Lynn and I are 'recovering' from an intense weekend at the State Fair: on Friday we played in the Duet Contest and on Saturday I competed in the Guitar Flatpicking Contest (with Lynn as my accompanist). Friday turned out to be hard emotionally as we sang well, but didn't make the top five (we had placed third the last two years and so had some 'expectations'). Although we had a few people tell use 'we were robbed' (OK, one of them was our son's fiancee's father), I talked afterward with one of the people who helped tally up the scores (a volunteer not a judge): he said that we sounded really good but said the competition was 'fierce'. The up side is that we got lots of good compliments from fellow musicians including a member of Monroe Crossing (the 'premier' Bluegrass based in Minnesota).
We are really happy that Kathy Liners and Lincoln Potter (from Ivory Bridge) won - like us they have competed in the Duet Contest since its inception: they have been consistently in the top five but never took the top prize. On the 'promo' side, I passed out two or three Bob-&-Lynn cards ;-)
Saturday was more relaxing: the guitar field was as competitive as its ever been, even though Bill Liners, last year's champion, was taking the year off. The field was full, with a total of 17 competitors (last year there were 12 or so). It was fun seeing a lot of 'the usual suspects', but great to see a number of new faces (all of whom seemed to play really well).
There was one 'surprise' new competitor for us - 15 year old Austin Wahl is a 'shirttail' relative of Lynn: she shares an uncle with Austin's father Ned and we met them about a year ago after that uncle died (at age 90 or so). Ned and Austin have been in the Minnesota bluegrass scene and since we've met them have come to hear us at Dulono's. Austin is a great player especially since his focus is classical guitar (playing since age of 5). (Austin was 2nd in the youth category). Note: Austin's classical guitar teacher was in the audience and said the I had the best 'tone' of any of the players - I do strive for good tone, but playing a 1969 D28 helps. 1969 was the last year that D-28's were made with Brazilian Rosewood - makes a big difference in sound( and current $$ value).
Chris Silver was back after a couple years off and won the overall competition. Chris is a great musician and 'nailed' a piece that he had some problems with a couple of years ago. Clint Britzer, who is 15 years old, repeated as second overall. With a band mate from The Sawtooth Bluegrass band, he also placed second in the duet contest this year.
I drew the 'fourth' pick, so played my first two tunes early: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine went really well, but I started the 2nd tune, Ragtime Annie, a bit fast and although it wasn't quite a train wreck, the wheels went off the track more than a few times. Thus I was happy to place 2nd in the senior division, and really glad that Shirley Mauch Spanhanks took first. Over the past few years we've gotten to know Shirley and her husband Jerry from these contests (they both competed in the flatpicking contest this year and have participated in the duet contests as well). They are the founding members of the Blue Wolf Bluegrass Band.
Knowing that I wouldn't be in the final round, I was able to relax and enjoy the show; Lynn and I spent the rest of the afternoon with front-row seats! After the top five from the first round played the final round of tunes and the awards were handed out, Lynn and I put our guitars in the van and grabbed some 'supper' (OK, we each had a pork-chop-on-a-stick and a waffle cone). Adam Granger, the lead guitar judge, has a house close to the fair grounds and had invited all the duet and guitar competitors over for an after contest party. On our way back to the van we picked up some kettle corn as our contribution and made our way to Adam's.
There I jammed for a while with a rotating cast of musicians - David Tousley, and Katryn Conlin the Contest co-organizers, Lincoln Potter (co-winner of duet, 1st year competing in flat-pick), Shirley(new senior champ!) and 15 year-old Austin among others. (Austin more than held his own!)
Lynn kept her guitar in the case but got into some interesting conversations: including a fairly long one with Judy Larson, who with her husband Bill Hinckley have been part of the acoustic music scene in the twin cites since the 60s. Bill was also there (he was another flatpicking judge). I know him mainly as an old-timey kind of musician, but during the jam he played some old jazz standards.
It was a great way to unwind and finish off the day.
Finally, the results are posted here:
http://www.minnesotabluegrass.org/calendar/contest/2008.html.
(As of Labor Day, the duet results are up, but Guitar results are still pending).
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Prepping for the MBOTMA Duet and Guitar Contests at the MN State Fair (Cont')
Well, I was hoping to get back to this before the day before the contests, but...
We've been more or less rehearsing songs and tunes daily, usually catching the last speech or two of the Democratic Convention (we'll watch Obama tonight). Last night we started late, and didn't get through everything. I've been working from home and taking 'breaks' to practice. Lynn has finished changing her guitar strings and I will change mine later this afternoon.
For the Flatpicking Contest, you need to prepare a total of 4 tunes - 2 for the 1st round and 2 if you are in the final round of 5. Since I only made the final round in 2004, I usually use the '2nd' round tunes from the year before as my first round tunes. No exception this year: I am using arrangements of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine' and 'Ragtime Annie' for my first round selections: I've been working on them for over year since they were 2nd round picks last year. 2nd round tunes this year are 'Rounding the Horn' and 'Arkansas Traveler'.
I usually play a slower tune as the first tune, then pick up the tempo for the 2nd tune. First started doing this in 2004 (when I placed 4th overall).
The idea for flatpicking is to repeat the tune with different variations each time. This year I am just doing 3 variations for each tune - in the past, I've tried doing 4 for the faster tunes. Since there is a 5 minute limit for BOTH tunes, this means I am giving myself a bigger grace period (at least 30 seconds more).
At Carleton I took piano lessons from Mr. Nelson (who was also Lynn's teacher). One of the techniques he taught was to use a metronome - especially for fast passages: the idea was to start with a slow setting then gradually increase. I use the same technique for the flatpicking tunes, althought in truth, I usually don't start until a couple of weeks before the contest - this year was no exception. One thing metronome work gives you is the chance to go over the tune 6-8 times instead of once or twice.
The 1st round tunes seem comfortable - 2nd round tunes are still works-in-progress so if for some reason I make it to the top 5, I'll be a little rough. (It'll depend on who shows up and who chokes etc.). Last year, as I looked at the people signed up it was pretty clear that if they played well I didn't have a chance - I was a bit nervous and the good players didn't choke so once again I didn't have to worry about playing in the 2nd round.
Lynn does the accompanying on these so it's important that she gets comfortable too. Again, we'll both be a little rough if we do the 2nd round.
Hopefully, I'll post something after the contests, but that's all for now.
We've been more or less rehearsing songs and tunes daily, usually catching the last speech or two of the Democratic Convention (we'll watch Obama tonight). Last night we started late, and didn't get through everything. I've been working from home and taking 'breaks' to practice. Lynn has finished changing her guitar strings and I will change mine later this afternoon.
For the Flatpicking Contest, you need to prepare a total of 4 tunes - 2 for the 1st round and 2 if you are in the final round of 5. Since I only made the final round in 2004, I usually use the '2nd' round tunes from the year before as my first round tunes. No exception this year: I am using arrangements of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine' and 'Ragtime Annie' for my first round selections: I've been working on them for over year since they were 2nd round picks last year. 2nd round tunes this year are 'Rounding the Horn' and 'Arkansas Traveler'.
I usually play a slower tune as the first tune, then pick up the tempo for the 2nd tune. First started doing this in 2004 (when I placed 4th overall).
The idea for flatpicking is to repeat the tune with different variations each time. This year I am just doing 3 variations for each tune - in the past, I've tried doing 4 for the faster tunes. Since there is a 5 minute limit for BOTH tunes, this means I am giving myself a bigger grace period (at least 30 seconds more).
At Carleton I took piano lessons from Mr. Nelson (who was also Lynn's teacher). One of the techniques he taught was to use a metronome - especially for fast passages: the idea was to start with a slow setting then gradually increase. I use the same technique for the flatpicking tunes, althought in truth, I usually don't start until a couple of weeks before the contest - this year was no exception. One thing metronome work gives you is the chance to go over the tune 6-8 times instead of once or twice.
The 1st round tunes seem comfortable - 2nd round tunes are still works-in-progress so if for some reason I make it to the top 5, I'll be a little rough. (It'll depend on who shows up and who chokes etc.). Last year, as I looked at the people signed up it was pretty clear that if they played well I didn't have a chance - I was a bit nervous and the good players didn't choke so once again I didn't have to worry about playing in the 2nd round.
Lynn does the accompanying on these so it's important that she gets comfortable too. Again, we'll both be a little rough if we do the 2nd round.
Hopefully, I'll post something after the contests, but that's all for now.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Prepping for the MBOTMA Duet and Guitar Contests at the MN State Fair
MBOTMA has sponsored the Minnesota Flatpicking Guitar & Duet Championships at the Minnesota State Fair since 2003. From the beginning, Lynn and I have entered the Duet Contests and I've been in the Guitar contest (with Lynn accompanying). In a blog I wrote after the event last year I described some of the reasons I enter. Since I'm writing now a few days before the contests I thought I'd describe some of the ways we 'prep' for the event.
When we first started playing for the duet contests, Lynn and I would often learn new songs specifically for the contest: sometimes we'd be still memorizing words the week before and often playing it in front of people for the first time at the fair. After a particular shaky experience, we decided to use songs that we'd played for a while and had sung 'in performance' Of course, it helps that for the past few years we actually perform regularly. This improved 'comfort' level has probably helped us place in the top 5 the last couple of years. For the preliminary round this year we are doing our versions of 'East Viriginia Blues' and 'Bear Creek Blues'. These are described here. East Virginia has been one of our 'favorites' the last year and we've performed it many times. Bear Creek is newer, but we've been performing it since March (although the first time we played it at Dulono's it was a train wreck!). If we make it into the final round (top 5), we will do Lonesome Pine Special. We've been doing this for a number of years and played it once at the contest (but didn't place). Like many of our songs our arrangement has evolved over the years so it sounds quite a bit different (and hopefully better) than a few years back.
Since this is a duet contest, we like to sing songs that are 'full duet' on both verse and chorus. This eliminates some of the songs we really like, since the verses are solo. Thus far and including this year, I have sung the 'lead' while Lynn sings harmony. Although last year our final round number had Lynn on fiddle, we usually both play guitar. The songs need to be less than 4 minutes which has occasionally eliminated a song from consideration. We've found that trying to 'shorten' an arrangement usually doesn't work.
Although all the songs we are doing this year are in the Carter Family repertoire, Bear Creek is the only one directly based on their arrangement. For East Virginia Blues, we are heavily influenced by a Stanley Brothers version; Lonesome Pine I originally learned from a Hazel Dickens record (but our version is now considerably different). Beer Creek is both the 'newest' (to us) and trickiest song we do. The rhythm is 'crooked' and it is important that we both are ready to sing at the same time.
Our main prep for the contest is to keep singing the songs. We've also been listening to make sure our word usage is consistent (weepin' vs weeping) and that word timing is consistent, although as the harmony singer Lynn has gotten pretty good at following my variations. (But I still work at singing it the same way each time). We also focus on the instrumental introductions and endings. These songs all have instrumental breaks and it is important to sing the next verse in time (without an extra measure or two).
The state fair audience is about as big an audience as we play for (although playing at the Home Grown Kickoff was similar) and you are singing through a sound system without monitors. I remember the first year or two being thrown off by the amplification. Thus for the last few years I've set up the sound system in the living room so that we get used to the 'amplified' sound. I set things up last night with our 'farmers market' setup (portable amps), so tonight will be our first go with the mikes set up.
During the year Lynn and I 'rehearse' on Mondays. As the state fair approaches we add rehearsals and this week we will practice every night. We are set in how everything goes: at this point its the 'reps' that do the most good.
(More on Guitar in a later post).
When we first started playing for the duet contests, Lynn and I would often learn new songs specifically for the contest: sometimes we'd be still memorizing words the week before and often playing it in front of people for the first time at the fair. After a particular shaky experience, we decided to use songs that we'd played for a while and had sung 'in performance' Of course, it helps that for the past few years we actually perform regularly. This improved 'comfort' level has probably helped us place in the top 5 the last couple of years. For the preliminary round this year we are doing our versions of 'East Viriginia Blues' and 'Bear Creek Blues'. These are described here. East Virginia has been one of our 'favorites' the last year and we've performed it many times. Bear Creek is newer, but we've been performing it since March (although the first time we played it at Dulono's it was a train wreck!). If we make it into the final round (top 5), we will do Lonesome Pine Special. We've been doing this for a number of years and played it once at the contest (but didn't place). Like many of our songs our arrangement has evolved over the years so it sounds quite a bit different (and hopefully better) than a few years back.
Since this is a duet contest, we like to sing songs that are 'full duet' on both verse and chorus. This eliminates some of the songs we really like, since the verses are solo. Thus far and including this year, I have sung the 'lead' while Lynn sings harmony. Although last year our final round number had Lynn on fiddle, we usually both play guitar. The songs need to be less than 4 minutes which has occasionally eliminated a song from consideration. We've found that trying to 'shorten' an arrangement usually doesn't work.
Although all the songs we are doing this year are in the Carter Family repertoire, Bear Creek is the only one directly based on their arrangement. For East Virginia Blues, we are heavily influenced by a Stanley Brothers version; Lonesome Pine I originally learned from a Hazel Dickens record (but our version is now considerably different). Beer Creek is both the 'newest' (to us) and trickiest song we do. The rhythm is 'crooked' and it is important that we both are ready to sing at the same time.
Our main prep for the contest is to keep singing the songs. We've also been listening to make sure our word usage is consistent (weepin' vs weeping) and that word timing is consistent, although as the harmony singer Lynn has gotten pretty good at following my variations. (But I still work at singing it the same way each time). We also focus on the instrumental introductions and endings. These songs all have instrumental breaks and it is important to sing the next verse in time (without an extra measure or two).
The state fair audience is about as big an audience as we play for (although playing at the Home Grown Kickoff was similar) and you are singing through a sound system without monitors. I remember the first year or two being thrown off by the amplification. Thus for the last few years I've set up the sound system in the living room so that we get used to the 'amplified' sound. I set things up last night with our 'farmers market' setup (portable amps), so tonight will be our first go with the mikes set up.
During the year Lynn and I 'rehearse' on Mondays. As the state fair approaches we add rehearsals and this week we will practice every night. We are set in how everything goes: at this point its the 'reps' that do the most good.
(More on Guitar in a later post).
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MBOTMA Festival (still more)
Well, after 3 days of work, last week's festival is fading into the past, but just a few more notes before I let go.
As mentioned I like the fact that this is both an old-time and bluegrass festival: from going to the Bluff Country Gathering and other old-time events, Lynn and I have gotten to know many folk in the local old-time community. I noticed that any time an 'old-time' planned played, we saw our old-time friends - we really get a chance to go to any square dances, but at the Cajun dance saw a fair sampling as well.
At Mike Seeger's showcases and main stage appearances I started noticing the same set of young men (in their early twenties) - they were completely engaged - taking pictures and videos. Good to see that the old-time traditions will continue.
The Monroe Crossing sets were very engaging - they tour a lot regionally, but I haven't really seen them that often. They are among the best at using the single mike setup (but wisely have a separate mike for the guitar). I caught the last part of their 'song-arranging' showcase - where they started to put together a song that they 'knew' but had never arranged. I was amazed when they performed it an hour or so later on the main stage - Lisa had a sheet with the words, but otherwise you'd never know it was only hours old...
Since Lynn and I have started to 'play out', we have spent most of our time at festivals listening to the bands (or hopefully performing like we did a year ago at the Homegrown Kickoff). We set up our VW Camper-van on a reserved site - we have electricity but are far away from most of the jamming happening in the 'rough' camping area. However, on Friday we ran into a few friends and figured out where they were gonna jam later by trekking to their campsite Saturday afternoon (find it first in daylight - El Ranchero Manana is huge). So Saturday night we walked to their site and jammed until 2:30/3:00 AM. Great time playing with folks I've played with and some new ones. What I liked was that everyone was a good musician without being 'intimidating'.
Since the festival, Lynn and I spent some time Monday figuring out which cuts to include on our CD (this is our rehearsal night - we were too tired to play). Since the duet and guitar contest is coming up in a couple weeks, we are gonna try to get some extra practice in. We're out of town again this weekend, so we're shooting for tomorrow (Thursday). Our fall schedule is getting pretty full, so we will continue to be active in the local music scene!
As mentioned I like the fact that this is both an old-time and bluegrass festival: from going to the Bluff Country Gathering and other old-time events, Lynn and I have gotten to know many folk in the local old-time community. I noticed that any time an 'old-time' planned played, we saw our old-time friends - we really get a chance to go to any square dances, but at the Cajun dance saw a fair sampling as well.
At Mike Seeger's showcases and main stage appearances I started noticing the same set of young men (in their early twenties) - they were completely engaged - taking pictures and videos. Good to see that the old-time traditions will continue.
The Monroe Crossing sets were very engaging - they tour a lot regionally, but I haven't really seen them that often. They are among the best at using the single mike setup (but wisely have a separate mike for the guitar). I caught the last part of their 'song-arranging' showcase - where they started to put together a song that they 'knew' but had never arranged. I was amazed when they performed it an hour or so later on the main stage - Lisa had a sheet with the words, but otherwise you'd never know it was only hours old...
Since Lynn and I have started to 'play out', we have spent most of our time at festivals listening to the bands (or hopefully performing like we did a year ago at the Homegrown Kickoff). We set up our VW Camper-van on a reserved site - we have electricity but are far away from most of the jamming happening in the 'rough' camping area. However, on Friday we ran into a few friends and figured out where they were gonna jam later by trekking to their campsite Saturday afternoon (find it first in daylight - El Ranchero Manana is huge). So Saturday night we walked to their site and jammed until 2:30/3:00 AM. Great time playing with folks I've played with and some new ones. What I liked was that everyone was a good musician without being 'intimidating'.
Since the festival, Lynn and I spent some time Monday figuring out which cuts to include on our CD (this is our rehearsal night - we were too tired to play). Since the duet and guitar contest is coming up in a couple weeks, we are gonna try to get some extra practice in. We're out of town again this weekend, so we're shooting for tomorrow (Thursday). Our fall schedule is getting pretty full, so we will continue to be active in the local music scene!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
MBOTMA Festival (cont')
For me, one of the highlights of this year's festival was the old-time Banjo Showcase on Friday afternoon. I don't play the banjo, but both Riley Baugus and Mike Seeger were part of it. Riley opened by singing a haunting melody with his banjo (danged if I can remember the title). After this, Mike Seeger said ... 'maybe I'll just do an instrumental'. As the showcase went on Riley would mention a banjo player that influenced him and then comment that Mike had actually got to meet and play with his 'banjo hero'. (Riley is in his 30's I'd guess, Mike Seeger is over 70).
Mike Seeger was recovering from a cold, so his voice was a little rugged (he actually tuned his instruments a half step flat to accommodate). I think I caught most of his main stage and showcase appearances. I especially liked the showcase on 'Early Southern Guitar Sounds' - I had already heard the CD , but it was good to see him demonstrate the styles. He is working on a DVD so I'll probably get that as well. (We bought a couple of his CD's that I didn't already have).
In the 'bluegrass' side of things, I enjoyed the Brennen Leigh set quite a bit - since she has local roots, I had seen her name for the last few years but never got a chance to hear her. Nice alto voice and the songs were good.
Another group I had looked forward to seeing was the Stairwell sisters. For their first set, the sound was a little off, so I wasn't 'blown away'; however, the more I heard them the more engaged I became. They played an unamplified set in the marketplace tent at Saturday Super time. For the last 2 numbers I finally got a place under the tent and I really appreciated hearing them in the real old time way - no electronics between you and the music.
I could write more and may post another blog another day, but for now, that's all ;-)
Mike Seeger was recovering from a cold, so his voice was a little rugged (he actually tuned his instruments a half step flat to accommodate). I think I caught most of his main stage and showcase appearances. I especially liked the showcase on 'Early Southern Guitar Sounds' - I had already heard the CD , but it was good to see him demonstrate the styles. He is working on a DVD so I'll probably get that as well. (We bought a couple of his CD's that I didn't already have).
In the 'bluegrass' side of things, I enjoyed the Brennen Leigh set quite a bit - since she has local roots, I had seen her name for the last few years but never got a chance to hear her. Nice alto voice and the songs were good.
Another group I had looked forward to seeing was the Stairwell sisters. For their first set, the sound was a little off, so I wasn't 'blown away'; however, the more I heard them the more engaged I became. They played an unamplified set in the marketplace tent at Saturday Super time. For the last 2 numbers I finally got a place under the tent and I really appreciated hearing them in the real old time way - no electronics between you and the music.
I could write more and may post another blog another day, but for now, that's all ;-)
Monday, August 11, 2008
MBOTMA Festival
We're just back from the MBOTMA August Festival at El Rancho Mañana in Richmond, MN (about 90 miles North-west of Mpls). We missed last year's festival to attend my uncle's 65th Wedding Anniversary and had to miss this spring's Homegrown Kickoff (where we were scheduled to perform) because of Lynn's mother's failing health. So we came early on Thursday afternoon and stayed as late on Sunday as we ever have (and got caught in the coming-back-from-up-north traffic on the way home).
We didn't perform but got a chance to hear most of the groups on the schedule. Lynn and I are mostly focused on old-time music these days, so we got to as many of the old-time performances and 'showcases' as we could. (Neither of us attended a workshop this year). The national acts were The Stairwell Sisters, The Dirk Powell Band, and Mike Seeger. The members of the Dirk Powell band also performed as the Cajun group Balfa Toujours. Local old-time groups we saw included The Ditch Lilies, Poor Benny, and The Roe Family Singers.
A great thing about this festival is that it is both Bluegrass and Old-time, so we also saw some great national and local bluegrass groups. Cadillac Sky and Mountain Heart are 'cutting edge' groups while Michael Cleveland and Grasstowne have a more traditional sound. It was fun to see Monroe's Crossing, which is Minnesota based and probably Minnesota's only 'full-time' bluegrass band as well as Brennen Leigh who now lives in Austin, but has North Dakota, Minnesota roots. Ivory Bridge, Sawtooth, Morgan's Run and Bag o' Dirt Band were the other local groups we saw.
When I first started coming to this Festival in the early 90's I was mostly a bluegrass fan; however, I would usually listen to the old time music as well. Now I mostly come for the old-time music, but I really like the fact that I can keep up with the bluegrass side of things as well.
That's all for today, hoping to post a few more things during the week while it's still fresh.
We didn't perform but got a chance to hear most of the groups on the schedule. Lynn and I are mostly focused on old-time music these days, so we got to as many of the old-time performances and 'showcases' as we could. (Neither of us attended a workshop this year). The national acts were The Stairwell Sisters, The Dirk Powell Band, and Mike Seeger. The members of the Dirk Powell band also performed as the Cajun group Balfa Toujours. Local old-time groups we saw included The Ditch Lilies, Poor Benny, and The Roe Family Singers.
A great thing about this festival is that it is both Bluegrass and Old-time, so we also saw some great national and local bluegrass groups. Cadillac Sky and Mountain Heart are 'cutting edge' groups while Michael Cleveland and Grasstowne have a more traditional sound. It was fun to see Monroe's Crossing, which is Minnesota based and probably Minnesota's only 'full-time' bluegrass band as well as Brennen Leigh who now lives in Austin, but has North Dakota, Minnesota roots. Ivory Bridge, Sawtooth, Morgan's Run and Bag o' Dirt Band were the other local groups we saw.
When I first started coming to this Festival in the early 90's I was mostly a bluegrass fan; however, I would usually listen to the old time music as well. Now I mostly come for the old-time music, but I really like the fact that I can keep up with the bluegrass side of things as well.
That's all for today, hoping to post a few more things during the week while it's still fresh.
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