Old
Songs 2008 Summer Camps are held at Old
Songs Community Arts Center, 37 S Main St, Voorheesville, NY 10
miles southeast of Albany,
NY
Week
1• July
7-11 Fiddle & Strings ages 6 to 18, all skill levels
Learn to:
• find
the core melody of a tune
• build style over the melody
and tell styles apart
• arrange tunes in medleys
• play 3/4, 2/4 and 6/8 rhythms
• find simple harmonies and chords
• use 5-note scales to compose tunes
Lessons in: (weeks
I & II)
• Beginning thru
advanced fiddle, banjo, guitar, bass
• Beginning thru intermediate piano/keyboard
• Ear-training - learn the tune the easy way
• Rhythm - playing with two-bar rhythm motifs
• “Bowing 707” - controlling and maximizing your bow
• Playing in an ensemble
• Finding a common rhythm
• Recovering when you “fall off” a tune
• Improvisation - drumming new rhythms on a core tune
FACULTY
Donna Hébert
Jane Rothfield
George Wilson
Max Cohen
Week
2• July
14-18 Fiddle & Strings adults,
novice to intermediate
Learn to:
• create good musical
tone
• play efficiently with good posture
• find and play harmonies with ease
• create a group rhythm or groove
• design a custom practice routine
• use voice to learn tunes and phrasings
• pick up bowings by ear
Week
3• July
28-Aug 1 Fiddling Demystified all ages,
intermediate to advanced
fiddlers, string players,
string and fiddle teachers
This five-day intermediate to advanced level intensive
for only thirty participants demystifies fiddling, showing fiddlers,
string players and teachers how to interpret fiddle music in a variety
of regional dialects.
Massachusetts fiddler and
teacher Donna Hébert and California Alternative Styles cellist
Renata Bratt approach each style through its technical
requirements, cracking the codes of rhythms, ornaments and improvisation
in Irish,
Scottish, French-Canadian, New England
contradance, Southern Old-Time, Cajun and Swing fiddling.
Donna and Renata also show
how to translate fiddle tunes and style for the viola and cello.
Guitarist Max Cohen teaches all levels of guitar (bring yours or
borrow one!) and will accompany jams and group performances.
Working with Donna Hébert’s
new instructional materials for violin, viola and cello—Fiddling
Demystified: A Practical Guide for String Players—class
members learn to interpret and add style to the basic settings found
in most fiddle tune collections.
Tunes
are taught by ear to aid in hearing rhythms and ornaments, with sheet
music available at the end of each class. Fiddlers can learn new
methods of self-teaching and evaluation and teachers can learn to
write and use fiddling lesson plans for elementary through high school
levels.
In
addition to working from Donna’s 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.
FACULTY
Donna Hébert
Renat Bratt
Max Cohen
Daily
Schedule•all
weeks
Morning
9:00 . . . hall open, supervised jam
9:30. . . .instrument class
10:30 . . theory class
11:30. . .instrument class
12:30. . .Lunch
Afternoon
1:30. . . master class - teacher rotation
2:30. . . band practice
3:30. . . special event
Thurs.
3:30: Faculty Concert
4:30. . . potluck & jam - family invited
Tuition/Registration
Mail registrations to:
Old Songs, Inc.
PO Box 466
Voorheesville, NY 12186
If you have trouble opening the pdf file, use
our html
form
NOTE: We will not be offering
online registration via
PayPal as stated on our brochure.
Please register using one of the choices at left, which may be mailed
or faxed (518-765-4248) or contact us by
phone (518-765-2815), Mon.-Fri., 10:00
am-4:30 pm
Remember to call 518-765-2815 to confirm available space before
sending your application and fee. Space is limited to 30 campers each week.
Faculty
CLICK ABOVE FOR SUMMER CAMP BROCHURE in pdf format
Donna Hébert Donna (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. 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 its 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, documenting, preserving and presenting
the music of Vermont fiddler Louis Beaudoin and his family. Donna
is the director of all three camp weeks and publisher of Fiddling
Demystified for Strings.
Jane Rothfield Jane (Weeks I & II) teaches novice to advanced fiddle
and 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, 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.
George Wilson George (Weeks I & II) teaches intermediate
to advanced fiddling, banjo, 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 hammered 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.
Max Cohen Max (all three weeks) will teach beginning-advanced
guitar for 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, accompaniment
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, singer-songwriter Richard Berman and
with folk singer Priscilla Herdman.
Renata Bratt (Week III)
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.
Working with Donna Hébert’s
new instructional materials for violin, viola and cello—Fiddling
Demystified: A Practical Guide for String Players—class
members learn to interpret and add style to the basic settings found
in most fiddle tune collections. 
Jane Rothfield
Max Cohen