It's a month since Augusta, but I have to relate a bit of what I experienced there July 13-18. I stayed in a dorm room for a week and found that challenging as well as the steep hills of the Davis&Elkins College campus. But it was an incredibly valuable week. Mandolin instruction every morning for a few hours w/ Roger Bellow, a fine mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist. We worked on about a dozen tunes, and each one taught some little chord progression, fingering, or other detail that, when taken together, made me a better player. There were 4 in our class, and Roger spent plenty of time giving individual help. We did some interesting tunes like That's A Plenty, Mood Indigo, and a bunch more. We also formed bands and I was lucky enough to be in a sort of Django band, consisting of mando, 2 archtops, fiddle, and trombone (honest!), and Roger on bass. We worked all week on one tune (Golden Earrings) and presented it on Friday at a student concert. Professional sound, etc. Every day there was a workshop, mini-concert, guest artist (e.g., Johnny Gimble) or presentation of some sort after lunch. Every evening there was a dance w/ live musicians (the staff). And jamming w/ the instructors after band practice and in the evenings. Awesome program. Expensive but worth every cent. Highly highly recommended to anyone on any instrument (including uke). The program director is Wendi Bourne; she can be contacted through the Augusta Heritage Center website. SWING WEEK!!!
~~Joe Hannabach
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