AcuTab Publications has news of several new bluegrass instructional DVDs due during the summer and fall of 2008.

Just completed shooting is a fiddle project with Mountain Heart’s Jim Van Cleve which will go into editing shortly. Jim covered a number of his own compositions (#6 Barn Dance, Nature Of The Beast, Devil’s Courthouse) plus spent considerable time describing how to add rhythmically in a band setting, and how to find solos and backup in different keys.

Due to be shot next week is a banjo DVD featuring Ron Block and a mandolin video with Sierra Hull. Both will focus on these two stellar players and their individual styles. More details about these should be forthcoming soon.

A JD Crowe banjo DVD is also scheduled to be shot later this year.

If you would like to be notified by email when these new titles are released, you can make that request on the AcuTab site.

AcuTab is also pleased to note the reissue of two popular titles that have been unavailable for some time. JD Crowe - AcuTab transcriptions includes banjo tablature for all the songs on two classic albums by JD Crowe & The New South, and Kenny Smith - Tunes and Techniques offers 3 hours with this flatpicking master on two DVDs.

For all you mandolin pickers out there, here’s an opportunity to learn from one of the best.

Jesse McReynolds is hosting a mandolin camp at his Pick Inn next month, July 11-12, 2008. The two day event begins with a reception and meal on Friday evening, followed by a jam session in the pavilion. Saturday consists of four sessions, a morning workshop, afternoon workshop, an evening concert, and a late night jam session with Jesse and students.

The workshop fee is $500, and attendance is limited. The fee does not include accommodations. Some accommodations are available at the Pick Inn, but they will be reserved on a first-come first-serve basis. There is a state park across the street, available for camping. Gallatin, TN is a short 10 minute drive away if you prefer the comforts of a hotel.

I’ll be teaching crosspicking, split-string style playing, and much more. Call my wife Joy at (615)452-7321 for more information and to make your reservation. Hope to see you there!

Last week, Brance had a wonderful story about Joel Sidney, a recent University of California at Berkeley graduate, whose honors thesis was entitled Innovation and Tradition in Bay Area Bluegrass: Historical Review and Analysis of Distinctive Regional Features.

Here’s another encouraging story about bluegrass on the college campus, this time at UCLA.

Thomas Stanton is a young banjo player, also looking at a June 2008 graduation. He has put together a group, the Bluegrass & Old-Time String Band Ensemble, as an official student band in the Ethnomusicology department where he is pursuing his degree. Stanton has been directing, arranging material, and teaching the group’s members throughout the year as an unofficial senior project, with the blessing of the department.

“The group was just started this school year, in September 2007. I basically reestablished an ensemble in the department because I really wanted to play bluegrass and effectively make use of my talents and knowledge in my senior year as an undergraduate in the Ethnomusicology department at UCLA.

I’ve been very lucky to find all of the musicians that are currently involved in the group: none of them have really played bluegrass before, and a few of them are particularly extraordinary musicians who naturally fit in the setting and are picking up the music and its feel very quickly. I still can’t believe that I was able to create this opportunity to play bluegrass at the University (I would have never thought it possible in my freshmen year), but it’s thanks to the support of my mentor in the department, Professor Anthony Seeger.”

With graduation looming, Thomas will perform in a free concert with the group on the UCLA campus on Thursday, May 29th at 7 PM in Schoenberg Hall.

More details about the group and the concert, including video clips, can be found on their web site.

J. D. Crowe and Charlie Cushman join Sonny Osborne, Alan Munde, Ned Luberecki, Bill Evans and Frank Neat to round out the teaching staff for the 8th Annual NashCamp Banjo Retreat, October 17-19th at the Hachland Hills Vineyard in Joelton, Tennessee - about 15 miles north of Nashville.

This event is hosted by noted banjo players Sonny Osborne and Bill Evans, along with Cindy Sinclair. They welcome beginning through advanced bluegrass banjo players for a weekend of small group instruction, jamming for all ability levels, a faculty concert and much more.

Evans shares a few thoughts about NashCamp…

“While folks come to learn banjo, the emphasis is also on making friends, hanging out with your banjo heros, having fun and eating lots of great food. We’ve had young and old attend each year, men and women - people from all parts of the United States and even Japan. I’m especially proud of the fact that we have a great group of women who attend each year - and that number grows with each camp. Sonny has been our guiding light with this event - his positive energy and enthusiasm along with his interest to stay involved with others who love the banjo inspires everyone around him. This camp has a great spirit. This is the camp to attend if you’d like comfortable surroundings, great food and tremendous fellowship in the company of some of the best banjo players and teachers in the world.

And with Sonny and J. D. in one place, who knows what will happen?”

Students are grouped according to ability level - from beginners with one year of playing experience to the most advanced players. Small group instruction is mixed with full group interactive sessions and the Friday night jam features some of the best Nashville musicians sitting in with students. (more…)

Our friend Dave Hollender gave us a nice report last month after Chris Thile and Punch Brothers offered a clinic at the Berklee College of Music in Boston on April 7. Dave shared some photos and a nice run down of the event.

This morning (5/5), Berklee has posted a brief account of the clinic on the news section of their web site. The story by Danielle Dreilinger (Berklee’s Office of Communications) is entitled Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes and can be read online.

Dreilinger includes a few additional photos from the clinic, plus a number of brief excerpts from the band’s interaction with the students.

Though the songs were sad, the band seemed relaxed, joking about playing so early in the morning. (The clinic started at 2:00 p.m.) Pikelny asked for the Cubs score; Thile snagged a bottle of water from an audience member.

The attitude spilled over. One fan called out, “How do you get your hair so pretty? Is that just bed head?”

As Thile started to explain, Pikelny interrupted: “You just assume that he’s asking you.”

“How do you get your hair so pretty?” Thile countered.

Pikelny folded his hands. “It’s a gift,” he said.

Was the same true of the band’s spectacularly nimble playing? Pikelny’s fingers barely seemed to move. Still, when an audience member asked about picking technique, the band members self-deprecatingly presented themselves as works in progress.

“I can’t get good tone and play fast, which is something I’m working on,” Eldridge said. “Pick angle is important and so is staying loose, but I can only do it at slow speeds for a bluegrass guy.”

Pikelny warned against letting one-upmanship damage technique. When musicians start trying to outdo each other, “you’re just going to be overplaying.”

Read the full article at berklee.edu.

Bluegrass fiddle player and teacher Brian Wicklund has a brand new website for fiddle players at FiddlePal.com. Brian is the author the best-selling fiddle books, The American Fiddle Method. He is also a member of the acoustic power trio, Brother Mule, and the founder of the on-line lesson site Bluegrass College.

The site in nicely laid out, featuring a lot of content, and promising even more to come in the future. Features include all the usual content one would expect from a musicians website, including Brian’s tour schedule, and a store with all his various recordings, books and DVDs for sale.

In addition, Brian has started a blog where he’ll be posting news and answering all your fiddle related questions. And the home page is sporting a free fiddle tune of the month feature. This month the tune is an intermediate version of Blackberry Blossom. The fiddle music for the tune is provided in standard notation via a downloadable PDF.

The site also promises the imminent availability of free lessons for both fiddle and mandolin. The lessons are scheduled for publication on the site in May (mandolin) and June (fiddle). These lessons will be designed to get you started from scratch and prepare you for further instruction.

If you’re a fiddle player, FiddlePal.com just may become one of your best friends.

When looking for a higher education in the area of bluegrass music, there are limited choices. The one I chose was South Plains College in Levelland, TX. One of the things I loved about the school was the close association of the music program with recording program.

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has a similar program of bluegrass music studies, the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. Beginning with the fall semester, the students at ETSU will have access to a new recording facility. Plans have been in place for the recording lab since a building on campus was vacated in 1999. Those plans are coming to completion during the 25th anniversary of the bluegrass program.

Associate professor Raymond McLain commented on the new learning opportunities this would present for the students.

From a musician stand point, it will be a good opportunity to learn in a recording environment. It is hard to learn to play the guitar with out a guitar, and it is hard to learn how to record music without a recording lab.

Plans are for one recording class to be taught this coming fall, but the University is still looking for the right person to manage the lab and teach the class (job info). And they are still working to complete the construction phase of the lab. The ceiling has been completed, the sheetrock work is underway but currently on hold so wiring can be completed. School officials predict the overall cost for construction to be somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000. These expenses have largely been paid for by funds raised via the student technology access fee.

Speaking from my own personal experience, those students who are dedicated to earning a living in and around bluegrass music will benefit greatly from this resource. I encourage them to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the technical side of making music.

Pete Frostic, mandolinist with Old School Freight Train, has published an instructional book that he feels will benefit students of the mandolin at any level.

Mandolin Technique and Theory For All Levels is an 80 page spiral bound book written in both tablature and standard notation. It includes an audio CD that contains recordings of all the exercises and tunes covered in the book.

Pete has been teaching mandolin privately for the past ten years and carries an impressive load of 50 students. He has started a mandolin program at the University of Virginia, and at the College of William and Mary, where he also leads an Appalachian Music Ensemble.

We asked Pete to describe the book, how he came to write it, and what mandolinists can expect to find therein.

“I wanted to write this book for two reasons. First, I wanted an organized approach for my own students. I wanted them to have it all in one place and not forget what I tell them week to week. Second, I want to help people I don’t work with privately to be able to get to the ‘next level.’ Whether it’s going from beginning to playing tunes… 0r playing tunes to improvising… or improvising bluegrass to more jazz theory. I provide helpful exercises for all of these steps.

People can expect to find exercises and words of wisdom to help at all levels. The book starts at how to hold the pick and where to begin, so that is great for the novice. Many exercises are aimed at getting the player more knowledgeable about soloing. I developed what I call the ‘bluegrass scale,’ which is a great way to improvise over fiddle tunes and vocal melodies. This will help ‘parking lot pickers’ become more confident in their playing. The book also has new approaches to rhythm playing.

Lastly, the book will help advanced players. Many people have gotten to that point where they’d like to play jazz but don’t know how it applies to the mandolin. My book helps puts jazz theory on the mandolin, and breaks it down into manageable concepts.

It also includes a discussion on how to read notation, which many tab-dependent people might want.”

The book/CD set sells for $20 and can be ordered online.

This post (and photos) is a contribution from David Hollender, Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been a member of the ensemble department for several years, and teaching upright bass. He also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal, where banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar or fiddle players can pursue a degree at Berklee.

The Punch Brothers made a return visit to Berklee College of Music last week (4/7) when they were in Boston to play at The Museum of Fine Arts. About 150 students filled David Friend Recital Hall at Berklee to greet Chris Thile, Chris “Critter” Eldridge, Greg Garrison, Noam Pikelny, Gabe Witcher on their second visit to Berklee during the past twelve months. The acoustics and size of the room allowed the band to play completely acoustically once again. This put the detail and delicacy of the band’s sound in a setting that I wish everyone could experience. Hearing these guys’ 100% pure acoustic tone in a small room is something special.

The band opened things up right away for requests. Along with music from their albums, Punch and How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, they played unrehearsed bluegrass standards – Sittin’ On Top Of The World, Ninety-nine Years, Sled Riding – and tunes from Chris’ solo albums – Song For A Young Queen and Jessamyn’s Reel.

The students asked great questions about the compositional and creative process that went into the recent album and heard highly articulate answers that gave them a good sense of how much careful thought and preparation went into the music the band is playing these days. Other questions focused on instrumental sound and technique. It was amazing and inspiring to hear a player like Chris, who most people would say possesses about the most fluid and musical sound of any mandolin player to have lived, speak in terms that suggest that he still considers his instrumental technique to still be a work-in-progress. Noam and Critter echoed this with their thoughts about tone, volume, speed, etc.

It all added up to a concentrated dose of education and inspiration from a group that is breaking new ground and setting new standards of musicianship for bluegrass-rooted players and composers. I’d like to personally express my appreciation to Chris, Noam, Critter, Gabe and Greg for the generosity they showed by spending their free time visiting Berklee again.

        

        

Terry McGill, who plays banjo with New Jersey-based Straight Drive, has written a new banjo book, recently published by Mel Bay.

The book is Alternate Tunings for Five-string Banjo Played Bluegrass Style, and is described as the first three-finger style banjo instruction
book written specifically for the bluegrass banjoist wishing to explore alternate tunings. It is written using banjo tablature and covers G modal, Standard C, Open C, Bb, D modal, Open D and E tunings.

An audio CD is included with the book, which contains fast and slow versions of each song taught in the book. 21 songs are presented, including favorites like Cumberland Gap, Shady Grove, Kansas City Railroad Blues and Pretty Polly - each arranged in other than the familiar G tuning.

The book should be available wherever banjo instructional materials are sold.

As the International Bluegrass Music Association is at pains to remind us, bluegrass music is a truly worldwide phenomenon. Though the IBMA is based in the US, and the largest part of the membership resides here, no small part of their focus is on the furtherance of the music outside of this country.

The continued growth of the Eurpean Bluegrass Music Association is but one example of those efforts bearing fruit. As is, in a smaller way, this story we received from Sharon Lombardi in France about a recent workshop in Belgium.

This year, between 24th and 29th March 2008, the Acoustic Music International Workshop stood in Virton (Belgium) for the 23rd year.

As usual, this workshop was entirely devoted to acoustic instruments, such as guitar, fiddle, double-bass and harmonica. As far as the bluegrass part was concerned, we came close to a full bluegrass band. Not only could you attend Roberto Dalla Vecchia’s guitar workshop, Jean-Marie Redon’s banjo workshop or Jesper Rübner-Petersen’s mandolin workshop, but also the brand-new resophonic guitar workshop, taught by Henrich Novak.

Almost one hundred and thirty students came from all over Europe and even the United States and spent a week attending workshops, concerts and even jamming.

It was the seventh year that Jean-Marie Redon led the banjo workshop. It was so popular that it was full only a few days after registration had started.

The next workshop is scheduled for the first week of April 2009 and you can register from January 2009.

Long-time students of bluegrass instruments will recall with fondness the name Oak Publications, a division of Music Sales that released some fine instructional manuals for banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass starting in the 1970s. While the brand has remained active since, some of those early titles have been unavailable for years - though AcuTab reissued their classic (and massive) - Masters of the 5 String Banjo book.

Oak has reprinted a number those early books, and two of particular interest to the bluegrass community are among them. Both Bill Keith and the late Vassar Clements had transcription books as a part of Oak’s Bluegrass Masters series - which also featured books on Kenny Baker, Jesse McReynolds and Clarence White - both reissued earlier this year.

Clements’ fiddle book was written by Matt Glaser, current chair of the string department at Berklee College of Music, and the Keith banjo book was written by Tony Trischka with Bill’s assistance. The Vassar transcriptions are in standard notation and the Keith in tablature. Both feature information on the recordings from which the transcriptions were taken.

Look for Oak titles wherever bluegrass instructional materials are sold.

HT: PlayBetterBluegrass.com

This post is a contribution from David Hollender, Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been a member of the ensemble department for several years, and teaching upright bass. He also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal, where banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar or fiddle players can pursue a degree at Berklee.

He writes following up on our earlier post on Spring Break in Nashville.

I just returned home from Nashville on a trip that takes place each year during spring break. Berklee Professors Pat Pattison and Stephen Webber led 125 students for six days and over two dozen sessions and events that featured top names representing every aspect of the music business - performers, studio musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, record company executives, publishers, managers, song pluggers, you name it. By the end of the week those on the trip had received the benefit of decades of experience that will prepare many of them for a move to Nashville after graduation.

Bluegrass is just one part of the trip, however the presentation of an honorary doctorate to Ricky Skaggs Tuesday night was definitely a highlight of the week for everybody. In previous years Ricky has welcomed Berklee students to his recording studio, and now he joins a list of illustrious musicians who have received an honorary degree. The students attended the Tuesday night Grand Ole Opry where they heard, among other, The Whites and Del McCoury Band.

They were given a backstage tour during the show to watch players warming up in their dressing rooms, see television and radio production facillties, and watch part of the Opry from the wings of the stage. The last band of the evening was Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, who played four tunes before the ceremony. After a brief video in which President Roger Brown described the Acoustic String Principal at Berklee, the presentation was made by Lawrence J. Simpson, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, along with Trustee Jeff Davis, Pattison and Webber.

Following the ceremony Ricky, still wearing the robe, grabbed his mandolin and closed out the Opry show by playing Bluegrass Breakdown. After the Opry ended the students were treated to a two hour private session with Ricky and the band in the Opry television studio. There the band played and students got to come to the mic to ask questions of Ricky and the other players. Some of these students are involved in playing bluegrass at Berklee and some who were really hearing the music live for the first time. What was most striking was the pleasure the Ricky and the band took in spending time with everyone and how well they connected with the students. Plans are currently in the works to schedule a visit by the band to Berklee where they will give clinics, work with student players and bands and perform.

Other sessions and excursions of interest to bluegrass enthusiasts took place during the visit too. Everyone headed to the Station Inn on Sunday night for the jam. On Tuesday afternoon Grammy-nominated Berklee graduate Casey Dreissen, Grammy-nominated engineer Jason Lehning (Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Viktor Krauss, Dreissen) and bassist Viktor Krauss spent two hours sharing insights with students in a panel discussion held at Warner Brothers Records. Other sessions were less about bluegrass but still were very interesting, inspiring and educational. (more…)

Lloyd Loar’s is a name spoken in hushed and reverential tones when serious students of fretted instruments get together to discuss their shared passion. In the bluegrass world especially, his contributions are remembered with a great debt of gratitude.

During a brief period in the early 1920s, Loar worked for the Gibson company in Kalamazoo, MI and introduced a number of design innovations, many of which are still in use today. Chiefly, his fusing of the design and construction techniques of violin building to the mandolin family of instruments launched an eight string revolution, and gave us what we now generically describe as the F-style instrument. The mandolins which he signed during his tenure at Gibson command prices that dwarf anything they have made since.

Roger Siminoff is one of the modern era’s most celebrated historians of Lloyd Loar, and a leading luthier in his own right. His biographical sketch of Loar’s life (published online) is regularly referenced as the most accurate, and is loaded with photos and details of his life, both before and after his time with Gibson.

Siminoff has just published a book that will be of interest to Loar-ophiles the world over, as well as anyone with an interest in the melding of scienece and music. The Physics Of Music is taken from a detailed set of lab notes transcribed by a student in one of Loar’s classes starting in June 1943 and continuing until his death later that year. The notes have been preserved since they were donated to Loar’s widow, and Siminoff has copied these detailed notes word-for-word, and included scans of the illustrations as well.

Roger describes the contents as follows:

“Professor Loar taught at Northwestern University for 13 years and while he taught other subjects, The Physics of Music was his predominant class. The School of Music catalog listed Loar’s class for 1944 as including electronics and it became a 4-credit class (where previous classes were 3-credits). Unfortunately, he didn’t live to give that class. I have a listing of his classes on my web site at this page here.

While the content might have been new and interesting for the students, I don’t think anything in this class was “groundbreaking” as far as the music industry is concerned. While the groundwork on musical acoustics was done by folks as early as Pythagoras (570-490 BC) through to Hermann Helmholtz (1821-1894), and the major development of acoustical instruments done by the Amati family, Guanari, and Stradivari (in the period 1500s to 1700 AD), in 1943 Loar was reporting the science of musical acoustics as it was in his day. He was sharing what was fairly well known and documented at that time.

I found quite a bit that both surprised and enlightened me including: 1) specific reference to tuned bodies and air chambers of violin from the great makers, 2) his comments on how “lute family” instruments (which in his mind included mandolins) didn’t measure up to violin family instruments, 3) and generally, his rich understanding of musical acoustics and how he presented it to a college class.

His conclusion - the last class - probably would have been very interesting, but he didn’t live to give Lecture 12. I think what is important in this piece is that we hear it from Professor Loar, and we get a sense of his diversity of thought.”

The book runs to 44 spiral-bound pages and is available exclusively from Siminoff Banjo and Mandolin.

Spring Break usually means a quick sprint to southern beaches for college students eager to escape the grind of their studies. For serious-minded students at Berklee College of Music, spring break each year means a trip to Nashville to learn more about opportunities in Music City, meet alumni working in town, and attend sessions with top industry pros.

Tonight at the Tuesday Night Opry in Nashville, they will also be on hand when Ricky Skaggs accepts an honorary doctorate from Berklee. The Boston institution notes that…

Skaggs’ virtuosity, his rich musicality, and his commitment to the deep roots of American music make him a deserving recipient of a Berklee Honorary Doctorate.

Berklee awarded a similar honor to Earl Scruggs in March of 2005 and to Loretta Lynn in 2006. They have also been awarded to jazz and pop luminaries like Duke Ellington, Billy Joel, Sarah Vaughn, Dizzy Gillespie and Paul Simon.

The presentation will be a part of the Tuesday Night Opry radio broadcast, which can be heard on WSM AM 650 and simulcast worldwide via online streaming at wsmonline.com. If you want to listen in, that segment is scheduled during the final half hour, from 9:30-10:00 p.m. (EDT).

GAC’s cameras will be on hand to record the ceremony, which they will air during this weekend’s edition of Opry Live.

Our friend Dave Hollender is in Nashville with the Berklee contingent, and he will try to get us some more details about the Opry event as well as the students’ various activities in town during their break.

Music instruction publisher Mel Bay recently re-released one of their mainstay titles, Mel Bay’s Complete Mandolin Method.

Originally released in book form only, the updated product is now available with an accompanying DVD. The product teaches the basics of mandolin technique, note-reading, music theory, and a large number of tunes ranging from classical pieces such as Chopin’s Prelude, Op.28 No.20, to traditional tunes favored by bluegrass and old-time players such as Carry Me Back To Old Virginny, Grandfathers Clock, Shenandoah, and everything in between.

The tunes are presented in a variety of keys. Standard notation is the only presentation of the music in the book, no tab.

Complete Mandolin Method is available for $12 as book only, or $20 for the book and DVD.

I’ve had occasion this week to speak with both Alan Bibey and Wayne Benson, two of the premier mandolinists playing bluegrass today. They are teaming up this year for a number of projects sure to be of interest to students of the mandolin, and folks who just love to hear them played.

Within the next several months, Al and Wayne will start work on a new twin mandolin project for Pinecastle Records. Their intent is to write some new music together, and arrange some more with harmony parts for mandolin duets.

Al said that they will have Ron Stewart on banjo, Stewart Duncan on fiddle, Tony Rice on guitar and Barry Bales on bass. He and Wayne will be featured on nearly all the members of the mandolin family and the material is expected to be largely grassy with a few ventures just a bit outside.

If all goes well, you can hope to see this new mando duo CD in the spring of ‘09.

The discussions about the CD have led the pair to also team up for a number of mandolin workshops with the first scheduled for March 26 in Woodstock, GA. The format will have them teaching both an hour long beginner and an advanced/intermediate class following a Q&A with the two of them together. Students who take the beginner or advanced classes will have the chance to spend time with both Wayne and Alan, and the evening will conclude with a duo concert.

Anyone who would like to attend should contact Dan Connell at 678-643-7531. If you are interested in hosting one of their joint mandolin workshops, contact Alan for details.

Known far and wide as a scholar specializing in banjo music, Bill Evans is bring the banjo to America.

Bill performs in variety of ensemble settings, including his band Rustler’s Moon, and shows with fiddler Megan Lynch. Bill also works as an instructor at many banjo camps and workshops, and he is an accomplished author. His most recently published work being the Banjo For Dummies book, available from Wiley Publishing.

In between all these other items on his busy schedule, Bill somehow finds time to perform as a soloist, in a format that could best be described as a concert/educational workshop called The Banjo in America. During the course of the presentation, Bill traces the banjo from its roots in West Africa to America, performing selections from the 1700’s forward on a variety of instruments in the banjo’s linage.

Bill recently visited me here at the studio and we filmed a few short video clips of select period performance pieces taken from The Banjo in America. I found the various instruments and tunes to quite fascinating, so I took the opportunity to speak with Bill about the tour and glean some information from him.

I inquired of Bill how long he had been pursuing this concept and what his inspiration had been.

I’ve been touring with “The Banjo in America” since the mid-1990’s but it’s something that I’ve often squeezed in between band performances, workshops and other shows. The initial inspiration for this concert format came from my participation in the Tennessee Banjo Institute and a couple of the Maryland Banjo Academy events in these years. These remarkable weekends brought banjo players together from all over the world who played in a variety of styles, including many of the historical styles I later incorporated into “The Banjo in America.” Also, as in so many things in my career, my buddy Tony Trischka was an inspiration to me. We were following similar paths in exploring these earlier historical styles. Joe Ayers, Clark Buehling, Eli Kaufman and Bob Carlin have also provided help and input along the way.

My work in American music history as a graduate student in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s also helped me as I developed the format for this show. The Kentucky Humanities Council provided tour support early on as well - I played just about every public library in that state between 1992 and 1994! I’ve also toured with “The Banjo In America” throughout Japan, I’ve showcased this concert at IBMA on several occasions and have performed “The Banjo in America” at Wintergrass, the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival and various festivals here in California and Colorado, among others. I completed a two week tour in Virginia last November, when these videos were taped. So the show has been out there for a long time - It’s just been under the radar!

A lot of people probably don’t realize the important role the banjo has served historically in the popular music of this country. (more…)

We’ve written often about Berklee College Of Music in Boston and their recent embrace of the banjo and mandolin as principal instruments. Like most top music schools, Berklee requires all degree students to complete a minimum of two years of intense study (technical proficiency) on an instrument or voice, even if pursuing a program other than performance.

To tutor the mandolinists and help lead ensembles Berklee hired noted mandolinist and instructor John McGann as an associate professor in the Strings department. John put together a concert at the college on February 5 to showcase the mandolin, bringing together faculty, staff and students. All Berklee concerts are recorded on video and 8 clips from the show are available on YouTube.

Annika Lückenbergfeld is a professional classical mandolinist who came to Berklee to study improvisation. I wrote a duo piece called Minatures which we play together.

On the long Blue Grass medley we play at the end, I feature Berklee students Eric Robertson and Jacob Jolliff. Eric is from North Carolina, and is ridiculously great for having only played for 4 years. He has a great combination of rootsy, bluesy expressiveness and an adventurous streak. Jake is from Oregon and sounds like he started playing in utero-just a natural talent who works his behind off at sounding effortless. He weaves beautiful, flowing lines.

The medley also features fiddler Nate Leath, a Berklee graduate who now plays with Old Scool Freight Train. Flynn Cohen plays great bluegrass (as well as other styles) of guitar, and my fellow professor Dave Hollender is on bass.

The complete medley is Midnight Sun (one of my tunes), Mississippi Waltz (Monroe), Huggin’ The Rail (original), Roanoke/Wheel Hoss/Big Mon - the last three being Bill Monroe tunes. I arranged all the harmony parts, etc. (more…)

Gibson has been posting free instructional videos on their web site of late. Most of them have reflected the larger size of their market that comes from the world of rock music, but two mandolin lessons were posted recently.

They are taken from How To Play Mandolin by Bert Casey, and show both a split-screen video and on-screen tab for the tune Blackberry Blossom.

Find the mandolin videos - and all the other free lessons - at Gibson.com.