Canadian repertoire - for all instruments.

Button Accordion Irish Dance Music - Tim Lyons
Learn to play Irish dance tunes on one and two-row button accordion.

Dance
French Canadian Dances - Tess Le Blanc & Richard Forest
Dancers will learn both Cape Breton and Quebec step dancing; Reels, jigs, strathspeys, scotch fours and polkas. By Friday dancers will be stepping their way around the square sets.

From Juba to Lindy Hop - Bill & Livia Vanaver
Since slavery times, African-Americans have created a myriad of dances and dance styles. These unique and enjoyable forms were and still are created through a synthesis of inherited African dances with the dances of Europe often through the insights of brilliant individuals known and unknown. Bill and Livia will teach the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Shim Sham Shimmy and the infinitely varied improvisational basic Lindy Hop which is having a renaissance throughout the world today.

Percussive Dance - Bill & Livia Vanaver
A "one shot" on traditional and innovative percussive dance including clogging, stick dances and body percussion.

Performance Workshop - Bill & Livia Vanaver
For performers who wish to explore how to plan a set, find a happy medium between structure and informality, using microphone, etc.

Contra Dance - Mary Virginia Brooks
A "one shot" on Sunday to get the dance novice ready for the evening dances.

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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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