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 Ensembles are an integral part of the CCMC experience. Students will spend almost four hours of the weekend in ensemble rehearsals, followed by a performance on the Grange Hall stage early Sunday afternoon.
Students may wait until the camp to choose an ensemble, or they may choose in advance. Some ensembles will rely on students' advance preparation, while others will not. Both reading and non-reading approaches will be used. For students who do not read standard notation or tablature, "by-ear-only" ensembles are offered -- although these ensembles may also appeal to readers.
Students who
are interested in advance preparation of written music should
email the instructor. Ensembles directed toward these students
will be of varying levels. All of the written arrangements will
contain easy parts as well as more difficult parts -- so don't
hesitate to choose the ensemble that interests you most! Once
you've chosen an ensemble you'll receive more music, in standard
notation and/or tablature (if you've chosen a reading ensemble!).
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2008 CCMC Ensembles:
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Brazilian Choro Ensemble
Leader: Paulo Sa
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
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This ensemble will explore the jazzy sound of Brazilian Choro. The leader, Paulo Sá, is among Brazil's leading Choro performers, and teaches at the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música and also at Villa-Lobos School in Rio de Janeiro.
Although this ensemble will rely heavily on written parts, it will also explore group dynamics, blend, and accompaniment skills. Sheet music will be provided early in the summer, so there will be plenty of time to prepare. Music will be available in standard notation only.
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String Band: Blues
Leader: Rich delGrosso
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
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Blues and mandolin belong together: long before other styles came to dominate American mandolin music, mandolin players made the blues their own. Today Rich delGrosso is at the forefront of the blues mandolin scene, re-discovering the work of the blues masters of the early 20th century, while also creating new sounds with blues mandolin.
Guitar and bass players are welcome in this ensemble. Music will be taught by standard notation and tablature.
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Classical Ensemble
Leader: Marilynn Mair
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
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Beautiful music in simple arrangements will give participants an opportunity to develop two contrasting ensemble pieces for performance in the course of our two days together. Music will be available at the beginning of September, and there will be parts for intermediate players and others for more advanced players. The focus of this group will be learning how to developing an ensemble sound- one of Marilynn's specialties. Students will be able to take all of the parts for the pieces home, to play them later with ensembles of their own.
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Contemporary Bluegrass Group
Leader: August Watters
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
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This year the bluegrass band will focus on new tunes common in bluegrass sessions today. We'll work on harmony parts, improvisation, and ensemble playing skills.
Guitar, banjo, fiddle and bass players are welcome in this ensemble. Members of this ensemble will prepare parts in advance, using standard notation and tablature.
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Baroque &
Renaissance Ensemble
Leader: Jim
Dalton
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
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This ensemble will
explore Renaissance and Baroque styles. Leader Jim Dalton is
an expert in Early music, and will be bringing a variety of pieces
to illustrate these genres.
Music will be available in standard notation only.
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By-Ear Ensemble for Beginners
Leader: Beverly Woods
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These ensembles
will learn to play tunes and songs in various styles by ear,
with each participant taking an active role in creating their
own parts, as is typically done in performing acoustic bands.
There will be plenty of guidance and coaching from the instructor
on how to come up with your own parts, improvisation, creating
solo breaks, fills, harmonies, bass lines and chordal accompaniments;
how to listen and respond to what everyone else is playing, and
how to blend in effectively as a band. Repertoire may include
Appalachian, Celtic, bluegrass, blues, klezmer, Scandinavian,
Balkan, etc., depending on interest of the participants. Previous
experience or expertise in playing by ear isn't required to take
part in these ensembles, just a willingness to try.
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Klezmer Ensemble
Leader: Seth
Austen
Level: Beginning/Intermediate/Advanced
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Klezmer is the
traditional folk music of Ashkenazi (eastern European) Jews and
was typically played for weddings. Although much modern klezmer
music tends to be oriented around wind and brass instruments,
the music of 19th century eastern European Jews was mostly string
based, played on violin and tsimbl (hammered dulcimer). There
was also a tradition of playing this music on mandolin. In this
ensemble, we'll arrange klezmer tunes by ear for mandolin family
and other instruments.
Music will be taught by ear, however sheet music will also be available if needed. No previous klezmer experience is necessary.
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Western Swing Ensemble
Leader: Keith Baumann
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
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NEW THIS YEAR: We'll explore this too-fun hybrid of swing music and traditional Texas fiddle tunes. Western Swing star Bob Wills was the most popular band leader in Texas and Oklahoma during the big band era, and more recently new bands such as Asleep at the Wheel and BR-549 have revitalized these sounds.
Chicago veteran Keith Baumann will bring his own arrangements of western swing standards. Although this ensemble
will rely heavily on written parts, it will also explore group
improvisation, creation of harmony and bass lines, and rhythm
parts. Participants will work on group dynamics, blend, and accompaniment
skills.
Written parts will be made available in standard notation and tablature well in advance.
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A Note about Guitar
(and other instruments):
There is some room in most of these ensembles for guitarists. Other instruments such as fiddle, banjo, dulcimer, autoharp, pennywhistle and bass are also welcome in some ensembles. Not all the workshops are mandolin-specific, so these other instrumentalists will find opportunities to study theory and style. In addition, many of our faculty are multi-instrumentalists, and can help with fitting these instruments into the ensembles. If you have questions, please
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