STRUNG TOGETHER
2023 SCHEDULE September 15-17
This year's Strung Together Music Jam Campout will be held on the coast of Searsport, Maine at award winning Searsport Shores Ocean Campground
FRIDAY
2-5 PM: Check-in, reception, & informal picking time.
Free to all: Introductory Old Time music session 3-5 PM for this session. Promises to be a great introduction, refresher, or warm-up session for Old Time Music. Get your groove on! Hosted by The Old Geezers Old Time Band.
5-6:30 PM: WELCOME (registration, orientation, etc) Hoping you can all arrive by this time. The wood fired pizza bar is open! You'll have your choice of veggie, cheese or meat pizza! $12/ pie recommended donation. Beverages available. Please sign up ahead of time so we can make enough fresh dough for everyone 🙂
6:30 PM: Opening Concert – Fred Coon Fred knows hundreds of songs and tunes all performed with his personal unique style on the five string banjo. He has spent a lifetime gathering the stories that make his tunes meaningful and relatable.
7PM: The Bluebirds. They perform a great set before getting everyone involved in the evening's music jam for all of the Strung Together Gang. A celebration of Old Time Music at its best!
8:30 PM: Small Group Jams Pick a spot in the center of things or seek a quiet spot to make music. Spaces will be identified on a map. Sit by the fire, make music, make friends, eat chips, and enjoy music by and with friends.
SATURDAY
8-9ish Fresh Baked Scones/ Waffles and Coffee in the Garden Kitchen
10-11:30 AM Bluegrass Mandolin Workshop ( Intermediate and up)
Skip Gorman is one of the leading teachers and players of Monroe-style mandolin in the country. He has taught bluegrass mandolin with Ronnie McCoury, Frank Wakefield, Mike Compton, Norman Blake, Chris Thile, Butch Baldissari, Mike Seeger, Barry Mitterhoff, Rhonda Vincent, and others at IBMA World of Bluegrass, European World of Bluegrass, Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival.
Skip has followed Monroe’s traditional fiddle style of mandolin playing for over 50 years. As an old-time fiddle player himself, Skip has captured the essence and beauty of Monroe’s playing on the mandolin-having sat with the master on several occasions.
This workshop allows you the opportunity to explore any aspect of bluegrass mandolin under the tuteledge of Skip. What an opportunity for all of you pickers.
10 AM Grey Larsen and Cindy Kallet Fiddling Workshop. Old Time Fiddle Tunes from Joe Dawson (Southern Indiana). Learn several of Joe's traditional tunes in detail, with his specific bowings and fingerings. Cindy will accompany Grey on guitar, for chord players.
10-12 AM Jams begin. Please check the marker board for what’s happening and where.
12 PM: Eating and Picking Contra Dance workshop with Willy Clemetson. Bring your lunch to this workshop so you can catch a few bites between tunes (it's okay, we're not singing anyway 🙂 If the weather is upon us we'll just put on the chili pot and share what we have for lunch!
1-2:30 pm Singing with others in a Band & Vocal Performance. Band workshop with the Bluebirds. Their expertise is putting out wonderful music that trigger happy feet tapping without getting in each others way of performing together.
1-2:30 PM Guitar Workshop: Exploring the highway on your fret board with Jim Hyland. Players will learn to identify recurring patterns to help draw a road map for the highway which resides in the center of the guitar neck
1-4 PM: Jam Sessions continue. Volunteer jam leaders will be on hand or feel free to begin your own. Plenty of space to work with others on particular songs as well.
1:00 Old Time Ukulele with Ando Anderson in the Recreation Hall
Get introduced to Old Time patterns, rhythm and melodies in this workshop with Ando.
Ando Anderson: My mother bought a ukulele on a family trip to Atlanta. The 7-hour drive was pretty stressful as three unruly bored brothers turned the backseat into a war zone. In addition to our battles this trip, we each learned to play “Five Foot Two” on the uke. My first experience with a stringed instrument!
2:30-4:00 PM Old Time Fiddle Workshop with Skip Gorman
Skip is deeply immersed in the fiddle styles of the American West, as well as its Celtic and Appalachian roots. He has presented Fiddle Workshops in a variety of settings both by himself and with well-known fiddlers, such as: Natalie MacMaster, Tom Sauber, David Greeley, Pete Sutherland, Rodney Miller, Joe Cormier, Tom Anderson, Eugene O’Donnell, James Kelly, and others- as well as countless hours in informal settings playing with legendary American fiddlers such as Kenny Baker and Tommy Jarrell, and in Ireland and Scotland with Johnny Dougherty, Aly Bain and Tommy Peoples. Among his earliest musical memories is witnessing the live performances of the elderly Texas fiddler, Eck Robertson, in the 1960s.
4 PM: Cocktail Music Hour with a group workshop: Southern Indiana songs from the repertoire of Lotus Dickey. Cinday and Grey teach some of these wonderful songs, both traditional and, if desired, some of Lotus’ originals. He was a prolific songwriter as well as a bearer of traditional songs of the region. (He was also a fine traditional fiddler and guitar player.)
5:30 Potluck Dinner Dance & Saturday Evening Coffee House. Dancing with leaders Willy Clemetson & Chrissy Fowler, followed by the Coffee House presented by the whole Strung Together crew. Please bring a food dish, a dessert item and/or beverage to to share with all.
7-8:30 PM: Saturday Evening Coffee House.
The players coffee house is always a blast. Sign up with new or familiar combinations to play up to two pieces. Coffee house followed by campfire and jam circles. Buildings and tent jamming spaces will be available throughout the evening in case it gets a bit chilly 🙂
SUNDAY
8-9ish Fresh Baked Scones and Coffee in the Garden Kitchen. All are invited to play Reveille on your harmonica, key of C.
8:30-9 AM- Sunday morning community sing with Mike and Suzy, in the round by the garden kitchen. Bring an instrument and/or voice.
9 A.M. Techniques Fiddlers Can Use to Spice up Tunes You Already Know w/ John Pranio.
John draws on decades of experience as a fiddler, banjo, and harmonica player at dances across Maine and around the country. John, his wife, Toki, and their friend Ted Sannella co-founded the much-loved North Whitefield Contra Dance.
9-12 PM: Jam tents open.
10 AM and On: Natural Dying with Garden Plants- Free workshop. Stop in between 10 and 2 PM.
10:00-11:30 AM Band Workshop with Darlin' Corey- Erica Brown, Matt Shipman, Kris Day
11:30 -1 PM Dinner on the Grill with Chef Patrick
12:00 PM Skip Gorman performs songs from the Old West followed by Darlin' Corey!
From the northern reach of the Appalachian Trail comes the musical trio Darlin’ Corey. Drawing on the many threads of North American folk music, their elegant harmonies are the beating heart of their sound, in both their original music and the traditional Franco-American, Old Time, and Bluegrass music they regularly showcase. In Darlin’ Corey’s singing and playing, you can feel the many years of dedication to these celebrated musical traditions.
Jams begin by 9 AM: The first 12 players are seated in a circle on chairs. Extra players or people that just want to observe are welcome to stand around the circle to listen in. Slow Jam and Fast Jam Tents are open to all. Players choice. Many of the playing sessions will be led by an old-time or bluegrass player. Anyone willing to teach or lead please get in touch.
Workshop suggested donation: $50-$75. Group workshop suggested donation: $25-30
Lock up storage room available for all instruments.
Other workshop possibilities include
Playing for contra-dancing A fun workshop focused on matching tunes to dances and/or general contra repertoire.
Meat & Potatoes-Old Time Tunes everyone should know (bring any instrument).
A sign-up board (time, space, topic) will be set up at registration for anyone willing to offer other workshops, wanting to partner with someone to learn a tune, or just to organize a jamming circle.