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2007 Selected Class Descriptions |
Intro to Minstrel Style Clawhammer: Buehling
Missouri Fiddle-Contest Tunes, Clawhammer Style: Barton-Para
The Banjo Style of Uncle Dave Macon: Seeger
Intro to Be-Bop Banjo: Barnes
Intro to Single-String Style: Luberecki
Tunes from Ozark Fiddlers: Barton Para
Intro to Round Peak Clawhammer: Joe Newberry
Intro to the Akonting: a West African precursor of the banjo: Sedgwick
Mapping Out a Tune from Start to Finish: Evans
Playing Close Harmonies, for Clawhammer: Perlman
Minstrel Versions of Old-time Tunes: Buehling
Banjo Set-up and Design: Nechville
Stuff You Ain't Supposed to Play on Banjo: Luberecki
Plug-In & Play Improvisation: Jones
Clawhammer versions of Bluegrass Instrumentals & Songs: Seeger
Grandpa Jones' Songs & Tunes: Barton-Para
Integrating Scruggs, Melodic & Single-String Styles: Cahill
Hammers & Pull-offs for Melody & Ornamentation: Perlman
Dock Boggs' "Danville Girl": Seeger
Using the "In the Mood" Roll for Back-Up: Evans
Classic Banjo: An Intro to Pre-Bluegrass Fingerstyle: Buehling
Syncopation, Sound, & Silence: Miles
Old-time Banjo Solo Tunes: Newberry
Celtic Tunes for Minstrel Banjo: Buehling Friday 2:30p
The mid-19th century approach that got America into banjo pickin'. This ancestor of clawhammer was originally played on fretless instruments tuned quite a bit lower than modern banjos, but you can bring any banjo and get the sense of what this is all about.
The state champion fiddle players play these tunes; they are complicated and catchy. You can rest assured that Cathy Barton-Para will make this class lively and interesting.
Macon was a much-beloved early star of the Grand Ole Opry known for his homepun songs, innovative banjo picking and banjo-gymnastics (tossing the banjo through the air between beats was part of the show).
Friday 4:00p
Be-bop was the style of jazz that grew up in the 1950s when cool combos replaced the big band sound. Think Thelonious Munk and Charlie Mingus. Who better to translate this to banjo than Danny Barnes.
In Single string work, you stop trying to squeeze everything into a few roll patterns, and learn to play the melody where it lies.
The Ozarks are the midwest equivalent of the Appalachians. The tunes are just as cool!
Round Peak is the area on the North Carolina/Virginia border where clawhammer was strongest just prior to the modern era. The style played there by Kyle Creed, Fred Cockerham and others, served as a model for many contemporary players.
Saturday 9:15a
A growing number of scholars now think the akonting possesses more physical attributes and playing-style essentials in common with the banjo than any other African instrument yet researched. Akontings will be provided for students to use during the workshop, and a procedure for re-tuning the banjo to play like an akonting will be presented. The akonting is played in a quasi-clawhammer style.
In this class you start with the introduction, and work your way step by step through a tune, dissecting each element.
Learn to harmonize a tune a third above and a third below. Play both the melody and the harmony part of some simple tunes.
Many of the standard pieces of the old minstrel era were in fact old time fiddle tunes. Learn the minstrel versions of some tunes you already know. It will really help you to a better understanding of both the minstrel style and old time music.
Tom Nechville heads up the innovative banjo company, Nechville Banjos, and is the inventor and designer of the new class of banjos known as "Helimounts." For more information, go to Nechville banjos.
Saturday 10:45a
Rock n Roll, String Tappin', Special effects, all kinds of weird stuff.
Learn a bunch of standard licks, then use them to create solos and breaks.
This class will help you capture the feel and ambience of bluegrass music in clawhammer style.
Grandpa Jones was one of the few old time banjo pickers who starred at the Grand Ole Opry. Barton Para apprenticed to Jones and shares his special tricks and licks.
Sat. 2:00p
This is a kind of unified field theory for bluegrass. Transition seemlessly among these three disparate approaches.
This class trains the left hand, and prepares you to handle a wide range of material.
Boggs was a virtuoso old-time fingerpicker with a powerful, haunting singing style.
Sat. 3:30p
If the Glenn Miller Band played banjo, they would probably use this lick.
Classic (sometimes called parlor banjo) was the original fingerstyle banjo, whose heyday was roughly 1880-1915. By studying classic, you'll gain insight into all contemporary fingerpicking styles (including bluegrass, of course).
Mike Miles shares the secrets of his how he achieves his tone and complex rhythms.
Sun. 9:15p
This class focuses on old time-tunes that were created as solo banjo pieces. They never were fiddle tunes.
The Minstrel era coincided with the time of the great migrations from Ireland. It's no accident that many minstrel pieces are thinly disguised versions of Celtic classics.
Sun. 10:45a
