The final day of Rockygrass Academy began with one-on-ones. It was great to give more personal time to a couple students — especially on the recurring themes of chords and backup variety.

ONE-ON-ONES

• If you’re new to chords, you must learn the 1, 3, & 5 scale degrees of the given chord. Take a fiddle tune book out and open to a random page. Check the chords and find one doublestop version on the low two strings for each chord. Set your metronome to beats 1&3 and follow chords for the tune, “chunking” on beats 2&4.

• To vary your non-chopping backup, learn a few shuffle-esque patterns (eg. the double shuffle, or one with an emphasis on 2&4). Even make up your own. Play through some chord changes without changing the pattern. Once that’s comfortable, begin to mix and match the patterns. Then add passing notes to change chords. Throw in some long notes once in a while for variety.

NOVICE FIDDLE CLASS (morning)

We started with the basics of posture and form. Here are a few tips I thought would be helpful:
• Bowhold — Keep all fingers of bowhold curved and no finger joints locked (especially the thumb); Use your pinky for balance.
• Fingering arm/hand — When not using fingers, keep them over the fingerboard and ready to use; Bring your elbow under the fiddle (this will help get your fingers over the fingerboard); Don’t collapse your wrist (this will make shifting tough).
• Other — A shoulder rest can be your friend, helping you hold the fiddle with your chin & shoulder and not your left hand; When tightening the bow, it should never be straight but retain it’s curve towards the hair.

Tune = Angelina Baker (D)
• We learned the most basic form of the melody first. Next we added some 8th note variations to the melody.
• The faster 8th notes lead our focus to bowhand fluidity. I showed the class how to force the wrist to remain still (by bracing it with a wall or doorway) so we could use wrist movement only. Looser wrist = easier fast passages.

NOVICE FIDDLE CLASS (afternoon)

• We memorized doublestops for the two chords in the song: D & G.
• We “chunked” the chords on beats 2 & 4 (a ‘chunk’ is when you hear the tone of the notes).
• We played two different shuffle patterns and mixed and matched them.
• We learned to “chop” the chords on 2 & 4 (a ‘chop’ is only percussive sound, no notes).
• Finally we opened a door to the world of interval patterns….I’m talking about how the violin is tuned in 5ths and that if you understand the interval, it’s like a shortcut to for learning new licks and chords in new keys — just by doing the same fingerings on different strings….

CASEY’S CAMP JAM

* Not today…no time with the student concert, singing in the river, and end of camp BBQ.

Well, Rockygrass Academy has come to an end…now on to the festival. Thanks to all my students for such a great week. I played my own solo workshop set (and was joined by Darrell Scott and Bryn Davies) on Saturday. After that, Steve Earle & the Bluegrass Dukes (Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Dennis Crouch, and myself) closed the evening to a wet crowd of music troopers out in the rain.  Thanks to all that stayed for the set.  We had a great time.

see you next camp/festival!

casey

The day began with a short set from the Darrell Scott Band (Matt Flinner banjo/mandolin, Bryn Davies bass, me fiddle). Darrell’s newest record, Modern Hymns, is an album of covers from writers that have influenced him. From that, we played Urge for Going (Joni Mitchell) and Jesus Was A Capricorn (Kris Kristofferson). There was Q&A about the writing and selecting process.  We finished with Banjo Clark – one of Darrell’s.

ADVANCED FIDDLE (morning)

• “How do I find more doublesops on my fiddle?” Let’s take a common fiddle key (A) and start there.  First review the chord tones in A. Then play doublestop arpeggios (basically arpeggios in harmony with ourselves) from low to hi in two different inversions: 3rds and 6ths.  Once Amajor was happenin, we moved on to Aminor.

• Next we explored less tonic and more colorful doublestops which included the 6th, 7th, and 9th scale degrees.  One half of the class would play a low A&E drone while the other half would listen to these new colors. I recommended Darol Anger’s Drone CD as a great practice tool. It’s Perfect 5th drones in all 12 keys to explore intonation and intervals.

• Another great way to improve your doublestopping is by playing whole melodies in harmony with yourself. We tried out various approaches to Nine Pound Hammer.

• Stacy Philips has a great book called Hot Licks For Bluegrass Fiddle. I’ve spent many hours with the section on doublestops. I would learn one “lick” and move it around the fingerboard, transposing it into every key. We tried this exercise with one such “lick.”

ADVANCED FIDDLE (afternoon)

• After lunch, we tackled “The Chop.” Starting by how to hold your bow (straightening your thumb and turning the hair away), we moved through the DOWN chop, the UP sound, muting, and the BASS/CHORD. We played in 4/4 and in 6/8.

• We learned a doublestop filled fiddle tune called Old Dangerfield (A).

• Then we chop bowed with our right hand while our left hand played the A part melody from Old Dangerfield…and added in some of the bowed melody for accent.

• You can find Chops and Grooves, the instructional chop DVD (w/ Darol Anger & Rushad Eggleston) by clicking here.

PLAYING FRETLESS INSTRUMENTS

• Rob Ickes, Bryn Davies and I held a small discussion on the pros & cons of playing fretless.
• Pros: Easy to slide and bend notes, Can Adjust pitch on the fly, Vocal-like quality;
• Cons: Intonation; If something is out of tune, you’re usually blamed; Vocal-like quality;
• For fretless intonation practice, check out Darol Anger’s Drone CD.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM

St. Anne’s Reel (D)
Gold Rush (A)
Soldier’s Joy (D)
Cheyenne (Gm)
Brown County Breakdown (A)
Huckleberry Hornpipe (A)
Whiskey Before Breakfast (D)
Done Gone (Bb)
Monroe’s Hornpipe (A)

One more day left!
see you tomorry,
casey

Today began in an overcast fashion, but the sun finally came out towards the end.

SMALL GROUP BAND JAM

For the second day in a row, students of all instruments convened at the Blue Heron tent. Dave Pomeroy joined Mark Schatz, Dan Crary, Jens Kruger, and myself as we helped them split up into small groups of varying instrumentation and offer band/jamming guidance. One group was lacking a fiddle, so I joined them for the morning. Soon, Dan and his guitar hopped in. I worked with this group all morning instead of roaming between all. We played:
Red Haired Boy (A)
• Keep the bass as a solid foundation, use movement in bass lines sparingly and to signal a change in sections;
• Don’t play the stops on the B part every time, but use it as variation throughout tune (eg. on a middle solo or the final time through);

Sitting on Top of the World (G) (A)

Bluegrass: Blues:

• Vary the guitar strum: strong beats 1&3 with bass notes under vocals, strong beats 2&4 with upper string strums in holes between lyrics (eg. the playing of Jimmy Martin and Charlie Waller);
• Discussed how in bluegrass this song is often played fast (and with a 6minor chord), but it’s original blues form was much slower (and without the minor). We experimented with tempo and keys for different singers;

Working on a Building (D)
• We were talking about playing and singing at the same time and what role each instrument could play. Dan mentioned how bluegrass fiddlers usually don’t sing and play at the same time (but old-time and cajun do), so I demonstrated this tune I had worked out singing and playing;

Other Unknown (D) – I can’t remember what it was, but it was a singing song…
• There were two different common ways to play the chords — we tried both.
• Talked about more confidence when soloing — even if you are unsure, because no one listens to you as closely as YOU, and only you know what you intended to play!;
• Help guide the audio and visual focus of the audience to the soloist or vocalist with volume, direction of gaze, and musical lead-ins.

INTERMEDIATE FIDDLE CLASS

Tune = Down Yonder (G)
• This would be part two, the continuation from yesterday. Today we learned how to play backup.  The first step is learning the chords: G, C, D, & A.  Next, we learned how to find the 1,3, & 5 scale degrees of each chord. To make an appropriate double stop, you can choose any two of 1, 3, 5.  We focused specifically on the notes found on our lowest two strings — they are more supportive and blend better into the fabric of the accompaniment. Then we had 3 different ways to backup: 1) Chunk, 2) Chop, and 3) Various shuffle bowings.

JUGGLING

• After two days of musical mental crammings, I figured we (at least I) could use a breather.  I procured a bag of oranges, some half grown apples from nearby trees, and a few juggling balls.  About 15 people showed up and I got nearly half juggling 3 “balls” by the end.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM

• Old Grimes (D)
• Cherokee Shuffle (A)
• Big Sciota (G)
• Roxanna’s Waltz (C)
• Squirrel Hunters (A)
• Old Dangerfield (A)

Two down, 2 to go,
casey