Midwest Banjo Camp

Submitted by Mary Schons on 6/26/2013

Overall Comments

What impressed me overall was how well run the whole operation was. Who knows, maybe there was total chaos behind the scenes but from the con-goers perspective everything looked like it came off without a hitch. It takes a lot of planning to make it appear that smooth, so kudos to Ken & Stan for that.

Their program book included names and emails of the participants along with their city-- a nice feature to reconnect with people after the camp. Lots of Chicago people at MBC. Chicago seems like it's becoming quite the hub for old-time folk music, and the Old Town School of Folk Music is a big part of that, I think.

The overall vibe was nice and relaxed, at least with the people I was hanging out with. No cliques, sit anywhere with anyone and listen to their stories. I liked that. At least it was that way with the old-time folks-- god knows what the bluegrass people get up to. ;) I ran into a gentleman in his eighties who started to learn the banjo that weekend. I wanted to give him a hug.

Friday I attended The Three Basic Rolls with Casey Henry and Singing With Your Banjo: Make Your Instrument a Duet Partner with Joe Newberry. The roll class was nice, some of it was review, but that's okay, too. Loved Joe Newberry's class so much. What a nice man. Even though I got permission first, I think I weirded him out a little when I started to record with my phone but all turned out fine in the end. We sang a bit together and I met people there that I ran into over and over at the con.

Impressed by the variety of banjos people possess-- some of the participants have some *serious* hardware!

Friday and Saturday night the faculty puts on a concert-- two songs each, although some people "cheat" a little by doing a medley. Both nights were terrific, but by the second hour both days your brain starts to fry a little bit ("Oh, another banjo master at the top of their game. Hooray.") And it wasn't just banjos either. Lots of fiddles, guitar, upright bass, some dobro and an ekonting. Mike Compton got a good workout on the mandolin as well.

Since I had such a good time singing with Joe, so I went to the faculty-led jam co-hosted by him. Joe Newberry acted like he couldn't be happier to hear Angeline the Baker one more time, his co-presenter a little less so. Whatever. I guess there's only so many times you can hear Fly Away My Pretty Little Miss before you snap.

Saturday's jam hosted by Cathy Barton Para, Dave Para and Alan Jabbour was so much fun. Jabbour is a walking encyclopedia of old-time knowledge, and Dave did a thing where we would play Arkansas Traveler, stop after the A part and someone would tell a banjo joke, then we'd go right into the B part. ("How do you know the stage is level? The banjo player has drool coming out of both sides of his mouth.") It's really hard to play and laugh at the same time!

Drum circles and old-time jams have things in common. Some people just like to go as fast as they can and other like to play fast and slow, and stop to sing or tell jokes. I can't play fast, but even if I could I'd still like to hang out with the second group more, they're more fun.

My favorite instructors were Cathy Barton Para, Riley Baugus and Joe Newberry. Riley Baugus is a Round Peak enthusiast who doesn't tab anything (to the consternation of some) preferring you record him instead. Trying my hand on some Dock Boggs tunes now. It's amazing how tuning the 5th string down a half step to f# can make what you play sound almost wistful.

I especially loved taking classes with Cathy. In contrast to Riley, she tabs out everything. I love her enthusiasm for Grandpa Jones, Lilly Mae Ledford, Uncle Dave Macon and the rest. So many new ideas and songs to explore!

Cathy Barton Para plays clawhammer on a resonator banjo and it sounds great. Just a cursory scratching of the surface reveals just how many old-time musicians played on resonator banjos. Simple idea, big revelation for me.

So just a great con all around. I learned so much that'll take me ages to unpack. About the only thing I'd do differently would be to bring my own set of sheets. The college's were not great. Oh, and bring your own blankets if you're a delicate flower like me and require more than a tiny scratchy wool scrap to cover yourself.

Overall Rating: 9