RE: [Harp-l] Telluride Acoustic Blues Camp (way long, again)

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello again, harp-ler's.  Let me apologize right off for two long posts in a
row...

I have finally had a chance to sit down and write about another great
harp-related experience that I enjoyed recently, the Telluride Blues and
Brews Acoustic Blues Camp.  This camp is such a terrific thing that I feel
compelled to share it.  Hopefully, more harp-ler's will check it out in the
future.  First a little about the festival and the camp in general, then I'
ll write about the harmonica-related aspects of the camp.

The Telluride Brews and Blues Festival (TBBF) is set in the town park of one
of the most beautiful mountain towns I know of.

http://www.tellurideblues.com/

The historic mining town of Telluride ("To-Hell-You-Ride," as they say) is
nestled at an altitude of 9,000 some feet in a high southwestern Colorado
mountain valley rimmed by bald peaks.  Each September the TBBF draws the
top-shelf acts in blues and related genres.  What's cool is that the 4-day
Acoustic Blues Camp is closely tied to the festival, and is able to offer
guest instruction by some of the main-stage acts.  This year it was Chris
Thomas King (O' Brother Where Art Thou) and Corey Harris who each taught
several classes.  That's just the "olive on the toothpick" for an intensive
course of classes taught by virtuoso-level musicians in acoustic guitar,
mandolin, voice and blues harp.

The Acoustic Blues Camp (ABC) takes over the historic Sheridan Opera House
for 4 days.

http://www.tellurideblues.com/2004/acousticbluescamp.html
http://sheridanoperahouse.com/

Guitar/mando players make up the lion's share of the 35-40 campers.  This
year there were from 1-5 harp players in Grant's sessions at any given
90-minute session (there are over 15 hours of instruction over the 4 days;
one afternoon I had Grant all to myself as several harp campers were also
guitar pickers).  There are four guitar instructors, Mark Galbo (also camp
leader and author of "Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar"), Stan Hirsch,
John-Alex Mason, and Rich Del Grosso, each at the top of their respective
instrumental styles.  To give you an idea of the caliber of these
instructors, Rich, arguably the greatest current proponent of blues
mandolin, writes a popular column for "Blues Revue" magazine.  Hazel Miller,
a soulful and powerful blues singer from Denver has taught the voice track
the last two years, and this year our own Grant Dermody taught the blues
harp track (Phil Wiggins has also taught in the past).

Mark Galbo, the camp leader and fingerstyle blues guitar instructor works
hard to create a kinship amongst the campers and instructors, and IMO he
succeeds admirably.  Over the course of four days of making music together,
you really feel a camaraderie with the other campers and instructors.
Hopefully, you take friendships away along with your newfound musical
knowledge and skills.  Since I'm not a guitar player, I can't speak directly
to the quality of instruction, but I can tell from the comments and smiles
from the other campers it must be as amazing as the blues harp track, which
I recommend wholeheartedly.

I was really excited to learn that Grant Dermody was going to be the harp
instructor this year as Grant's acoustic harp style is perfectly aligned
with my own interests.  I love acoustic harmonica and Grant is at the top of
that game, so I was primed to meet him.  I also knew that Grant has been
teaching at a high level for years (Augusta Blues Week, Port Townsend
Country Blues Workshop) so I was doubly excited about the prospects of
studying with him.  I was not disappointed in any way!  Grant is a very
special person, a terrific harp player, and equally expert at teaching our
favorite instrument.  From the first class I knew this would be a special
experience.

I am totally an "ear" player.  Music theory scares the dickens out of me.  I
always tell my guitar buddy "don't confuse me with facts; just start
playin'..." (and then he always gives me ~that~ look).  So when Grant
started passing out worksheets with I's, IV's, and V's and musical notes
written all over them, I confess that I felt a bit of trepidation.  But not
for long.  I soon discovered that Grant had, in a special way I'd never seen
before, distilled the vast topic of music theory into the essence of what a
blues harper needs to know.  What he taught us was a way to "intelligently"
construct the notes of various bass lines of the I, IV, and V chords so
common in blues.  In essence, given a basic blues bass line in the I chord,
Grant showed how to determine what the relative notes should be in the IV
and V chords.  He further demonstrated and taught us to use these bass lines
as self-accompaniment in a solo setting or when accompanying another player'
s solo.  Whoa!  Now there's some music theory I can understand and relate to
and, yes, even use!  I won't go into detail here, but a little birdie told
me Grant may be working on a way to make his approach widely available to
budding blues harpers.  I can't wait to see what Grant comes up with in the
way of instructional material.  He has a very effective way of understanding
and explaining concepts that had completely escaped me previously.

I was able to incorporate my newfound bass line knowledge almost
immediately, right in camp.  There are many opportunities to jam in the
camp, both in class and out.  Whether it's campers or one of the
instructors, someone is always striking up a tune, and others automatically
join in.  Jamming with Stan Hirsch, a superb guitar player from Albuquerque,
while folks were getting seated for a class was typical of the little
musical treats the camp offers.  In another moment, I found myself backing
up Chris Thomas King all by my lonesome with my low C SBS 365 as he played a
classic blues for the campers.  He had asked students tuned in open G to
join in; I think at that point he thought we were all guitar players.  A
couple guitars joined in but quickly dropped out and I soon found I was the
only camper backing up Chris.  Yup, I picked up his alternating bass notes
and played them as a bass line ala' Grant's teachings.  It's so cool to be
able to apply something you've just learned like that!  And jamming with
Chris Thomas King was definitely a special treat.  I can't think of another
circumstance when that might happen.

Grant showed us up close what a terrific harp player he is, both in the
course of our studies and on the festival's acoustic stage, which is
conveniently right across the street from the opera house.  One thing he
stresses from day one is tone.  And Grant has tone to the bone!  It's such a
joy to listen to him just a few feet away.  And, he helped us to achieve
better tone both through a number of tips and by analyzing our individual
tone.  He somehow detected that my tongue was negatively impacting my tone,
even though I wasn't aware of it.  He lived up to his promise at the outset
of camp, "If you learn nothing else, you will come away with better tone."
He showed us how to specifically practice tone as part of our regular
practice sessions (no hand effects whatever, long notes, etc.), something I
had never done before.  In one interesting exercise, Grant had us
incorporate at least one 3-beat rest into a solo.  Very instructional,
especially for those of us guilty of throwing everything we have at every
song we play (not mentioning any names...  ;). He also taught us several Big
Walter solos and some old traditional classics.  As I mentioned in my
previous tome, I was able to play one of them, "John Henry," on the open
stage at last week's Rocky Mountain Harp Fest.

The frosting on the cake of the camp was hearing Grant play his set on the
acoustic stage (all the camp instructors perform on the acoustic stage over
the course of the festival).  Stan Hirsch more than ably backed him on
guitar, and Grant simply shined.  Jeez, I envy his hand effects and
phrasing.  Fine singer and band leader, too.  His playing is so smooth and
seemingly effortless that it lulls you into a deep concentration of the
song, and then he suddenly grabs you with another killer phrase or even a
single well-placed note on the harp.  If I have one piece of advice for
those who don't already have it, do yourself a favor and pick up his CD,
pronto.  You will be smiling when you listen to it, I am certain!

http://www.grantdermody.com/CD.asp

It features Phil Wiggins, John Cephas, and a rare contribution from Joe
Filisko amongst other fine musicians.  You can't go wrong.  Just thank me
later.  :)

If anyone has any questions about the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival or
the associated Acoustic Blues Camp, please don't hesitate to contact me
off-list.  Really, you folks who are interested in acoustic blues are
missing out on a ~very~ special opportunity.  It's a rare pleasure to be
surrounded by 45-50 people who are just as fanatic about it as you are.  I'd
strongly encourage you to look into attending the camp next year.  Maybe we
can even get Grant back again!

Michelle