CMSA mandocello workshop(?)

[Jim Imhoff]

I had a great time in Milwaukee and learned a lot. My one disappointment was there were no workshops specific to the mandocello; I had been to such sessions at the Valley Forge and Portland conventions. We had an outstanding section leader, Tim Sterner Miller, I would have gone to any session he offered. I am hoping for something next year, and talked to a few people (including a board member) about ideas. I am not an experienced enough player to offer anything myself, my doctorate in in choral music education, I have played for only a few years now. I will post this in the Classical forum as well, and please suggest people or ideas for a bass clef CMSA workshop.

[Beanzy]

If you were looking to make a proper feature of the mandoloncello it would be good to get somebody like Vincent Beer Demander http://vincentbeerdemander.com as a guest artist & doing workshops.

[mrmando]

We had Mike Marshall at the Seattle convention and it wasn't too hard to talk him into doing a mandocello master class.

[margora]

Some background from the person who actually organizes the CMSA workshops (me):

--the vast majority of CMSA workshops are contractually allocated to guest artists, the En Masse orchestra conductor, the composer-in-residence and to local people requested by the host orchestra.

--there is no budget allocated to the workshops (perhaps there should be, but there isn't and never has been) for the purpose of bringing in someone to give a workshop who is not otherwise invited (e.g. a guest artist and so on, see above).

--the compensation per workshop presentation is very modest (too low to reveal here. Again, perhaps it should be higher but it isn't). Not sufficient to attract someone to give a workshop unless they are local.

--workshop planning begins long before people commit to coming to the convention. Someone might actually come who could give a workshop (see the OP's remarks above for an example) but I don't hear about until well after the workshop schedule is set.

--there are very (very) few people who are qualified to give a workshop on mandocello or (similar problem) alto mandola, either on technique or literature. Especially, since there is, to a first approximation, little or no original literature for either (other than ensemble parts for mandocello).

As a practical matter, what this means is that, unless there is a guest artist or similar at the convention who plays the mandocello OR I know well in advance of someone who will be at the convention who is qualified (but not otherwise an invited guest) AND who is willing to offer a workshop for a very low fee, it is very difficult to offer such workshops. Mandolin is far easier, because there are almost always such people at the convention.

--at the Portland and Valley Forge CMSA conventions there were cello workshops. In both cases, these were invited guest artists, myself at Portland and the MMQ at Valley Forge.

With regard to the two suggestions:

--I know Vincent Beer-Demander personally and would be delighted to have him at CMSA but I cannot fly him over from France just to give a workshop. He is on the list of artists that CMSA hopes to bring to the convention in the future, however.

--I know Mike as well, and ditto. If CMSA cellists on the West Coast or elsewhere want such a workshop(s), they should lobby the host committee to bring Mike and Caterina to Santa Rosa (not under my jurisdiction). That would make the problem very simple to solve.

I hope this clarifies. CMSA is always delighted to receive suggestions for workshops, and we look carefully at every such suggestion. Sometimes these are feasible to implement, sometimes not.