Casey Henry
The FiddleStar/Murphy Method Jam Camp wraps up today and I thought I’d share some pictures from the weekend. We had eleven students—six in the beginning/intermediate jam group (led by myself) and five in the intermediate/advanced jam group (led by Megan). Six men, five women. We covered a LOT of material and played a LOT of music during the day, while nights were variously occupied by venturing out to a local jam at Loudhouse Coffee, to the Station Inn to Adam Steffey’s CD release party, and to the Grand Ole Opry to hear Megan play with Pam Tillis.
Speaking for my own group, we improvised a lot and covered playing in some of the less-common keys (D, and E in particular) in addition to the usual G, A, and B. We talked about using the 2-chord in songs (which would be A if you’re playing in the key of G), and we worked with the 6-2-5 chord progression (like in “Salty Dog” and “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down”).
Casey teaching the morning jam class.
Casey teaching the afternoon ear-training workshop.
The big event on Friday was the band scramble. We randomly divide the campers into bands and they get to work up a song and a joke to perform for everyone else. This year it was three very small bands and Megan and myself, along with Rex (our English mandolin-player friend) acted as judges.
Maria (Megan's mom), Megan, Casey, Rex.
And the three bands were:
The Kitchenettes: Shelle, Steve, Martha. Winners for "Best Original Interpretation of Traditional Material"
The Henry Finch Band: Jeff, Ginny, Bev, Carl. Winners for "Best Use of Non-Traditional Gender Roles" when Jeff sang tenor to Bev.
The Ridgetop Ramblers: Steve, Frank, Dennis. Winners for "Largest Number of Turtles Sacrificed to Make Pick-Guards"
Everyone went home winners and collected fabulous prizes. Everyone was also in agreement that it was the most stressful event of the whole weekend, but I think (I hope) everyone had fun, because having fun is the whole point!
Camp is already on the books for September 23-26, 2010, so mark your calendars and start making your plans!
(Thanks to Ginny Foard for many of these pictures! Also Maria, and Steve.)