A note from Greg Boardman: We would just like to tell you about the upcoming Maine Country Dance Fiddle Workshop this February 13, 2021. We are still negotiating for a hall in which to invite the first five registrants of each group, advanced, intermediate and beginner, to do the live portion of the workshop (wearing masks and keeping our distance, of course). Simultaneously, the entire workshop will go out on Zoom and thus involve as many folks as care to participate. [Read more…] about Maine Country Dance Fiddle Workshop, Feb 13, 2021
Interview with Sylivia Miskoe
Most Fiddle Campers know who Sylvia Miskoe is. She has been teaching piano accordion at Camp for a couple decades, a petite woman with blonde/grey/white hair walking through Camp with an accordion slung over her back. Sylvia loves traditional Scottish dance music and also New England traditional dance music and old time country dancing. [Read more…] about Interview with Sylivia Miskoe
MaestroBistro Plus #2, August 15, 2020
Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp continues!! The “action” all starts at 4:30 on Saturday, August 15
We will continue with a monthly, 3rd Saturday, Maestro Bistro concert featuring MFC staff members preceded by workshops presented by the same staff members. You can participate in two ways. First, you can watch the concert live streamed on YouTube or Facebook by going to the MFC YouTube channel here, or by going to the MFC FaceBook page. We are suggesting a $10 donation for the Maestro Bistro show only (donate here). The second way will be by registering for the full MB+ (register HERE!). This will allow you to take the workshops interactively via Zoom and join everyone in “the main tent” for socializing before and afterwards. Upon registration you will be given Zoom links to all 3 workshops as well as the “main tent”.. After the workshops you will be able to stay in the tent with other campers and interact while watching the show. When you register, you will be asked for a free-will donation of $25 to support our efforts.
The workshops will all start simultaneously at 4:30PM, and the concert will follow, running from 6-7:30. Here is the August 15 lineup:
Jeremiah McLane
Ed Pearlman
Isa Burke
And here are the workshop descriptions. If you want to join any or all of these register HERE!:
Jeremiah McLane, Breton Ridée/Laridé:
The Ridée/Laridé represents a family of Breton dances from the Vannes region, along Brittany’s southern coast. They are characterized by arm movements which enable the dancers to stay in time together and with the music, unlike Breton dances that are defined primarily by the choreography of the foot movements. This workshop will focus on a suite of four Ridée 6 temps (‘six count’) melodies. Open to all instruments, intermediate to advanced.
Ed Pearlman, Power of a Tune Title:
This workshop will focus on learning a haunting, four-part, D minor reel called “Seann Truibhas Uilleachann” but will also discuss how that tune is related to three other tunes and a dance, which, because of their titles, came to be viewed as coded messages about the powers that be. One of the related tunes even caused a man to be brought to trial for asking a piper to play it while there was a minister present (the title of that version was directed against ministers). All levels are welcome to choose how they’d like to participate, whether to learn the tune or participate in the discussion. Sheet music and audio will be made available online.
Isa Burke, Songwriting: Write Now, Edit Later
I often like to think about the songwriting process in two distinct parts that require two very different approaches: writing and editing. It often helps to write freely without worrying about whether it’s perfect, or even good — you can save the worrying for the editing phase. In this workshop, we’ll start by exploring generative techniques and exercises designed to get you generating lots of ideas. Then, once we’ve got some raw material, we’ll switch into editing mode and talk about how to refine those ideas into a song. We’ll even look at some writing exercises that will get you writing while also making the editing process easier for your future self!
REGISTER HERE for workshops and socializing in the main tent!
KAITY NEWELL HOUSE FIRE
Most of you know from FaceBook that long time MFC staff member, Kaity Newell’s, home in Damariscotta burned to the ground last week. Kaity is fine as are her dogs, cats, chickens, car and fiddle. Everything else is pretty much gone. There is a go fund me campaign started to help Kaity recover from this devastating loss, and you can find that here: www.gofundme.com/f/kaity-newell-fire-recovery I can’t say enough about how big a part Kaity has been in the traditional music scene in Maine for the last 40 years or so. Please help as much as you can!
Going Forward…
Those of you who registered for V-MFC all received a survey form to fill out. If you haven’t done that yet, please do, so we know what we did right and what we could improve on. We will definitely have more Maestro Bistros throughout the summer and there is talk about a “virtual winter MFC”, but no definite plans at this point. There are still “Camper Concert” Virtual Ensemble videos being processed and you can stay informed by watching the website and all news will be carried on the newsletter right here!! And of course, we are still hoping to get back to REAL “in person” live Maine Fiddle Camp in 2021. We will keep you informed right here!!
VIRTUAL MAINE FIDDLE CAMP IS THE BEST EVER!!!
Well… we ALL did it!! Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp is over and it was an unqualified success. There were close to 500 registered campers and well over 1000 who “stopped by.” (Many stayed!) I’d like to let you know about the “crew” who put this all together. This was unchartered territory, and starting approximately one month before the virtual camp, we pretty much made it up as we went. Some of the MFC staff had familiarity with Zoom meetings and other interactive online platforms. Others had knowledge of YouTube, and others yet were familiar with website design, etc. None had EVER done anything approaching the scope of Virtual Maine Fiddle Camp 2020, but we wanted to give it a try. Read on if you want to know who made this happen… [Read more…] about VIRTUAL MAINE FIDDLE CAMP IS THE BEST EVER!!!