This review was written by John McGann, Associate Professor of Strings at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, MA.

A wise friend of mine once observed that “people spend a lot of energy looking for what something isn’t, rather than what something is.” Punch is an adventurous listener’s paradise and an acoustic music lover’s dream. Led by composer/mandolinist/lead vocalist Chris Thile with Chris Eldridge (guitar/vocal), Noam Pikelny (banjo/vocal), Gabe Wichter (fiddle/vocal) and Greg Garrison (bass/vocal), the Punch Brothers deliver an astonishing range of styles and moods with relaxed virtuosity across three songs, an instrumental, and an innovative 40 minute four movement suite.

The touchstones of established styles on this recording span many genres: a classical range of tone colors and dynamics, from quiet filigree to ominous thunder; a jazz sense of adventure, harmonic daring and “sound of surprise;” the blue grass drive and commitment to the groove; the pop songwriter’s flare for melody, and the progressive rock musician’s restless penchant for shifting textures and colors. While echoes of the above styles combine with and extend the groundbreaking New Acoustic work of the Trischka-Grisman-Flecktones-Newgrass vectors, it is fair to say that the band is breaking new ground and creating its own unique idiom. It is not merely “chamber music” played with bluegrass instrumentation, but music conceived to take advantage of the traditional bluegrass band instrumentation as presented to the world by Bill Monroe in 1945, albeit in ways Mr. Monroe may never have imagined.

Compositionally, there are definite parallels with classical music in the “through composed” long form style of composition (particularly in the four movement suite The Blind Leaving The Blind) rather than the more typical verse/chorus song form’s repeated sections. The creative use of counterpoint and counter melodies as well as contrasts and combinations of instrumental colors between musical lines are more the stuff of the classical orchestrator, rather than the bluegrass arranger. Independent rhythmic interplay creates clockwork-like textures at various times that mesh like a bluegrass band, dixieland group, and chamber orchestra (and sometimes all three at once!). Of course, along with the carefully composed mosaics of counter lines, we find improvisational passages that depend on the unique personalities of each band member to be realized, much in the way that jazz legend Duke Ellington relied on his stable of players to create the music’s character. (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…)

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…)

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.

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.