# Music by Genre > Old-Time, Roots, Early Country, Cajun, Tex-Mex >  oldtime mandolin workshop ideas?

## mandolirius

I've been conscripted into giving an oldtime mandolin workshop. Fortunately, it's not until April 20 so I have lots of time to prepare. 

What ideas do folks around here have for a two-hour presentation on oldtime mandolin? I'd like to teach at least a couple of tunes in the course of the workshop and am hoping to be able to incorporate some technique ideas as part of teaching the tunes.

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## Mike Black

It's always good to go over old-time rhythm playing compared to bluegrass chop chord rhythm playing.   You can probably incorporate that in the tunes that you teach.

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## Jon Hall

I've taught a couple of workshops and found that the biggest challenge was that the attendees were playing at different skil levels. You have to play a song or progression with the group and determine what skil levels are present. You might have to teach at different levels during the two hour workshop. Beginners are more focused on their chording and noting but more advanced players often want help with their alternate picking, rhythm and tremolo. 

Chord variations are very helpful to novices since they often play 2 finger chords on the first 3 frets.

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## Jim Garber

Cover the history of the mandolin in old time music. I would also include some mention of the prominent players and i would include early brother duets including the Monroes which many people consider to still be old time or at least pre-bluegrass. 

Then I could also cover a good sampling of tunes including straight-ahead reels and breakdowns, rags, bluesy tunes from the black tradition and waltzes. 

In addition to so,me of the techniques mentioned above, i would also include how the mandolin fits in to the standard old time string band, for instance, does it play pretty close to the fiddle line, play harmony at times or play some chordal backup and how it works if there are vocals in a tune.

You mentioned that his is a presentation so I am not sure how much one-on-one teaching you will need to do. In that case you may be over some players' heads and under others'. Sounds like it would be more of an overview in any case and you cannot really teach everyone equally in such a situation.

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## Charlieshafer

Do you know what skill level yet? That'll make a difference as to how I might structure it..

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## mandolinlee

mandolirius - 
TWO hours? Wow that's a long time. You say it's a presentation, does that mean sort of a lecture/demonstration type of presentation or is it a "class" type workshop where you will be teaching tunes, chords etc? In either case, my suggestion would be to recruit a rhythm player; a guitar, banjo or even another mandolin player. This second player will help your playing sound its best, plus he/she can answer questions and help keep the peace.
Good luck and we'll be waiting for April 21 to hear how it went.
Enjoy.
Lee

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## mandolirius

Thanks for the responses. Some good thoughts so far.

Jim, do you have a good source for the history of mandolin in old time music?

Charlie, I don't know the skill level and might not until the workshop begins. As someone else said, the skill level will likely be all over the place. I don't expect there will be much, if any, one on one teaching. An overview is likely the way I'll go.

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## Caleb

I've been to a few workshops at festivals and every time the folks attending were at the beginner level (more advanced players are in the jam sessions).  I'd keep it very basic: cover the parts of the mandolin, different pick/string combos/options, basic 2-finger chords, position to comfortably hold mandolin, etc.  I'd also pick a simple tune, say, a waltz for everyone to play.  Also, don't forget to print up some music for the folks to take home and practice, as well as links to Mando Cafe and other great sites.   Mandolin Cafe stickers would be a cool memento too.  
 :Smile:

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## Jim Garber

> Jim, do you have a good source for the history of mandolin in old time music?


No, but give me a few minutes and I will write one.  :Smile: 

Seriously, let me think on that one. Maybe someone else has a clue.

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## JeffD

I would spend some time concentrating on how OT playing of a tune differs from BG, and what you would do, or not do, to get a more old timey sound. I am assuming, perhaps not correctly, that the audience is familiar with BG mandolin playing to some extent.

So for example, no chop.

Another would be a de-emphasis on the V7 chords and progressions. I-IV-V is fine, but the V7 really is a more bluegrass and blues thing.

One of the things I love about much of the OT music is that a lot of it predates or is less influenced by blues progressions. Our culture is saturated with the blues, so much so that we don't hear it any more. Blues is like garlic, its great, but its so strong it can over power the cilantro. A piece is often considered corny or lame by those saturated with modern music, because it lacks the blues influence. Thats the stuff I love.

Another is unison playing and avoiding the temptation to go off and improvise. Decorating and ornamenting a tune are great, but keep it subtle. Going off the reservation is playing an OT tune in a bluegrass way.

Other things you could think of that characterize OT playing differentiated from BG mandolin.

<Before the fire storm let me say that I am not saying its not good when you improvise, or when you blues it up or when you chop, it can be good it can be great. Its just not old timey. Pet peave of mine I suppose, but it irks me when someone plays an old time tune in a more modern way, and still calls it OT. Call it a jazz riff on OT if you want, I will clap and enjoy it. But don't call it OT.>

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Jim P.

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## JeffD

> No, but give me a few minutes and I will write one. 
> 
> Seriously, let me think on that one. Maybe someone else has a clue.


Let me tell you what I was told in an OT mandolin workshop. You can agree or not, but its interesting.

The fiddle and the banjo in OT compliment each other perfectly. The fiddle has everyting the banjo lacks and the banjo has everything the fiddle needs. You are walking up to this completely whole perfect OT machine, mandolin in hand. What do you think you are going to add? Well first off all, don't detract. Do no harm...

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## Caleb

JeffD: "I would spend some time concentrating on how OT playing of a tune differs from BG..."

Excellent point. Probably the most fundamental thing in all reality.

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## Charlieshafer

OK, here's what I'd do if I had ten minutes to put it together. 

Over-all goal: You don't have time to teach people amazing things, and with the variety in skill levels, it'll be tough to do much more than lead a semi-educational jam session. I'd actually accentuate arranging, where everyone can pitch in with ideas, simply teaching the tunes so there's a common point to jump off of.

First, if people really need to know the short-answer difference between old-time and bluegrass is that one can be a lot sloppier, the precision of bluegrass just isn't necessary. Like the old story about the difference between Irish and Scots fiddling (no one scream now, just repeating someone else's line) for Scots fiddling, you need to actually be able to play. Also, the obvious "old-time is for small-group playing or cranking away at dance halls. Most contra-dance music is based on old-time tunes. With bluegrass, you're either on the stage or sitting and listening, nothing in between" 

History regarding the mandolin? See what Jim Garber comes up with, it's got to be better than fact. But, it's always been interesting to me that the old-time string bands are a lot more all-encompassing as far as instruments; cellos, accordions, horns, whatever it takes to make big noise. So, in old-time, where the story and the dance/drive are king, making instrumentation less critical (fiddles and banjos are just loud and portable, making them a great choice), in bluegrass the mandolin is the Main Man.

An accompanist will most certainly help, but I'd actually go for a bass player. With the mandolin, you have a slightly unusual beast in that you'll be teaching both rhythm and fiddle tune lines, so a guitar player sort of gets in the way. With our large groups, the bass player is a real rock, a way cool metronome, and if the guy can do walking bass lines to give a repetitive tune a lift, even better.

Pick three tunes in one key. D is easy, so is G. You don't want to be spending hours teaching the newbies chord shapes while the better players sit, bored out of their minds. We play Angeline The Baker to death, as the pentatonic nature makes it easy to learn. We'll teach a phrase, then intersperse a couple of chords, then back and forth. Obviously, taking little chunks at a time, this could take 20-30 minutes. No matter who is there, you need to aim down the middle; the hopeless ones just have to hang on, the really good ones should know they should be paying for private lessons. So, we'd up teaching lines and chords by having everyone repeat the phrases, followed by a chop: An-gel-ine-the-ba-ker CHOP repeat, repeat. Then next phrase, then stick it all together. At that point, you can play the tune through 37 times, with the weaker ones just chopping, hopefully in time, and the better ones being allowed to solo over everyone else so they get a little chance to improvise. Try a different arrangement, with the better ones playing a harmony line. That may not be strictly old-time, but if you have two hours to fill, you'll need them to get creative, too.

Now, lather, rinse, repeat, with a couple of other tunes. I wouldn't get tricky, and you can use the tunes to perhaps show the historical story-telling bent of old-time, with tunes like Booth Shot Lincoln, Bony On The Isle of St. Helena, Bonapart's Retreat, whatever. Black-eyed Suzie is one that isn't historical, but is fun to play and easy to teach. 

Just remember the key is to get them to realize that the beat is the key to success in old-time. The wrong notes played on the right beat still sound good and danceable; the right notes with bad timing sound unlistenable.

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## Bill Foss

> Let me tell you what I was told in an OT mandolin workshop. You can agree or not, but its interesting.
> 
> The fiddle and the banjo in OT compliment each other perfectly. The fiddle has everyting the banjo lacks and the banjo has everything the fiddle needs. You are walking up to this completely whole perfect OT machine, mandolin in hand. What do you think you are going to add? Well first off all, don't detract. Do no harm...


Perfectly said, JeffD! 
There aren't a whole lot of examples of Old Time mandolin playing, as far as I can tell, on the old 78s or from field recordings, so I would give students names of Old Time mandolin players to listen to such as Verlin Clifton (who mostly played rhythm with the Round Peak fiddlers), Jim Collier and Caleb Klauder.

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## JeffD

> for Scots fiddling, you need to actually be able to play..


 :Laughing: 

Ron Thomason, of Dry Branch Fire Squad, said once that old time is as close as you can get to not being able to pick at all and still be holding an instrument.

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Charlieshafer

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## Steve Ostrander

I've done some presentations, but none on OT mando. If you know your material, and you are enthusiastic about it, 2 hours will go by fast. Especially if you have a Q&A session at the end. Perhaps 15 minutes.

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## Jim Garber

Mandolirius: what is the context of this workshop? Is it part of a festival? Is the festival strictly old time or does it include other styles of music?

I have to disagree with a few of my esteemed colleagues. Old time music is truly an artificial construct of modern times. Bluegrass is a definite category that grew out of the moderately vast sea of country styles. Old time music is really a retronym like acoustic guitar and is really more or less what you have when you take away bluegrass and C&W from country music. It encompasses a bunch of regions and styles as well.

To say that old time music, however, is sloppier (tho of course, good for a a few jokes) maybe just refers to the modern narrow concept of the music that is primarily played in parking lots and festivals in jam sessions, completely ignoring the fact that back in the day there were pro performers and bands playing this music for entertainment purposes (see the grand Old Opry and country radio stations). This tradition goes on to this day with some performers BION even earning at least some of their living playing this music as playing it well. Many of these folks pride themselves with high quality of music and soulful playing.

As to JeffD's quote (and I have a feeling that he is not in complete agreement either) I find that a statement like that is a little too absolute. Yes, fiddle and banjo are a very nice combination and I love hearing and playing duets that way. However, that would be the equivalent of saying that a violin and viola are the only instruments that play together with no room for any other. There is always room for a savvy mandolinist to fit nicely into a band or jam situation.

I know because I was in a long time band starting as a fiddler then switching to guitar when we had two other fiddlers and then playing primarily mandolin when we expanded with two guitarists. The key to it all was fitting in where appropriate, not cluttering the music, supporting the vocals, etc. However, those are rules for any instruments IMHO and in any music.

As far as the teaching the differences between bluegrass and old time -- if you are teaching this workshop at a bluegrass festival then  I would say that makes a whole lot of sense.  OTOH if there are a lot of beginners they would not be playing bluegrass anyway and if it is an old time gathering, there is little need at all except maybe in a passing mention.

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## Geno

Here's a pretty good article with some historical information and other stuff.

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ld-Time-Herald

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hank, 

Jim Garber

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## Jim Garber

Geno: Thanks for posting that link. Cary's article was a good one indeed and, as those go, was a good overview for sure. Phew! Now I don't have to do it (or make it up).

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## JeffD

Of course there is this essay by Mike Seeger: http://mikeseeger.info/music.html

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hank, 

Jim Garber

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## JeffD

The original fiddle and banjo would have been fiddle and fretless banjo, so you could get all slippy and slidy with the tone. The introduction of the guitar, with its frets, was disconcerting to more than a few, and I have seen copies of copies of letters complaining about these guitars imposing notes on pefrectly happy musicians.

No, of course mandolin has a place in old time. Because we are not reconstructionists, or reenactors, we are playing music. But I thought the comment was interesting.

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## Jim Garber

Well, we can certainly get deep into this topic of what old time music is and isn't and how the mandolin fits in, but perhaps we need to get back to the OP, who is waiting (I imagine) very patiently.

Essentially, the way I would approach it would be to assess what levels the workshop attendees, how many there are and what they are looking for. I would prepare some brief introductory remarks about mandolins and old time music and then pick a choose a few tunes to demonstrate and possibly teach. I would give them a variety: reel, rag, waltz, song. Perhaps at the end get a fiddler, banjo player, guitarist and play together to demonstrate how the mandolin would fit in. It will be a great workshop.

Let us know how it goes.

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## Perry

> Jim, do you have a good source for the history of mandolin in old time music?



http://oldtimemandolin.com/Old_Time_...c/Welcome.html


If you did have a guitar player there you can demonstrate the OT effect of playing a minor melody against major chords.....the horror the horror

As far as level of teaching...I've witnessed first hand many times where the teacher teaches to the least experienced in the class. This is not fair to everyone else especially when the workshop was billed as intermediate or advanced. I suppose you need to pick a happy medium and pure beginner's will just have to be inspired.

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hank, 

Jim Garber

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## Marcelyn

One thing that could help is either demonstrating techniques that bring out the OT style yourself or offering a few You Tube clips. Several folks on the Cafe I've found to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful in the old time style are, Steve Cantrel, Michael Pastuche, and Don Grieser. They  all have tons of great stuff on their You Tube channels. Steve, for example is a master at getting the driving rhythm OT music needs just with his mandolin. Like early Monroe brother recordings, Michael is amazing at using fiddle-like double stops to back vocals and breaks. And Don is such a good example of how a solo mandolin played with double stops, slides, and other ornamentation can sound so much like an OT fiddle. It would be helpful to play a tune straight--just the plain notes on the page, and then play it again using techniques to bring out that old time sound.  
The history of OT in general and how it differs from BG is really well addressed in this CD liner...
http://scottalarik.com/?page=stories...es&display=240

One other question that gets asked a lot around here is how the styles of OT and Irish Trad differ and how you can make these styles distinctive in your playing. That might be of interest. Personally, I think the thing that grabs me about my favorite old time mandolin players is how they can capture the rhythm and sound of OT fiddling in their mandolin picking. That might be an interesting topic to open for discussion.
Where's the workshop? That would be a fun one to attend.

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## Charlieshafer

> Mandolirius: what is the context of this workshop? Is it part of a festival? Is the festival strictly old time or does it include other styles of music?
> 
> I have to disagree with a few of my esteemed colleagues. Old time music is truly an artificial construct of modern times. Bluegrass is a definite category that grew out of the moderately vast sea of country styles. Old time music is really a retronym like acoustic guitar and is really more or less what you have when you take away bluegrass and C&W from country music. It encompasses a bunch of regions and styles as well.


Well, I agree to a point, but if you go back far enough, there seems to have been two purposes to what we refer to as old-time. There are the songs, essentially ballads, like Omie Wise and so on, and there are the fiddle tunes, which most people consider "old-time." These were almost exclusively performed as dance tunes, and sure, while you may get some guys sitting down and picking away at them, the purpose was to drive country dances, of whatever form they may take. They may have evolved into the parking lot picking sessions we see now, or the old-time fiddling contests all over the place, but there's plenty of written works about the rural itinerant old-time fiddlers being hired just for dances. The same is true in Ireland. If you didn't have a huge repertoire of tunes, and weren't able to drive the local dances, you weren't in business for very long.

Obviously, as time goes on, fiddlers and bands were called upon to simply entertain, but for the most part, the tunes are dance-oriented. Many tunes picked up words later on, and were then called by different names, but that was after the fact. There's still a lot of disagreement over where a tune as simple as Angeline came from. The Civil war musicologists swear it was an early fife tune, and then was picked up by dance fiddlers. 

In short, it's a really complicated question, and any one simple article won't tell the whole story as it's simply way too broad. 

So, you're left picking a jumping-off point for something like a two-hour workshop, and from my research through the years, the common denominator always seems to come back to fiddle tunes for dances, and the bands that played them had various forms of instrumentation. 

In the Smithsonian, there's a violin on display of a soldier's, and he had inscribed in the back all the battles he had been in. There was also a letter he'd written where he was a company favorite, as he could play for dances in the off-hours, however few they may have been. There are also some records of some soldiers who formed bands after the war, and they had a couple of fiddlers and fifes. Easy traveling instruments, for sure. 

So no, there's no answer, probably long or short, as there are way too many influences. The picking sessions of today are just an evolutionary waypoint of the music.

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Jim Garber

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## Jim Garber

> Well, I agree to a point, but if you go back far enough, there seems to have been two purposes to what we refer to as old-time. There are the songs, essentially ballads, like Omie Wise and so on, and there are the fiddle tunes, which most people consider "old-time." These were almost exclusively performed as dance tunes, and sure, while you may get some guys sitting down and picking away at them, the purpose was to drive country dances, of whatever form they may take.


And if you go even further back in time, you can say that about just any kind of music. At one point there was no such think as "classical" music. Many classical instrumental pieces were based on dance forms and others on songs and ballads, many from a folk tradition.

It is good to bring up the connection to dance, tho, in the light of our OP's question. As a fiddler who plays for dancers, I often try to work on phrasing and rhythms that give dancers a lift and try to transfer that same feeling to the mandolin in my playing. In fact I think that intention can be a strong key to the way to impart a strong old time feel to mandolin playing in this tradition.

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Charlieshafer

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## Charlieshafer

> And if you go even further back in time, you can say that about just any kind of music. At one point there was no such think as "classical" music.


Makes one want to start up a log-beating forum.  :Smile:   In truth, though, that's the fun of all this; there's not only no "right" answer in tracing musical lineages, there's probably no answer at all. Hey, we can all be college professors!

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## Jim Garber

That is what I like: "no answer at all." 

The reality of it is we play this music because we enjoy it. I think in leading a workshop conveying the excitement and enthusiasm we feel toward playing this music is primary.

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## Caleb

Someone said earlier that we are the ones that came up with all these labels (old time, etc.) for the music.  If you went back in time to the folks who were playing what we call "old time," they'd just tell you they were playing their music.  Same as if you went back further to what we call "classical."  It goes on and on.   

I just tend to like what sounds "old": sometimes that's a fiddle tune, sometimes Celtic, sometimes a Cowboy Song, etc.  For fun today, and with all this on my mind, I started an "Old Time" Pandora station and was surprised at some of the stuff that came on.  Not that Pandora is any real authority on what passes for old time, but it just makes me realize that we all can have our own definitions of these things.

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## mandolirius

Hey thanks all! I read all the responses and bookmarked the links everyone posted. There's certainly more than enough material there to get me through a two-hour workshop. As someone remarked, it goes by pretty quickly if you're prepared. Introduction to the workshop, questions, a break.....two hours isn't an awfully long time.

The context, which Jim asked about, is just the Victoria Bluegrass Association's ongoing workshop program. The purpose is to foster more interaction between the pro and semi-pro musicians and the club members, most of whom play. Old time has gained tremendous popularity in our region and many (or at least we hope) primarily bluegrass players are interested in learning the style. I know the skill level will be wide-ranging but I don't think I'll have to cover parts of the mandolin or how to hold it and so on. 

The other goal is to provide a source of income for these musicians, most of whom can definitely use it. It's a good example, in my biased opinion, of the sort of thing a local bluegrass association should be doing.

Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do so thanks again everyone and feel free to continue the discussion in whatever direction it should take. I have over two months to prepare so let the thread meander. Actually I like the direction it's taking. It's nice to see some passionate points of view regarding old time music. My own old time album (The Snake Sessions - a tribute to Snake Chapman) will be out by then, so I may teach one of the tunes off of it.

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## Charlieshafer

Excellent!  There is indeed a huge old-time resurgence up in the pacific northwest. Nice program you got there! 

Romero banjos is what, 2 hours away? Horsefly, I believe? Of course, it may be one of those "can't get there from here" things...

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## doc holiday

Horsefly is about 10hrs away on the mainland.  But Jason does make grand instruments & he & Pharis are inspiring musicians.
Mandolirius, You're a lucky man...with the assortment of music in Victoria.  I met Miriam & Shanti at Nimblefingers and they were my discovery of the week.  Both great musicians & that Shanti can kill it on the banjo.  When you follow Bill Evans (the banjo Bill...not piano) on stage & then make an impression on the audience...that's notable.  Good luck with your workshop...& yeah Caleb K is pretty defining as a OT mandolin player.

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## mandolirius

> Horsefly is about 10hrs away on the mainland.  But Jason does make grand instruments & he & Pharis are inspiring musicians.
> Mandolirius, You're a lucky man...with the assortment of music in Victoria.  I met Miriam & Shanti at Nimblefingers and they were my discovery of the week.  Both great musicians & that Shanti can kill it on the banjo.  When you follow Bill Evans (the banjo Bill...not piano) on stage & then make an impression on the audience...that's notable.  Good luck with your workshop...& yeah Caleb K is pretty defining as a OT mandolin player.


Jason and Pharis lived on the island before moving up to Horsefly. Had lots of great jams with them. As for Shanti and Miriam, I just finished recording the Snake Chapman tribute with them this weekend. Miriam's also the fiddler in the BG band I'm in. She's a delight to play with, a real quick study and toally into bluegrass fiddle. I keep feeding her stuff so we can do it in the band. Mostly Monroe, some Reischman, a couple of my tunes. I'm enjoying having her while we can. The other band she plays in with Shanti (and Amanda Blied) is The Sweet Lowdown is poised to really take off, I think.

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## catmandu2

> Makes one want to start up a log-beating forum.   In truth, though, that's the fun of all this; there's not only no "right" answer in tracing musical lineages, there's probably no answer at all. Hey, we can all be college professors!


Charlie, c'mon over to the "medieval mando" group!

(if it's pedants you want--there are plenty of'm in early music ; )

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Charlieshafer

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## Charlieshafer

> Charlie, c'mon over to the "medieval mando" group!
> 
> (if it's pedants you want--there are plenty of'm in early music ; )


Only if members have to wear period clothing and act out plague suffering.

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## catmandu2

Btw, I apologize for using the term pedant--and I wasn't implying any such tendencies among cafe-ites ... only sardonically referring to the broad opportunities available to the early music scholar

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## JeffD

> Only if members have to wear period clothing and act out plague suffering.


A friend of mine did a book club meeting at her home about the book "The Wonder Years", a book that take splace during the bubonic plague. She got up a bunch of apples from an orchard nearby, apples that had fallen to the ground. Apples in bad shape. She placed milk crates full of these rotten and rotting apples around the room, and the whole room started to smell. Not a horrible smell, really, but not pleasant. But apparently the smell is close to what it would be like if you were in the midst of the dead and dying plague victims.


If you PM me I will share how we got rid of the fruit flies.

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## Charlieshafer

Man, this thread gets better and better. :Smile:

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## allenhopkins

A suggestion: invest $20 in *Mike Seeger's old-time mandolin course* from Homespun Tapes.  Should evoke some ideas, and I can't think of a better authority on the subject than the late Mike S.

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Charlieshafer

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## mandolirius

> A suggestion: invest $20 in *Mike Seeger's old-time mandolin course* from Homespun Tapes.  Should evoke some ideas, and I can't think of a better authority on the subject than the late Mike S.


Might not be a bad idea, considering I am getting paid for this. Now whether the pay will be much more than the double-sawbuck investment, who knows. I can see it saving me a whole bunch of work though, and that's never a bad thing.

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## mandolirius

Well, I did order Mike Seeger's course. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to see how he approaches teaching oldtime mandolin. Also busy compiling a list of the resources you all so kindly provided me with. Tomorrow is my deadline for the copy describing the workshop. Here's what I've got so far:

Old Time Mandolin - Michael Brooks

This workshop (for Beg/Int level players) will begin with an overview of mandolin in old time music, including recorded examples and a discussion of the differences between old time and bluegrass styles. Playing techniques will be demonstrated through the teaching of two or three (as time permits) tunes. A list of resources for more information on old time mandolin will be distributed but NO TAB, so please bring a recorder. 

* the workshop will be recorded and a CD copy provided if you don't have your own recording device.


I can alter things but cannot lengthen it very much, due to space restrictions. If you have any suggestions for the wording/description of the workshop, now's the time to offer them. After tomorrow, it's too late. Thanks again to everyone for your input.

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## Jim Garber

Michael: It sounds good to me. I certainly would attend if I were there. Your description is clear and concise.

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## JeffD

Sounds great. Wish I could attend actually.

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## Markus

Sounds like a great workshop.

This was a fun thread to read after seeing Foghorn in Wednesday. The northwest is really blessed with OT talent, glad you are spreading it even further.

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## woodwizard

Keep up the good work  :Smile:  Good Music any OLDTIME!

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## mandolirius

Thanks for the votes of confidence, but it sounds to me as if some of you guys could be putting on a workshop like this yourselves.   :Smile:

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## mandolirius

Here's an unmastered version of one of the tunes from the soon-to-be-released tribute to Snake Chapman. This is "Coburn Fork of Big Creek":

COBURN FORK MX1.mp3

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Mike Black

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## mandolirius

Here's a pic of us posing after the session was done. We actually had four mics in a cluster, each one pointing at the instrument it was mainly meant to pick up. Live off the floor, one track, no mixing. We really wanted to record the album that way. It just felt like the right thing to do.

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## Jim Garber

Very cool tune and nice playing. I don't hear any banjo on that cut. Also, does she play bluegrass style banjo? I guess Chapman is on that oldtime/bluegrass cusp of fiddling?

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## mandolirius

There's banjo. The mp3 is pretty compressed but it's there. The original Snake recordings to have a kind of pre-bluegrass picked style of banjo. A lot of it sounds two-finger to me. Shanti plays both styles and does do some clawhammer on other cuts.

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## JeffD

> This was a fun thread to read after seeing Foghorn in Wednesday. .


I love Foghorn. I don't care much for the cover art on their CDs, but I love their music.

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## Mike Bunting

Thought you fellows might enjoy this youtube of snake chapman that i found.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZIpIq0w4r0

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## Mike Bunting

Maybe this is better.

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Beanzy

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