Pinewoods Music
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TradMaD is a week-long music session that occurs the week before Labor Day. It is organized by the Folk Music Society of New York. When August and I weren’t working our volunteer shifts, we participated in a variety of their classes and were attentive audience members during their evening concerts. It was also hard to not appreciate their presence even when we were working; the strums of a mandolin or the voices from a rounds circle floated through every path we walked.
The camp seemed to cater to musicians who were skilled in their specific discipline/instrument, and sought to expand their knowledge by being in community with other equally talented and enthusiastic musicians. Experienced banjo players were taking beginner fiddle classes, fiddle players were joining ballad singalongs. Each hour, there were six to eight classes running simultaneously and many unstructured gatherings of singing and jamming from dawn well past dusk.
Mini concerts every morning and evening, spotlighting a different music camp instructor.
Sarah Burkey, the ballad singer’s brief intro
A clip of Sarah’s “The Cuckoo,” a traditional English and Appalachian folk song
Hubby Jenkins of “Intermediate/Advanced Banjo, The Music of Joe and Odell Thompson”
Andy Davis, a piano and accordion player and instructor of “Harmony Arrangements of Traditional Songs”
Cedar Stanistreet of “Accessible Irish Tunes” and Yann Falquet of “Quebecois Session, All Instruments”
An informal singing circle I passed by on my way to the dock
A camper’s collection of jaw harps. Seeing these played is a portal to an alien dimension
Learning the bones
Concertina chart
Camp bookstore, where albums recorded by the instructors (and some campers!) are sold! I purchased a Vox Hunter CD here.
Interesting
The Providence, RI-based Vox Hunters. Flannery, Benedict, and Armand taught many classes including “Tiny Tunes for Instruments and Voices” and “So You Want a Backing Band”
An original arrangement composed by Flannery, the cellist
Another Vox Hunters clip, featuring Bennett Konesni
Jules of the Ranzo Boys leading a pub-night sing.
August participating in the intermediate guitar class
My instructor Jerry Bryant, who lead the class “Clicks, Jangles, Clack and Twangs: Folky Percussion”
Bennett demonstrating rowing movements that correspond with the ancient work song “Haul on the Bowline” that kept crews in sync.
Reverend Robert Jones, an instructor of blues and spiritual singing.
More work songs on shore, as the Cady is being inspected
Rowing to a sea shanty, led by an experienced worksong researcher and collector, Bennett Konesni
A camper named Kim, singing an original tune about Scottish FIFA fans in Boston this past summer
A camper, playing an evening harp song on the dock
Another camper leading an impromptu shanty while we were all hanging out on the dance pavilion, Ampleforth
One hundred campers singing a goodnight song as handmade lanterns were released from the dock of Long Pond.
The vibe of the week