Seminars, workshops, camps

[GRW3]

I’m headed off to Camp Bluegrass in two weeks. I went back in ‘02 and took guitar classes. This time I am taking mandolin. What I am interested in here is the common experience of getting value out of these efforts.

My current approach is to listen intently and carefully observe the instructor. I do not take notes, unless directed, and I do not make recordings. I get as much personal input as is reasonable. Proffered music and notes will be accepted gladly.

I used to try and take notes on my own but I found that when I referred to them there was a context problem. That is in the process of writing down what the instructor said it seemed I missed what they were saying. This goes with some current research that says multi-tasking is just the opportunity to operate at a sub par level on more than one thing at a time. I have found that devoting my full attention to the instruction is more instructive. Of course, if the instructor says “write this down” I do so because that is not attention competitive.

The few recordings I tried were pointless. At first I thought it was my equipment. There were some initial problems but later tapes were plenty clear. I could hear the words and music just fine but it was lacking. Then it dawned on me, I can hear it but I can’t see it. (This is not the same as the audio instruction one gets with book/CD combos because they are designed for audio consumption.) While not as bad as trying to take non-directed notes, I also count any time spent managing the audio recording to be an infringement upon the instruction.

Now I don’t want to hog the instructor in a group setting but I do avail myself of personal interaction where possible. When an opportunity to do a drill or phrase on my own comes along I do my best to take it. I admit to being performance shy like a lot of people but I try to force myself to doing it anyway. I also like it when the group instructor takes a few minutes with each student. Two minutes of Steve Kaufman helping me find my pick holding groove was worth the $80 seminar cost. My volume doubled and my control was much better. For personal instruction my rule is – If I ain’t playing, I ain’t paying.

I do appreciate written information directly from the instructors. When they write it down they know to make it understandable, more so than you could. I don’t appreciate the occasional one who wants you to write down a bunch of rote things just because he can’t find a Xerox machine. I hope to have the courage to tell noodlers to cool it in the future. At the last Camp Bluegrass I attended a more mature player than I muted a noodler’s strings and told him to cool it so we could hear the instructor.

So that’s my take on going to camp, YMMV. Love to hear your approaches to making it work. You might be a note taking, music recording phenom who can help somebody else do it to their satisfaction.

[Mattg]

My approach is: any time in a music related seminar is better than any time spent at my desk at work. If I don't catch everything, that's fine. I usually walk away with something useful. Probably the most useful seminar I've sat in on was taught by Sandy Munro (owns a music store in Aspen CO) on basic music theory. It was very concise and practical and it came at a perfect time for me. (and let's not start the theory argument here. It works for me and that's all I have to say about that).

Probably the most annoying classmates outside of the noodlers are the ones who ask questions not to clarify or help the flow of a seminar but to prove how much they know. Even though this is somewhat rare, I find that disruptive. The best classmates are encouraging to others and may even politly help a fellow student if the instructor is helping someone else.

Mostly, I find it interesting to listen to veterans who have good gig stories or interesting philosophies on music. I'm happy if I walk out of a seminar with a few good licks or practice drills.

[GRW3]

"G E A D G"

That's the sum total of my notes. Roland told us to jot down the chord pattern for 'Salty Dog' and I did.

In the time since the class I've not felt like I missed anything. I have the TAB he handed out in class and bought his book. I work on something every day and I remember clearly what he said about these things because I paid attention.

Works for me anyway...