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.

The Spring 2008 issue of Berklee Today, the official alumni publication of the Berklee College Of Music, has an interesting article on Crowd Funding. It was written by Peter Spellman, director of Berklee’s Career Development Center, who has written a number of books on marketing for musicians.

The concept of crowd funding is a relatively new, bottom-up sort of grassroots financing for new artists and/or projects that has been spawned in the Internet age. In a nutshell, it is one where artists appeal to fans to raise the necessary capital for recording, video production or tour support.

As record labels throughout the industry become more conservative when it comes to signing new acts and promoting second-tier acts, many artists - both new and established - have begun to consider alternative options. Spellman examines three web-based companies that were formed to serve this niche.

ArtistShare has been around since 2002 - old guard in today’s web world - and functions as a conduit between artists and fans, encouraging fans to make small investments (micro-funding) in artists’ work in exchange for special access.

Participating artists raise funding for recording projects by offering fans special interactivity options, such as the opportunity to download scores in process or to watch a recording session. An ArtistShare “participant offer,” for example, is similar to buying tickets to a live show; fans purchase incrementally priced packages that offer a glimpse of the artist’s work in progress, pre-release privileges, and, in some cases, credit on the final packaging or Web page.

Sellaband is a newer entry, launched in 2006 with the help of two former label executives.

It allows fans (dubbed “believers”) to invest $10 each until the goal of $50,000 is reached. The 5,000 believers provide funding for the band to record an album with professional producers and studios. Both parties earn money when it is released. At the moment, 6,355 artists are on SAB, and believers have funded six completed albums.

Lastly, he looks at Slicethepie, which functions as a sort of new music stock market. (more…)

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.

        

        

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…)

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.

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…)

We heard yesterday from David Hollender, banjo player and professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been teaching bass and leading ensembles there for many years, and now also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal. This is a relatively new program - spearheaded by Hollender, string chair Matt Glaser and associate professor (and mandolinist) August Watters - that enables banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar or fiddle players to pursue a degree at Berklee.

Dave told us about a group from Berklee that traveled to Helsinki, Finland last week to give students at the Pop & Jazz Conservatory a taste of bluegrass music. The Conservatory, which is a participant in the Berklee International Network (BIN) of schools, invited the group as part of their Close Encounters concert series. They had specifically requested a bluegrass band from Berklee this year, and Hollender said that the school was was more than willing to accommodate their request.

The band mixed faculty and students from Berklee, including faculty members Hollender (banjo) and John McGann (guitar, mandolin and vocals), joined by two students, Nate Leath (fiddle and vocals) and Eric Robertson (mandolin, guitar and vocals), plus Finnish bass student Eero Tikkanen.

As we mentioned, Dave teaches banjo and bass at Berklee, while John teaches mandolin and guitar. The two also lead various student ensembles that play everything from bluegrass to Celtic, mainstream jazz and Gypsy jazz.

Hollender shared a few words about the students who were involved.

“Nate Leath comes from North Carolina is about to graduate from Berklee. One of the most adventurous and versatile fiddlers anywhere, Nate is a member of Old School Freight Train, has toured with Dave Grisman, and is a repeat winner at Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention.

Eric Robertson comes from Greensboro, NC and is a first semester mandolin student at Berklee. He has solid roots in bluegrass, great chops and it’s hard to believe that he’s only been playing for four years. Watch out for this guy!” (more…)

Over the next few months, while college choices for rising high school seniors are forefront in the minds of many students and parents, we will present a series of interviews on The Bluegrass Blog with administrators/faculty members at colleges and universities where young bluegrass or acoustic musicians might want to study.

You can read all the posts in this series here.

First up is Roger H. Brown, President of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Brown brings an appreciation for a wide variety of musical styles - including bluegrass and traditional folk music - to his job running one of the most prestigious music schools in the world. He also recently approved the inclusion of both five string banjo and mandolin as principal instruments for study at Berklee.

Like many schools that mix a serious study of music with related disciplines (education, music technology, music business, performance, composition), Berklee requires that every student declare a principal instrument on which they must study for a minimum of two years, regardless of their major.

I asked Roger if the traditional string principal (banjo/mandolin) appealed to him immediately when it was presented.

Absolutely. We already had the foundations of a great string department with Matt Glaser as Chair, himself a highly regarded fiddler and connected to the Mark O’Connor, Bela Fleck axis of hot string players. Cellist Eugene Friesen on the faculty made his mark with the Paul Winter Consort. John McGann is a national flatpicking champion and excellent mandolin player. Dave Hollender had a robust bluegrass ensemble in operation. In addition, we had alumni like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings writing and performing very successfully, Casey Driessen was touring with Bela Fleck, and Andy Hall and Chris Pandolfi had come together on dobro and banjo with the Infamous Stringdusters. Cellist Rushad Eggleston [Crooked Still] was, to the best of my knowledge, the first at Berklee to be nominated for a Grammy while still a student. The groundwork was absolutely all laid. I just needed to sprinkle some holy water on the initiative. So, what we implemented was an acoustic string principle, adding banjo and mandolin to the existing programs for guitar and violin.

Roger did not study music in college, but entered the business as a self-taught drummer playing blues and funk music. He said that he dropped out of high school band in favor of football.

I wondered how a funk drummer came to be interested in bluegrass.

I love the banjo. My ears always perk up whenever I hear one. I never learned to play, but if I were to live my life over, maybe….

When I visited him in his office earlier this year, Roger spoke of how he became passionate about bluegrass and old time music, and he showed me one of his prized possessions on display.

My great grandfather was a minister and fiddler who lived in the North Carolina mountains near Valle Crucis. I have his fiddle with homemade replacement parts sitting in my office. In high school, we would drive to the Georgia mountains near my hometown and go to dances where bluegrass and traditional Appalachian music was the music of choice.

Roger answered a few more questions about the traditional string principal at Berklee. (more…)

Noted mandolin teacher and transcriber, John McGann, has a new instructional DVD. Sound Fundamentals: Tone, Touch and Technique for Mandolin uses a number of crucial bluegrass mandolin techniques to help players find a wide range of pleasing tones, all the while stressing efficiency and comfort.

McGann has an impressive resume, with a long list of performing, recording, arranging and transcribing credits. He has also recently been named an Associate Professor in the Strings Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

As described on John’s web site:

Includes: getting comfortable: tone guards, straps, etc.; choosing the right pick; anchoring; open string exercises; downstrokes vs. alternate picking; crosspicking and tremolo: importance of the loose wrist: left hand fingering; the “duck web” and parallel thumb; synchronizing both hands & unlocking the fingerboard; speed, more plus bonus footage.

Sound Fundamentals does not come with a printed booklet, but the DVD has a printable PDF file with both tablature and standard notation transcriptions for much of the material shown on screen. You simply need to pop the DVD into your computer and find the PDF file before selecting the print command.

More details and online ordering can be found on John’s web site. The DVD is distributed to retailers through Mel Bay Publications.

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, but now also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal, where banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar or fiddle players can pursue a degree at Berklee.

Chris Thile and How To Grow A Band visited Berklee College of Music Thursday for a clinic hosted by the String Department. Chris, Bryan Sutton, Greg Garrison, Noam Pikelny, and Gabe Witcher spent an hour playing for students and taking questions. Berklee mandolin teacher, John McGann introduced the band and they opened the clinic by playing two tunes from their new Sugar Hill CD - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground and The Beekeeper.

Chris introduced the players and explained what drew him to choose these players. He cited their musical range, the chemistry that they felt, and the fact that they are musicians who can both improvise and read. This led to discussion of a new extended, through-composed work that the band has started playing. He described the concept and compositional process behind the new work, which consists mainly of written instrumental parts, along with some transitions into vocal songs, sections for improvised solos, and some sections that are essentially free improvisation. They played the first movement for the students.

Matt Glaser, Chair of the String Department asked if they still like to play straight ahead bluegrass. They graciously and bravely obliged this writer’s request to perform a standard bluegrass song that they had never played together as a unit so the students could see how they steer things on the fly. They chose Flatt and Scruggs’, My Little Girl In Tennessee. After a quick huddle to decide who would take which parts Noam kicked it off with drive and tone that would make Earl proud. (more…)

John McGann is one of acoustic string music’s more prolific instrumentalists and educators. He is the 1985 national mandolin champion, and has performed and recorded with a who’s who of bluegrass, newgrass, celtic and folk artists. He operates his own custom transcription service, and has five books published by Mel Bay. John is a popular instructor at both guitar and mandolin camps, and is an Associate Professor in Strings at the Berklee College of Music where he teaches mandolin.

His newest contribution is John McGann’s Rhythm Mandolin, an instructional DVD designed to introduce mandolinists to a number of ways to accompany others, from the familiar bluegrass chop to Celtic and swing styles. The more aggressive right hand approach used in progressive bluegrass is covered, as are old time and Texas “sock rhythm” styles.

John uses the familiar fiddle tune Forked Deer to present these many examples and stylistic variations.

The DVD does not include a printed booklet, but has a PDF book on the DVD itself. Simply insert the DVD into your computer and you can view and/or print the booklet which features transcriptions (tab and standard) and chord charts for the examples on the video.

Orders can be placed on John’s web site, where you can also find his Rhythm Tune Up DVD (guitar and mandolin), and his several Mel Bay books.

Our friend Richard Hawkins over at The Bluegrass Ireland Blog is reporting that Crooked Still, the innovative Boston-based string band, is heading back to Ireland for a follow-up tour later this month. They made quite an impact when they visited last year, and have ten dates set for this tour between September 22 and October 1.

The band consists of vocalist Aofie O’Donovan, cellist Rushad Eggleston, banjo player Gregory Liszt and upright bassist Corey DiMario. Their material and approach draw heavily on traditional string music, but the composition of the group (sans guitar and mandolin) gives the ensemble sound a fresh appeal. Each member is a talented performer in their own right, but Eggleston and Liszt bear special mention for what they have done to advance their instruments, and how they are used in music based on traditional bluegrass and old time styles.

Eggleston has introduced the cello as a solo instrument in the traditional string band environment, and has become something of a sensation in the cello world, both for having done so, and for the skill with which he wields the bow. He has the distinction of being the first student in the history of the prestigious Berklee College Of Music to receive a full, four year, all-expenses-paid scholarship to the school in the string department.

Liszt has generated similar waves in the banjo world. He has developed a picking style using four fingers rather than the more typical three, and does so on a custom, seven-stringed banjo, well-suited to filling much of the role a guitar might normally handle in a bluegrass band. Liszt was a member of Bruce Sprinsteen’s touring group earlier this year in support of his Songs Of Seeger CD.

Crooked Still’s new CD, Shaken By A Low Sound, has recently been released by Signature Sounds. Audio samples can be found on the label’s web site, and on the band’s MySpace page.

There is also a bit of YouTube video on MySpace, which appears to have been shot at a club date. The audio quality is fine, as is the performance, but the imapct of the video image inescapably calls up a hilarious Blues Brothers parallel. If you have doubts about cello as a solo instrument in this setting, by all means watch the video, which also demonstrates why O’Donovan is considered an up-and-coming song stylist in acoustic music.

Find the tour dates on The Bluegrass Ireland Blog.

Episode #39 continues on the heels of last week’s discussion with Chris Pandolfi. This time, we are talking with dobroist/vocalist Andy Hall, also of The Infamous Stringdusters, and a fellow graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Andy talks a bit about the band, and how his Berklee degree in recording and audio production helped prepare him for his music career.

This GrassCast is a bit shorter than most, coming in at 6 minutes, with a download size of 6.8 MB (for the MP3 file).

Below is an mp3 file which you can hear now, or download to your computer. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep39_andy_hall.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

Voila!! After much consternation, trial and error, and long distance coaching, it appears that I have successfully uploaded what should have been last week’s edition of The GrassCast. My apology for the delay. Hopefully this week’s episode will be uploaded on time.

Episode #38 features my discussion with young banjo terror Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters. We spoke last fall during the IBMA convention in Nashville about what he had been doing, and about his education at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Chris is a fascinating young man, not only for his skill as an instrumentalist, but also for his clear understanding of what making music a career entails, and his level-headed approach to doing so in his own life.

This GrassCast is 8.5 minutes in length and the file download size is 10 MB.

Below is an mp3 file for you to listen here or download. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep38_chris_pandolfi.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

This week we continue our talk with August Watters, who in addition to being an accomplished mandolinist, guitarist and banjo pickers, is also an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. This week August describes his involvement with the Boston Bluegrass Union and their effort to present bluegrass instructional opportunities to young people.

This GrassCast is 7 minutes in length and the file download size is 7 MB.

Below is an mp3 file for you to listen here or download. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep37_august_watters_2.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

Continuing with our education focus, we talk this week with August Watters, who in addition to being an accomplished mandolinist, guitarist and banjo pickers, is also an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. August describes how Berklee has come to embrace using traditional string instruments (like banjo and mandolin) as a principal of study at the school, and how useful this has been for young musicians seeking a career in bluegrass and acoustic music.

John’s discussion with August will be continued in the next episode of The GrassCast, where he goes on to discuss his involvement with teaching young people to play bluegrass through the Boston Bluegrass Union.

This GrassCast is 11 and a half minutes in length and the file download size is 13 MB.

Below is an mp3 file for you to listen here or download. The GrassCast is also available in the iTunes music store as an enhanced podcast containing photos and hyperlinks relative to the subject matter being discussed in the interview.

Listen now:
Direct Download: ep36_august_watters.mp3
Subscribe with:
Free Download: The GrassCast iPodder software

To subscribe with your own podcatching software, copy and past this url into the appropriate entry box in your software: http://www.thegrasscast.com/rss

We just got a note from our friend David Hollender, who has been keeping us abreast of the activities of the students at Berklee College of Music with an interest in bluegrass music. We have posted many times about Berklee, and their recent decision to allow the use of traditional string instruments as the principal instrument in pursuing a Berklee degree. Dave contacted me last night to let us all know that some of students in one of his bluegrass ensembles had been featured in a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on Thursday night (5/4).

Here is Dave’s report:

“A band from Berklee just played at the Kennedy Center tonight. It was part of The Conservatory Project and they have invited groups from Berklee, as well as other prestigious music schools like the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music just to mention a few. We’ve been sending bands regularly to the series and usually we’ve been the sole jazz music on the program, but this year we sent a bluegrass/country group.

The 1st half of the performance was bluegrass, followed by a country set. The personnel on the bluegrass part was Charlie Worsham (leader) - banjo, guitar, voice; Joe Walsh - mandolin; Kristin Weber - fiddle & vocal; Asheigh Caughill - bass & vocal; Charlie Hutto - guitar. Charlie and Kristin came to the Five Week summer program in 2003 and then enrolled at Berklee as full time students.”

The concert was previewed in the Washington Examiner newspaper, but I was not able to find a link to the article online. In it, Charlie Worsham is quoted at some length, describing his bluegrass background as a youngster, and his decision to study music production in Boston before heading to Nashville to join some other Berklee grads when he graduates next fall.

Their May 4th performance was recorded, and the video can be viewed from the Kennedy Center web site. They start with a great version of Kenny Smith’s superb composition, Amanda’s Reel - a sure sign that these folks are getting it right at Berklee!

In all seriousness, it is an impressive performance and worth your attention. It may be something of a clich??? to make mention of the fact that the future of our music depends on the willingness of young people to undertake the serious study required to master it, but it’s a risk worth taking. Hats off to these talented young folks, and the faculty at Berklee that supports their efforts.

UPDATE 5/8: There is a press release up on the Berklee web site about this show, and the various musicians who participated. It mentions that they will be a featured guest on an upcoming edition of XM’s Studio Sessions show.

Darol Anger’s second project for Compass Records featuring his Republic Of Strings ensemble has been released. The group includes Anger on violin and Scott Nygaard on guitar, plus a number of exceptional young string musicians and vocalists. Entitled Generation Nation to highlight the multi-generational aspect of the group, the CD offers a mix of musical genres that should appeal to a great many acoustic music listeners.

Anger’s list of credentials includes time with the groundbreaking original David Grisman Quintet and the much-heralded Turtle Island String Quartet, and he is equally well regarded for his work as a string music educator. His discography is singularly impressive, and encompasses a wide variety of styles and formats. Nygaard has been a prominent guitarist for many years, including stints with Tim O’Brien’s O’Boys and Laurie Lewis’ Grant Street. He spent eight years as an editor with Acoustic Guitar magazine, a post he has recently resigned to focus on performance.

The group is completed by two young string phenoms, Rushad Eggleston on cello and Brittany Haas on fiddle (five string). Eggleston, only a few years out of college, and Haas, just starting at Princeton, bring an energy and passion to their music that has been a striking aspect of their short but notable careers. Rushad has the distinction of being the first student to be extended a “full ride” at the Berklee College Of Music, meaning that his full four years of tuition and related expenses were paid by scholarship. He has developed a technique on cello that allows him to move fluidly within a wide range of styles, including classical, jazz, and even bluegrass and old time fiddle music. Haas, like Eggleston, started attracting attention in her early teens, and Anger produced her debut, self-titled solo recording, which also featured her older sister, Natalie, on cello. She has been pointed in describing herself as a “fiddler,” and seems especially keen on old time fiddle music.

Other performers on Generation Nation include Todd Sickafoose on bass, John Pinkham on mandolin, Tristan Clarridge on cello and Tyler Andal on fiddle, with guest vocalists Terry Pinkham, Aoife O”Donovan, Marsha Genensky and Chris Webster.

You can hear audio samples on the Darol Anger web site.

Republic Of Strings is currently on tour, with a number of dates featuring Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek on violin.

We have posted many times in the past six months about the prestigious Berklee College Of Music’s recent decision to allow banjo and mandolin players to attend the school. More accurately, the new policy allows banjo/mandolin players - who have always been able to enroll - to use banjo or mandolin as their principal instrument while studying at Berklee. Mandolinists have studied at Berklee in the past, but had to enroll and study in the violin principal, just as The Stringdusters’ Chris Pandolfi had to enroll as a guitarist to study as a banjo player.

The point of this post is not to rehash all that, which you can research by following these earlier posts, but to pass along that some info about the inclusion of banjo and mandolin within the string principal is now found on the Berklee web site. Parents or students interested in the possibility of attending next year can start an investigation here.

This post is a contribution from David Hollender, a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been keeping us updated on the way bluegrass music and traditional acoustic instruments are being presented at the school.

Pete and Joan Wernick are in Boston this week to play at the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival and present a Jam Camp. They used the occasion to visit Berklee College of Music Wednesday, where they presented a master class sponsored by the college”s Ensemble Department.

Pete and Joan kicked things off by playing two tunes and then worked with a student band in an open master class format. Students Charlie Worsham, Ashleigh Caudill, Kristen Weber and Joe Walsh, all members of Back Bay Bluegrass, played on stage for Pete, Joan and fellow students.

The extent of Pete”s work with up-and-coming musicians was evidenced by the fact that he had met three of the four band members before and had notes about them going back as far back as ten years ago. By coincidence, Walsh happens to be Joan”s cousin.

Pete and Joan were very complimentary of the band. They offered suggestions and worked with them to fine-tune some fine points of their playing. They spoke about how singers could emphasize the meaning of lyrics and critiqued the arrangements. Along with the specific suggestions Pete and Joan expounded on their personal philosophies of what makes good music and what it takes to reach a large an audience.