Summer Camps at Old Songs

Fiddle & Strings - Fiddling tamed this wild bunch!

Old Songs Community Center in Voorheesville NY is home to three weeks of summer camp in July and August.

July 5-9: Fiddle & Strings Day Camp

Donna Hébert, Liz Carroll, Jane Rothfield

This camp continues the Great Groove Band experience for ages 6-18. Teaching are Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield and Max Cohen, Groovemama coaches for the Great Groove Band at festivals. Groove Band on YouTube
  

Aug. 9-13: Fiddling Demystified Day & Evening Camp

Brings Irish fiddle luminary Liz Carroll to teach with Franco-American and contradance fiddler Donna Hébert and Old-Time fiddler and banjo babe Jane Rothfield. Using Donna’s right-left hand method to break styles into techniques, they demonstrate how to navigate authentically from one style to another. Aimed at string players and other folk musicians, this camp focuses on rhythmic experimentation, mining tune phrases for a variable pulse stitching the phrases together. Joining them and teaching rhythm, theory and beginner to advanced guitar is Groovemama guitarist Max Cohen.

Max teaching at Old Songs Festival 2009

Donna, Liz and Jane are highly skilled teachers, coaching students into manipulating rhythm and ornamentation authentically within as many styles as students are willing to tackle! They jump off the cliff with you, so no worries. You’ll have a happy landing as they provide the ultimate journey through groove in three very rhythmically different yet melodically linked genres. It will be exciting to watch these three master fiddlers at Thursday night’s Faculty Concert/Dance, joined by Irish accordion legend John Whelan.

Skill level: We offer a daily one-hour Basic Fiddle class, not for beginners, but slower-paced instruction for people who don’t learn that fast. Max Cohen will teach a beginning guitar class and will coach other guitarists in groove accompaniment for Celtic fiddle styles. Other than that, classes and jams are high-intermediate to advanced level to take advantage of the focus on manipulating rhythm. Ear-training methods are used for most classes, with handouts and Donna’s Fiddling Demystified for Strings book available.

Can I play something else besides fiddle? You bet! We welcome fiddle, violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, flute, whistle, accordion and piano players.

Aug. 16-20: French Music Camp (day & evening)

• Facebook page for French camp.
• YouTube film from 2009 French camp: 7 minutes of vignettes filmed by Bill Spence.

Get your French groove on with Québecois musicians and teachers Pascal Gemme from Genticorum (fiddle, chansons/songs) and Marc Maziade  from Reveillons and Marie-Soleil Pilette teaching stepdance and calls the evening’s social dances. Montreal funnyman and singer Steve Normandin teaches piano and accordion. Young Franco-American fiddler and composer Daniel Boucher teaches his unique and popular repertoire and brings his Jam Français to camp, while Donna Hébert teaches the music of Franco fiddler Louis Beaudoin.

Learn the syncopated swing and twisted tunes of Québécois and Franco fiddle music and learn to sing, dance and play with that Northern “Je ne sais quoi.” This week offers evening jam sessions and dancing Monday-Thursday at the hall with staff members. 

Register for any of the three 2010 weeks

• Each week is limited to 30 campers. July week limited to ages 6-18, August weeks open for all ages. 
• 2009 website  
• 2009 Camp Brochure – new brochure coming Dec. 2009
• Registration information: OLD SONGS (oldsongs AT oldsongs DOT org) 518-765-2815 
• Program information: DONNA HEBERT (info AT fiddlingdemystified DOT com)