Button Box Workshops

[Doug Barr]

Hi All. I took the day off from work and I'm off to MA to the Button Box workshops. Hope to see some of you there tonight at the open house or at the workshops tomorrow. Doug Barr Staten Island NY

[David Barnert]

Greetings from the Button Box Concertina Event, or whatever it's called. Yes, Doug Barr made it.

 

Although it doesn't officially begin until tomorrow morning, the BB had an "open house" this evening that included a tour of their production shop, munchies, hugs, and a revolving jam session. Oddly enough, when the jam session started there were five of us in the room and all were packing Hayden Duets. The session soon expanded to include many English and Anglo concertinas, a couple of accordions, a recorder or two, and my GLO (Guitar-Like Object).

 

I'm told there are about 60 registered for the workshop tomorrow. More later, although it will probably be Sunday evening before I can post again.

 

I took one picture. Here's Doug Creighton, manager of the Button Box, giving the tour. In the background (arms crossed) is Dan Worrall, who came up from Texas (you may remember his posts here about the Concertina workshop in Palestine, Texas two weeks ago).

 

 

 

Edited to change "Monday" to "Sunday." With today off and concertina stuff today and tomorrow, my timing is off by a day. I keep thinking it's already Saturday.

Edited April 16, 2005 by David Barnert

[Ken_Coles]

Sorry I missed the open house - I really wanted to see the repair shop - but I didn't get out of work until 1 PM Friday, and I had a 9-hour drive to Holyoke. See y'all today.

[bellowbelle]

Aha, I did find this thread, Dave!

 

I am home from the Saturday concert. It was absolutely great and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

...Too tired to say a whole lot else right now, though...must go to bed!

[David Barnert]

Finally, some time to put my thoughts together. Sorry about the quality of the pictures. They were all taken with my cell-phone. No flash, no zoom, and only a third of a megapixel (640 x 480).

 

Saturday morning's events got off to a slightly delayed start ("the food's here, but the registration materials are on the way"). Gave us time to admire the magnificent Tiffany window in the west wall of the chapel.

By the time the paperwork and necessary announcements were done, it was 10:30 (we were scheduled to start the first workshop at 10). So, essentially, it just meant 30 minutes less for lunch, later.

 

There were three workshop periods, one before lunch and two after. I cannot speak about the workshops I didn't attend. My first period was with John Roberts, "Singing with the Concertina." John could do this in his sleep, of course. While much of what he said was Anglo-specific, it wasn't all, and he even picked up an English and did some impressive work with it.

Two quotes I couldn't resist taking down. One was the stereotype I was accused of in this forum last week: "One of the things that's easy on the English Concertina is melody against a drone." The 2nd quote is this: "That low F note is the primary reason to use a 30 key Anglo rather than a 20 key. It's worth the added expense just for that note." I thought it was cute.

 

Lunch at the Black Sheep with old friends and new. Then back to the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse after feeding the parking meter for Round Two. Jody Kruskal's "Composition and New Tunes" workshop.

(Here's Jody playing Air Piano)

Surprisingly sparsely attended (5 or 6 of us). Much talk about what to think about while writing a tune, less about how to actually go about doing it (probably no way to talk about that). Jody played several of his own tunes and we began to write a tune together from a fragment that Jody had thought up while walking. It started out as a Jig, but was in the process of becoming a waltz when time ran out and we didn't have a chance to finish it.

 

Then on to John's "Performance Integration" workshop. John had begun the day saying he had no idea what that meant and proved it at the session. But watching John in action is always a valuable and entertaining learning experience, and he did not disappoint. We also had a chance to hear each other perform. Here's a shot from that session.

Quoth John (after holding this pose for quite some time): "New bellows in 1978."

 

Dinner at the Panda with more friends. Then back to the parking lot with more quarters and thence for the evening concert. I found Bellowbelle (who had not been at the workshops) and sat with her. Jody, Frank Edgley, and John (three of the most different Anglo players you could imagine) each played a solo set. Jody with his magical singing voice and stage presence had us all singing along, culminating with a silly number featuring a kazoo-like gadget around his neck. Frank, backed up by Laila Feingold on DADGAD guitar, brought us to Ireland and an evening in a smoky pub. John sang favorites from his work with Tony Barrand.

 

There had been talk here on the forum of some playing after the concert (and for which Bellowbelle had brought her concertina, but nobody seemed sure if or where it was going to happen (we had to vacate the UUM), and as I had early plans here this morning, I didn't hang around to find out (although I would happily have stayed an hour or so if there were a definite plan). An hour and a half drive had me home at midnight.

 

My own take on the day was that the workshops (at least the ones I attended) were less valuable than the chance to convene with all the other players (including the instructors), and I wish there had been more unstructured time for that kind of thing (as there was the previous evening, see above. I suspect very few folks came away from the workshops feeling that they had learned something concrete that they could actually use.

 

I've been to the Squeeze-In every September since the 2nd or 3rd one (1990?). I'm not sure I'll be making this a new yearly habit as well. I'll certainly get back, but maybe not for 16 years in a row.

________

Edited to get the pictures placed correctly, which you can't do in "preview" mode.

Edited April 18, 2005 by David Barnert

[Animaterra]

Thanks for the narrative, Dave! I sure wish I coulda been there. It was the weekend of my big concert, and I just couldn't have done all the driving and playing and been home by 5 with enough energy for the concert on Saturday.

 

But I thought of you all, and hope there'll be another one!

[Mark Evans]

Thank you very much David.

 

By 10:30 I was in the opening salvo of the "Development of Opera". As 11:00 arrived we came to the Castrati where I stayed twisting them in the wind until high noon. Perhaps the powers that be will think twice before asking me to step in for a prima donna colleague who has decided to make a point.

 

I was thorough but knowingly naughty. They wanted Verdi and Puccini...I gave them Farinelli and Senesino . The premise of my lecture was "Where'd ya come from, where'd ya go, where'd ya come from Cotton Eyed Joe". They were good sports and want me to take them to what should be a very fine presentaion of Dideo and Aeneas on the 30th by Emmanuel Music. I was pleased and suprised.

 

Your report is very interesting to me. I would have been dissapointed had there not been opportunities to play and talk with other squeezers....alot! (as Forrest Gump would say)

 

As a first timer at NEFFA I was dissapointed at the lack of what a Bluegrasser would refer to as "parking lot picking". Some of these cats never even make it to the stage area. They just move from one camp site to another and play until they fall over. Best way to get to know folks!

 

I am coming to the Squeeze-In and I hope there will be ALOT of playing, hopefully so much that when I get home I won't want to pick up my box for at least 12 hours!

 

Thank you for the cell phone pictures too.

[David Barnert]

I am coming to the Squeeze-In and I hope there will be ALOT of playing, hopefully so much that when I get home I won't want to pick up my box for at least 12 hours!

You will not be disappointed. This was a very different thing from the Squeeze-In.

[Ken_Coles]

I suspect very few folks came away from the workshops feeling that they had learned something concrete that they could actually use.

 

I've been to the Squeeze-In every September since the 2nd or 3rd one (1990?). I'm not sure I'll be making this a new yearly habit as well. I'll certainly get back, but maybe not for 16 years in a row.

________

Edited to get the pictures placed correctly, which you can't do in "preview" mode.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

For all of you out there, it is worth noting that Dr. Barnert is musically very astute and a quick study. The brightest students are a challenge to any teacher, David!

 

Seriously, I can only speak for myself -- it was valuable for me to spend some time with John Roberts, as I am at the advanced beginner level for English-style playing on anglo, and he gave me a lot to chew on, in spite of the endless noodling by some people in class that made it hard to hear what he was doing at times. I also went to the parts playing hour with Bob Snope and had great fun, since I am lucky to be able to sight-read simple printed music fairly well.

[Helen]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to give your feedback.

 

Sounds like everyone got something out of it whether in the workshops or with other players.

 

As this is the first one, feedback might help to structure number two.

 

Helen

[Richard Morse]

It's now a few days after plus our post-event organizers meeting... and thought I'd like to give you a report from the "inside".

 

First off, the NCW was quite a learning experience - and not only concertina-wise (though I did get in some of that too). This is a very different event from our NESI, and looking back to the beginnings of that one - remember only NOW just how difficult it was to get it started and working well. The NCW is such a different thing, in a new place, time, focus, etc. that it isn't surprising that we've got some kinks yet to work out.

 

I thought that the Friday open house was a lot of fun. About 20 some people showed up through out the evening to check out where and how we made our concertinas, socialized some, jammed some, munchied some. A low-key social event. Unfortunately we didn't plan on folks wanting to buy stuff and so weren't prepared to do sales and repairs stuff.... a lesson for next year!

 

We got off to a late start Saturday morning due to last minute things taking longer than expected to do, locate, make, etc. Even little things like finding an extension cord for the coffee machine took and inordinately long time! Parking was a particularly thorny issue as the lot that was recommended to us to use unbeknownst to us took only coins! I had assumed all centralized parking lot machines took bills. Many of us spent time hunting down a store willing to cash a few bucks.

 

The Meeting House where the event took place seemed to work out okay for the class sessions and very nicely for the concert. It's unfortunate that we had to hoof it across the street for one of the class locations, but it was a minor bump in the road which we won't have to deal with next year as it's clear that we'll be needing a much more commodious space.

 

I thought that the evening's concert turned out well all the way around. The hall was pleasantly filled with about 80 people (including 55 workshop participants) and Jody, Frank and John did what they do best. Our Bob was an admirable MC as well. We hope to be able to still fit the concert into this hall next year!

 

This first NCW was certainly well attended - we had 52 people show up for it! One of the problems with this being the first time was that we needed to be conservative in our offerings and planning as we couldn't be sure of the response. One of the results of that is that there wasn't a full range of types of music, technique, repertoire and experience level for everyone for every class period.

 

It's now clear that the interest/support is there, and already for next year we're looking into having several more instructors with 20-30 workshop classes. Some would be consecutive continuous classes and many would be much more narrowly ability and type focused (like ear-training and slow tunes for beginning anglo players only).

 

So much to do! So much done! I was soooooo tired come the day! The I/B Hayden class was my responsibility for felt came off as somewhat disjointed. I had spent weeks preparing for it and had a good agenda and a lot of materials ready - yet still not everything I wanted. Beyond that, *I* wasn't very together due to all the prep and running around I had to do in organizing the event, dealing with last minute stuff, working out accommodations and transport for staff....

 

My second period was taking in Jody's Composition and New Tunes class which was interesting but slow to get going. In a blink we'd run overtime just when we were getting somewhere (crafting a new tune). I can imagine that if we were able to continue for another hour we'd really be getting into the "how" of tune creation and in intricacies of what makes them (and parts of them) work better. I can see spending all 3 sessions just doing this. Maybe next year?

 

My third period was Slow Tunes. There were so many people signed up for this class that we split into two with me taking the beginner end to focus on techniques of picking up tunes by ear and working through some slowly, and Bob doing more advanced tune learning plus some parts playing. As it was, my class should have been further split into rank beginners and beginners. Picking up a simple tune is hard for anyone still in the throughs of working out basic fingering. What I hadn't thought of was that there could be all 3 systems of boxes there (duh! ) so the tunes I had selected as being very regular and simple were in lousy *keys* (like D or G) for beginners on 20-button C/G or beginners on English, both who would have found tunes in C to be easier. Live and learn! We did manage to get through a single tune plus a lot of similar tunes in handouts to try later.

 

So why is my tone here not more upbeat? There was a lot that could have been done better. Probably the biggest thing is that we were so focused on this being a *learning* event that we didn't give a lot of attention to the social end of things. There wasn't much time for socializing/jamming before, between, or after the workshop sessions. I had imagined that like people would gravitate into groups at area pubs after the concert and/or get together the next morning before heading off, but there didn't even seem to be enough time to work even that out.

 

Next year we'll split up the organizational, accommodations, instructor, etc. tasks better, have BBox staff geared up for sales and repairs on the Open ouse night (not to detract from the socializing and jamming!), have the set-up kinks worked out (coffee on time!), more choice and more focused workshop classes, and a dedicated after-concert thing as a wrap up that we can all carouse at (most likely a pub with several back rooms). We'll also tighten up the accommodations things with a short list of suggested places so that folks can be near to the event *and* each other (for meals and a possible Sunday morning jam before heading out?).

 

I hope to see many of you returning for the next year's NCW - as well as at this fall's NESI!

[Jim Besser]

So why is my tone here not more upbeat? There was a lot that could have been done better. Probably the biggest thing is that we were so focused on this being a *learning* event that we didn't give a lot of attention to the social end of

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Considering that it was the first try, I thought it was well done. Extra jamming/socializing time is always nice, but this was billed as a learning workshop, not a general gathering, and that's what most of us came for.

 

My only suggestion: have some classes aimed at specific skill levels. There was too much of a mix in my sessions. Jody's workshop on "playing the whole anglo" was really good, but would have been much better broken into two sessions, one for beginners in this style, one for people who already knew the basics. Ditto John Roberts on English style; he necessarily had to aim his teaching at rank beginners.

 

The instructors also have to be a little more assertive. Ken was right on when he said the Roberts session was difficult because participants kept noodling when John was trying to demonstrate something. Jody was very assertive in telling people to stop playing and start listening.

 

Parking wasn't a problem for me because we stayed at the gorgeous and very convenient Amherst Inn, just a few blocks away. Highly recommended.

 

The meeting house was fine , despite the limited and poorly placed bathroom facilities.

[Chris Timson]

Probably the biggest thing is that we were so focused on this being a *learning* event that we didn't give a lot of attention to the social end of things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's a lesson that Witney still hasn't learned.

 

Chris

[Richard Morse]

Probably the biggest thing is that we were so focused on this being a *learning* event that we didn't give a lot of attention to the social end of things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's a lesson that Witney still hasn't learned.

Chris, you guys should really come the NESI - it's quite the unbridled social debauchery....

[Frank Edgley]

I'd like to add that I had a great time! The hours of classes passed like a flash , and before I knew it the day was done. Thanks to Richard for inviting me to teach and be part of the concert, and thanks to Doug and his wife for allowing me to be a guest in their home.

[bellowbelle]

So why is my tone here not more upbeat? There was a lot that could have been done better. Probably the biggest thing is that we were so focused on this being a *learning* event that we didn't give a lot of attention to the social end of things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Considering that it was the first try, I thought it was well done. Extra jamming/socializing time is always nice, but this was billed as a learning workshop, not a general gathering, and that's what most of us came for.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I meant to add my 2cents a while ago but I'm just now getting here....

 

I only attended the concert, but, as I've already said somewhere else on the board, I thought that was great.

 

As for the 'social' end of things, well, for me, seeing another human being and actually speaking words beyond 'hello' or 'hi' -- is just about a PARTY!!!

 

I have no social life. In a way, that's okay. I don't care. But, in other words, I feel no pressure to jam for hours, or even an hour, with another musician. Of course, I am probably not typical, and I have to do other things that demand my time and attention (...may not actually GET my time and attention, but...).

 

It's not that I only go to any concertina events just for learning -- though that always seems to take place, if I keep my ears open and they're working okay (I am sometimes a bit deaf on my right side, as a matter of fact!). But, just letting you know, I consider it socializing just to BE at the event or concert, and enjoy what conversation or musical exchange happens to take place.

 

I guess maybe I am less anxious about having a 'healthy' social life these days than I probably was years ago (I'm 45 now, and my birthday is TODAY), because...um...oh, well, I've sat here trying to figure out how to say the rest of this, but I think I'll quit now. If you really want me to go on and on about it, let me know and I will...

 

Anyway, I don't ever expect to be much more sociable than I presently am, which involves a circle of potted plants to talk to more often than a circle of friends, but I l like dotting the years with a few visits to some concertina functions, and visits to concertina.net of course.

[Dan Worrall]

I enjoyed the workshop, and very much enjoyed meeting some new concertina folks. I probably won the prize for traveling the furthest, from Texas; the workshop meshed with several other things we wished to do on this trip, so it was a catalyst but not our only reason to travel up to delightful Yankee country.

 

My recommendations to make this an even better event in the future would be as follows:

1) Segment the classes by experience level (I agree with Jim's comments).

2) Put a cap on attendance in any one clasee at about 10 (too many people in John Roberts' classes, and the fact that it was held in a very large church room, helped cause the lack of focus just as much as the insensitive noodling).

3) Consider extending the length of the workshop. It is not really worth a long drive to attend a workshop of six hours total duration. A ninety minute segment was not enough time to work out even one fully chorded tune with anyone, given the mix of experience levels, and the need for introductions and all, and the instructors were well worth much more time! The Willie Clancy School's one full week of tuition may be a bit much for many, but two or three days....say a long weekend, with several class sessions for any one type of playing with a particular instructor...would really allow some in depth learning.

4) If the workshop is of that kind of duration, the socializing will tend to take care of itself with meals and off time. I too would have liked more time to meet new friends.

 

All in all, though, it was a very good first try. I'm not sure I'll attend again, given the distance, but I did enjoy it!