Will, get in touch man. There is plenty of music in NJ!
On Sep 17, 2009, at 3:46 PM, Will Dennis wrote: > > Well, since you asked, some thoughts... > > First off, as far as my mando background, I have (as a few ppl said in > their intros) "held" the mandolin since about 1993, but I'm entirely > self-taught (I do own a few books and videos, but never have had a > teacher) and have only played off and on since then (my pattern has > been that I periodically get excited about mando playing, practice/ > play a lot, but then due to lack of bluegrass players in whatever area > I was living in at the time [PA-NJ] I tail off, and don't play for a > while.) So I do know chords, can solo a little, but never really > studied bluegrass (Monroe) mandolin style, even though I've > appreciated his music since 1988, when I first really got into > bluegrass. I finally did however find a monthly bluegrass jam a bit > over a hour away in NJ, which I've been attending since last fall (NJ > Bluegrass & Old-time Music Assn. in Little Silver NJ.) There I met a > fellow some of you may know, John "Chubby" Conine, who is quite the > Monroe-master on mandolin. Watching him and his buddies play awakened > a desire to play Monroe-style mandolin, and when I later dug out an > old Skip Gorman tape I had (Old-Style Mandolin) and went to his > website to see what else he had, I found the Monroe-Style Mando Camp > was happening over my birthday weekend (I was born the day after Bill, > quite a few years later of course :) and signed myself up, hoping for > all the secrets to be revealed... When asked at sign-up what I thought > my skill level was, I answered "beginner-intermediate" since I knew I > already knew the basics of playing mandolin, but was a beginner at > playing the Monroe style. > > Having never been to one of these camp-type things, I really didn't > know what to expect. I was excited and quite a bit nervous, as I'm > basically a shy person. So I started Friday with the Monroe Bros. > class (intermediate level), and then did the next two beginner > classes. The rest of the weekend, I did intermediate and advanced > classes, as I found that the beginner classes had many ppl who were > just learning to play mando, and the instructors kept it really basic > for their sake, and I already knew what they were teaching. Looking > back over the schedule, I see that I attended two beginner classes, > four intermediate classes, and three advanced classes. > > So my basic opinion was that it was a great weekend, but I felt it was > more geared to a) people who were just beginning to play mandolin, and > b) people who had been playing bluegrass/Monroe style mandolin for > years, and were there to just play and/or hang out with their peers > and the instructors, or pick up the finer points of the style from the > professionals. I was able to ask some specific questions to the > instructors about how to play this or that, or what to study, and got > some valuable advice there. There were also things I heard in each > class I attended that were equally valuable. But on the whole, it was > less playing, and more watching the instructors play and hearing them > lecture. Somehow I thought there would be more playing involved, like > the instructor demonstrating a technique or passage, and then the rest > of us trying to play it. I attended Mike's class on Sat (Later Years/ > Selected Solos) which was just what I thought the classes would be > like, and hence was my favorite class. Like I said, I've never been to > a music camp before, so perhaps I had unrealistic expectations. > > The museum was a great place to have the camp, and the staff couldn't > be nicer. I thought there could have been a bit more organization at > the beginning, however. The Friday nite BBQ/jam party was a blast, and > I really enjoyed the concert on Sat nite, although I wish that they > wouldn't have strung out all the thank-you announcements throughout > the concert (it really disrupted the flow IMO.) I skipped the Sat nite > jam since I was very sleep-deprived at that point, and my brain > hurt :) > > They could have been more specific about the meals that were on your > own, and provided a map of places to go in town for good eats (perhaps > at different price levels.) > > On the private sessions that had more than one student at a time, I > really wish that they would try to pair up ppl who are basically at > the same skill level; I was in a session with someone who was just at > the beginning of learning how to play mandolin, and the instructor had > to split his time between us since we were at such different skill > levels in our playing ability. I was glad to see that instead of being > a lottery, that they made sure everyone got a chance to get a lesson. > > Wow, I'm sure there's more that I could say, but I see that I've > already written a novel here :) Thanks for reading... > > Will > > On Sep 17, 11:37 am, mistertaterbug <taterbugmu...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I'll ask the question now that we're done and hindsight begins to set >> in; >> What could we have done to make it better, more engaging, more fun, >> more informative, more comfortable, etc.? I have a few ideas, but am >> curious to hear from the rest of you. >> >> Potato > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. 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