Fall Weekend Workshops
Get
ready for a fabulous time at our up-coming Fall Weekend. Below is a
preliminary list of the workshops/classes Read the descriptions and be
prepared —bring those dulcimers, guitars, recording devices, notebooks,
voices, dancing feet and/or just yourselves. Don’t worry, if you forget
to bring anything you can still come and enjoy everything listed
below—and more (concerts, dances, etc.). A number of these workshops
are especially family friendly and of course adults will enjoy them
immensely as well. There will be other workshops as well, given
by you, the participants. To sign up see the flyer in this newsletter;
as you can see, this will be a very exciting weekend. This is a
preliminary list—there will be more surprises on the weekend.
Dan Berggren and Peggy lynn
•Sing-along
with Dan and Peggy; participation-oriented for the young and young at
heart. Campfire songs, rounds, sign language, and rhythm make it hard
to resist joining.
•Adirondacks yesterday and today; Dan and Peggy
have written and collected ballads, both poignant and humorous, about
strong mountain people. Other songs are inspired by the beauty and
serenity of the Adirondack wilderness.
•Singing for Suffrage; Peggy
will tell the story of how American women won the right to vote through
the songs sung within the suffrage movement. Pro-suffrage songs were
written over the course of 57 years and include all the arguments used
by suffragists to argue their cause.
•Messin’ with Tradition; Dan
has become well known for his giving traditional melodies a new
message. Two of his new sets of lyrics have been printed in Sing Out!
Familiar tunes make his themes of peace and ecology entertaining as
well as uplifting.
Lorraine and Bennett Hammond
•Up Close
and Personal; Lorraine and Bennett will choose some songs and tunes
they love from different traditions and will include one song that they
will teach to the group.
•Beyond paper training!; The first thing in
ear training is to keep it simple. This is why they love folk music:
the best songs and tunes are easy to learn and to remember so come play
with Lorraine and Bennett. All instruments, all levels.
•Guitar
Technique workshop; Bennett will adjust his workshop to the level of
participants. His Drop D. workshop for example is for all levels.
Retune one string and you have a whole easy new range from easy power
chords and easy bass runs to easy chordal harmonics and easy melody
picking.
•Mountain dulcimer; Lorraine’s Mountain Dulcimer in
Bagpipe Tuning workshop will be taught at the level of the
participants. Bagpipe (or Galax) tuning has strong folk roots, lots of
flexibility and is great for that “high lonesome” dulcimer sound.
Dan Pearl
•You
Can Waltz!; A fast-paced, but accessible, introduction to waltzing. In
this single session, you’ll pick up the basic steps, and maybe a
flourish or two. For teens and up.
•.Easy Folk Dancing; A variety of dances from around the world. Interesting and fun! Ages 6 and up.
Lynn Noel
•Voices
of New France; Songs in French (and a soupçon of English) about the
French-Canadian experience as voyageurs, habitants, bucherons
(lumberjacks), and femmes du pays (country wives). Lyrics will be
translated, and you will learn to sing along with these chansons à
répondre (call and response).
•Paper Bag Mummers; Lynn Noel of the
Paper Bag Mummers will lead you in putting on a traditional English
mummers’ play with no rehearsal. Yes, it can be done--and you can do
it! You do not need any special clothing, advance read-throughs, or
acting experience. Mummers plays were traditionally done by
regular people in regular clothes, making fools of themselves for their
friends and neighbors to celebrate the season. The tradition continues!
Evy Mayer
•Percussion
is Fun!; Evy will teach participants how to play the limberjack, and
will have many other percussion instruments for everyone to use. You
will sing along as well as play along.
•Humor Us!--A funny song swap; Evy knows many songs that will have you laughing. Bring along some of your own to share.
Double Trouble—Evy Mayer and Jean Farnworth
• Harp Favorites; our favorite songs on the harp, many with choruses to join in on.
Gail levine-Fried
•Jewish
Songs from Around the World; Jews are found in every area of the globe
and their songs reflect the languages spoken in that area: Yiddish in
Eastern Europe; Hebrew in Israel and Ladino in the Mediterranean
countries. In the tradition of Ruth Strecker and Abe Gershowitz, bring
your favorite Jewish songs to teach and share at this “heimishah”
workshop. Instruments, including tambourines; recorders; flutes;
guitars; balalaikas are welcome!
Clarice kjurelff
•Gospel
Sing-around; Gospel songs are great fun to and designed for joining in.
Bring a song that other people can participate in, and, of course,
bring your voice so that you can join in on everyone else’s songs.
Harmonies encouraged!
Back to weekend information page ... back to main FMSNY page
rev. 10/5/08-dw