Sore Fingers Summer School 2014
As a Café member, I thought I would give a brief report on the recently concluded Sore Fingers Summer School in Kingham, England. This was my first time to attend. It’s a long way, unless you are already in England or Europe (as I was), so there could be costs involved in getting there. But that said, if you have the chance to go, do it. It was absolutely the best week of music I’ve experienced. Why? Here are some reasons.
First, the instructors are terrific. The mandolin teacher this year was Joe Walsh, and he was superb. We learned not just songs, but also concepts and approaches to mastering our instrument that went beyond specific tunes. Other instructors this year included Brian Wicklund (fiddle), Grant Gordy (guitar), Rachel Eddy (old-time banjo), Erynn Marshall (old-time fiddle), Bruce Molsky (old-time fiddle), Tony Furtado (bluegrass banjo), Orrin Starr (guitar), Julie Elkins (bluegrass banjo), and Ben Sommers (bass), just to name some of the other teachers you may know. Apologies for those I’ve left out. They are not only excellent players, but terrific teachers as well.
Second, each day consisted of about 5 hours of instrument workshops in digestible segments (with 20 students per class), band practice (discretionary, and both performing and non-performing), discretionary workshops (e.g., music theory; swing playing), evening concerts of various kinds (by tutors the first three nights), and picking until all hours. Oh yeah, there were meals and sleeping squeezed in!
Third, the next to last night there was a concert by the student performing bands (aka “scratch bands”), attended by all 300 folks at the event. It was joyous! Friday, there was a tutor concert, with all tutors participating in different configurations and making great music. The sound system was flawless.
The people could not have been nicer, the care in organizing and conducting the event could not have been more evident, and you meet players on your and other instruments from all over the world. The jam sessions are so numerous that you can inevitably find one that fits your style and speed. It is, in short, music heaven, and the environment is unrestrained fun. Next year is the Sore Fingers 20th anniversary. Whether you are young (like many of my mandolin classmates) or old (like me), put it on your bucket list.
Steve Aby
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