Country Dance and Song Society

American Dance Musicians Course at Pinewoods
August 14 - 21, 2004

As of September 2, this week is over

Buffalo Gap	Pinewoods			Ogontz
English & American Family	Early Music Folk Music Family	English & American American Dance & Music American Musicians	Campers' English Dance English Dance Leaders	Family Week 1 Family Week 2 Teacher

Schedule & Fees

Classes

Registration

American Dance Musicians Course at Pinewoods
August 14 - 21, 2004

Program Directors:
Keith Murphy & Becky Tracy

Tentative Schedule: [Back to Top]

7:45 - 8:15 Breakfast

9:00 - 10:00

American Dance Musicians Course

10:15 - 11:15

American Dance Musicians Course

11:15 - 12:00 Swimming, Bookstore staffed

12:00 Lunch

1:30 - 2:30

American Dance Musicians Course

2:45 - 3:45

Challenging Contras Lisa Greenleaf

Irish Ceili Dances Cathy & Jim Mieczkowski

Banjo Andrea Cooper

4:00 - 5:00

Old-Time Jam The Foxchasers

Open spaces for camper-led activities

4:45 - 5:15

Cinq á Sept: informal gathering

Swimming, Bookstore staffed

5:15 - 6:00

Rendezvous (Staff concerts, announcements, songs, etc)

6:30 Dinner

8:00

Couple Dances

8:15 - 11:00

Evening Dance Party

11:00

After-dance Activities

Program Description: [Back to Top]

Look up our Special Programs for some general information; here is more detail about this particular program and staff.

This year's course will have two components.

The first component will focus on the basics of good musicianship as it pertains to dance music. This will involve various ear training exercises -- learning great dance tunes by ear and identifying chord patterns. Time will also be spent analyzing recordings of dance music to understand to what effect different bands use tune choices, rhythmic patterns, musical textures and dynamics.

The second component of the class will focus on arranging music for contra dancing, working from what might be called a more modern approach to dance music where individual dance medleys are conceived as distinctive pieces of music with a defining rhythmic character and overall shape in terms of texture, dynamics and ultimately a mood. Arrangement ideas will be seen in this light rather than as a random sequence of "tricks". This implies an advanced level of ensemble playing working toward a shared musical goal. It also calls for a degree of improvising within the conceptual framework of a given arrangement and this skill will be discussed and worked on.

These are ideas that apply most strongly to people playing in regular groupings, though the ideas also apply somewhat to pickup group situations.

The course is led by Keith Murphy and Becky Tracy, who have, for the past decade, been part of some of the most exciting music in contra dancing combining Becky's fiddling and Keith's unerring sense of rhythm on guitar, piano, mandolin and feet. They are both accomplished teachers and draw extensively from their experience working with established dance bands such as Nightingale, Wild Asparagus and Assembly, as well as their work in other configurations.

The class will do arranging work as a whole but will split into smaller groupings to work out ideas on that level also.

Please check the description of American Dance & Music Week at Pinewoods for details on that rich and varied program and staff.

Classes [Back to Top]

Ensemble arranging; listening to recordings

Tunes by ear; chord work

Small group work

During free times, participants can choose from among the activities available at American Dance & Music Week. Those classes are described on that page.

Materials [Back to Top]
Please bring a recording device and means of listening back, a CD player and manuscript paper.

Registration: [Back to Top]
The registration deadline for this course is March 15. If it is oversubscribed on the 15th, there will be a lottery. American Dance Musicians Course is limited to 15 people. There will be acoustic pianos, but piano players are encouraged to bring an electric keyboard with headphones. We will attempt to keep a balance between melody players and accompanists. Scholarships are available.