I just discovered some video clips from concerts at the Augusta Heritage Arts workshops in Elkins WV. The clips are pretty short-just snippits big enough to whet your appetite. There are two from Irish week each clip a couple of minutes long. Also several more from other music weeks.
http://www.augustaheritage.com/concertsforthemeweeks.html
Steve
Has anyone gone to this? Any stories to tell? It has been on my list of considerations for summer music camp in '03.
– NancyF
I have been a lot of times but it’s been a while. When I first started going there was only one music class and that was Appalachian music. Gradually they started adding more other weeks, bluegrass, Irish, blues etc. I think it’s a tremendous experience. The only thing is that I remember it as being small and pretty intimate. In the Appalachian class everyone was thrown in together and learned the same tunes. Now it’s huge. Still, If you get a chance to go. At least, that’s my advice. Usually you concentrate on one instrument at Augusta. At Swannonoa (another workshop place at a small college) you have a chance to take up to four different classes in a day but I think you lose focus that way. I like spending most of the day doing one thing.
Steve
Nancy-Augusta is amazing!I went every year for 10 years. I haven’t been in a couple of years, but am going next year for an Augusta reunion with some other folks. Steve K is right though-it used to be a lot smaller(the first time I went Jerry O’Sullivan had all of the tin whistles, flutes, and uilleann pipers of all levels in the same class), but things are alot more specialized now.Anyway, I highly recommend it as a cheap fun vacation where you learn lots of stuff. Plus it’s camp for adults-no curfew,lots of beer, and persons of the opposite sex.
Steve-thanks for the Augusta clips. Did you enjoy hearing Simon Mayer 2 weeks ago? His mandolin playing just blows me away, the guy is so musical.
Yes, I enjoyed Mayor. I was just listening to his New Celtic Mandolin a while ago. I wish he’d leave that Queen of Sheba thing alone though. Were we in Jerry O’s class together? I was in it once when he had everyone-pipes, whistles, an all. Was that the year of the PA Pig Out?
All this Augusta stuff has really gotten me nostalgic.
Steve
Steve
Me too-I don’t think we were in the same class-the first time I was there was in 87-that was the big mixed class I mentioned, but I missed the next year(I think thta’s when you took Jerry’s class, and 89 was when we came home through PA).Goderich is always a good experience, but it’s a lot more fun being a student than it is teaching(not that teaching sucks, but I can’t stay up all night anymore and teach beginning whistle at 9:00-ouch-and that was the class that had 20+ people in it).Plus, as you mentioned, I think it’s a much better idea to take just one class, or at the most, two. So I’m definetely going to Augusta next year(no matter how poor I am), as are a couple of the Calgary folks…if you’re interested, let’s talk.
Oh-I like Simon’s rendition of “The Queen of Sheba”, and also what he does with the Vivaldi…did you haqppen to get his CD of his English composers for mandolin? Brilliant!
On 2002-08-23 10:06, janice wrote:
Oh-I like Simon’s rendition of “The Queen of Sheba”, and also what he does with the Vivaldi…did you haqppen to get his CD of his English composers for mandolin? Brilliant!
When Mayor was at a previous festival he played Sheba umpteen times. I heard him play it several times. If I had seen the English composers CD there I certainly would have bought it. I did see some of his stuff on the table but not that. Shoot. Rob McKillop’s album on the English Guittar (yes, that’s spelled correctly) is another one I want to get. It’s another double string instrument.
Steve