Clarion Folk College

[Jeff_Stallard]

If you missed Clarion Folk College last weekend, you lost out on a great time. I'm definitely going back next year. There were *bunches* of mandos there. However...it looked like a lot of them were backup instruments. For example, I'd see someone playing fiddle with a mando case sitting behind them.

I got a chance to meet Aimee (did I spell that right?) and her daughter. Nice people! I don't think her daughter's on here, but she also plays mando.

Hmm...time to start looking for another festival for June. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[sandcastlefaith]

Darn, can't believe I missed it. I knew it sounded like a good time, but I didn't have a ride over there, as no one I knew was going, and I also couldn't afford it at the time. But thanks for the good report, there's always next year.

[aimee]

Glad you had a good time, and we were pleased to meet other MCer's at last. Of course, when I went to sit down to try to pick with some of you guys, (after the contra dance) I was too tired to pick. Eight or nine hours of pickin' a day is a lot for us.

Coolest part: seeing the 15 year old daughter playing mando on stage and getting to try a nyckelharpa.

The nearest June festival (near us) is in Mayville, on beautiful Chautauqua lake. It's a real family oriented and non-alcohol event.

[Jeff_Stallard]

I know what you mean about sore fingers. At the Friday night jam they were really killing me. So what's this Mayville festival called? Where (roughly) is Mayville?

[Jeff_Stallard]

Is this what you're talking about? http://www.angelfire.com/folk/mayvillebgf/

If so, it's in western New York. That's about 400-450 miles one way for me.

[aimee]

That's the one, Jeff. About a 30 min drive for us.

[Masked_Coconut]

Yes, I'm on MC, I just have a tendancy to forget my password at lot.

Clarion was lots of fun, but on Saturday night I felt like my fingers were about to fall off from so much picking-- augh. It was nice to meet everyone there. I was just amazed that I was with people who knew the difference between a song and a tune. Sometimes it was like trying to climb a 30-foot rock face with my fingertips-- I learned that I'm nowhere good as I thought I was-- but I learned quite a bit.

I noticed the same thing with the mandos just being back-up, Jeff. A few of the classes I got to also seemed to be a little fiddle-centric (don't get me wrong, fiddle's great, I want to learn to play it), but they were a little hard for me to follow on mandolin. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to practice harder so I'm better next year!

^_^ I hope my mum and I go back. If anyone's considering going for next year, do it! It was brilliant fun, and definately worth the drive.

--Aimee's Daughter

[Jeff_Stallard]

^_^ I hope my mum and I go back. If anyone's considering going for next year, do it! It was brilliant fun, and definately worth the drive.
It was a 4 hour drive for me, not bad at all. I most definitely plan on going back next year. I prefer more hands-on festivals (more playing, less listening), and Clarion is just that.

See you two next year! Or actually...maybe this September if you're going back to Clarion for the Cook Forest festival.