Tangier Sound

Dan West Palm Beach writes:

I wanted to let you know that your students are teaching new students all the time, as if you didn’t know. But here’s a fine example.

Mark, youtube handle mjtracy posted a video a while back, in which he gives a workshop on ‘Cluck old hen’ and the various exercises you can use with this song.

Well, I stumbled across that and used it to teach myself ‘Cluck old hen’ that same evening!

Thanks Mark and Patrick! Now I have to teach these same techniques to someone else!

We have added some exciting registration options to the 2009 Folk Musicians Retreat:

Parent-Child Discount
$375.00 for one adult and one child between the ages of 10 and 16.

Ladies Cabin
Accommodations for up to five with a private bath, kitchen and fireplace. The cabin is right next to the main conference center. No extra charge. Contact Dear Old Dad at (410) 968-3873 to register.

Couples Cabin
Private rooms (actually, two rooms and a loft) for three couples. The cabin is right next to the conference center and has a central bath, fireplace and kitchen. Contact Dear Old Dad at (410) 968-3873 to register.

The 2009 Folk Musicians Retreat will be held at Janes Island State Park on April 23-26.

Steve in the UK writes:

Hey Patrick
Finally got around to setting up the rack with my new Harp. Man those racks are lethal hahah, anyway took a recording for you to see and hear. Got a lot of practicing to do but it was great fun. I still dont like singin that much and it kind of gives me a voice

I don’t know all of the details just yet, but according to a post on the UK Folkies forum there is going to be a folk musicians retreat this December at Whirlow Grange in Sheffield.

Father Keith posted:

The UK Retreat is off the ground - Whirlow Grange in Sheffield is now booked for 5-7 December 2008, which was the only weekend when all the accommodation was available, but at least it gives us plenty of time to save up and get some practice in, as well as avoiding the holiday season.

I’ve reserved 30 rooms for accomodation, and there is a selection of rooms avalable to use for jamming. There is a big non residential group in for a meal on the saturday evening so the largest of the rooms will be unavailable to us then, but apart from that they’re pretty flexible and we’ll probably break up into smaller groups anyway. (I like the sound of the garden room).

It’s down to us to work out the format between us - nobody will be organising us or telling us what to do. It will just be a great opportunity to relax and have fun sharing music. It might be a good idea if we put together ‘core’ set of songs that we can all at least be familiar with though.

This is great news. Dear Old Dad and I hope that all of our folks overseas get involved and support this event.

I had to post this one for Pastor Roy:

If that video leaves you wondering what would have happened if Darth Vader played the banjo, watch this gunfight from Sabata:

Grenville in Ontario plays Wildwood Flower

As I was posting this, I ran across a note Grenville sent me back in March with a link to his take on Cripple Creek.

Dan from West Palm Beach takes a ride on the New River Train

14 frailing banjo exercises for the D chord.

http://www.archive.org/details/DChordWorkshop

The tab file/chord diagrams for this workshop:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcfjm9ch_102dm4hbxg9
http://www.archive.org/download/DChordWorkshop/DChordWorkshop.pdf

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, the video camera I was using to knock out workshops went feet up and we were shopping around for a replacement.

After looking at some of the small cameras on the market I decided that it made more sense to set up my Canon XL1 so that it would be easier to use for workshops. A 7″ LCD monitor and a wireless lavalier microphone setup cost less that I would have to spend to replace my old Sony - and once everything is installed I’ll be able to record workshops anywhere in Crisfield.

The monitor arrived today and the microphone will get here on Thursday so I should be back in action by early next week. 

Carlos in Spain writes:

Everything here is very well.

I uploaded some pictures of the ukulele jams with Carlos (the son of my sister), Lola (the daughter of my brother) and Guille (the son of Miguel who is learning to play ukulele too…) and Miguel is the brother of Jesus ( banjo and guitar player) and Jesus is the father of Paloma and Carlos-yet another one!- that is learn to play ukulele too… I’ll send you a sketch of all this people and its relationships … or something to make all this clear.

Today Camilo ( my father and father of my sister and of my brother and the grandfather of Carlos, Lola and Lucas ….(Lucas is just five months old, he don’t play anything (so far) but he is the brother of Lola…well… I’ll send you the sketch…) Camilo played today among them as one more child.

What beautiful pictures I missed …. because the battery of my camera was down

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/25432265@N03/sets/72157605004201546/

Brooklyn-based musician Rench has released Ganstagrass as a free download, and it is chock full of hip-hop banjo goodness.

Fron Rench’s web site:

“Check out Gangstagrass, a full-length mashup of Underground hip-hop vocals with Rench beats and straight up bluegrass samples. It features some of the really talented emcees I have recorded at Rench Audio, including Infinitee, TONE, and Deep Thoughts/Kaz-Mir from Black Market. It also features tons of uncleared samples from early bluegrass, folk ballads, and blues, and more current bluegrass stuff as well - Thats why its all there for free download.”

One word of caution, the language gets rough at some points.

Main Download page: http://www.gangstagrass.com/

Ganstagrass on Myspace:  http://www.myspace.com/gangstagrass

High water on Myrtle Street.

Here are a couple of really good buys for your consideration.

- A nice Kay resonator tenor banjo with a hard case. This is a perfect banjo if you want to explore tenor banjo without breaking the bank. The resonator is  removable for open back playing.                     Just $249.95

- Tyler Mountain round neck wood body resophonic guitar (sunburst finish).
A most affordable ticket to “the sound”.            Just $179.95

Both are new, set up and ready to play.

Call me at 410-968-3873 for complete information.

A quick workshop on making frailing banjo licks more interesting.

Tab file pdf: http://ia360907.us.archive.org/3/items/FrailingPhrasing/FmbLickVariations.pdf

Tab file html: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcfjm9ch_78dw9f5zdn

http://www.archive.org/details/FrailingPhrasing