This page is about the September 1996 camp. Read my original fiddle camp page for general information about life at Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp.
The staff included:
Classes came and went. The structure was much the same as last year's. One new thing I like is the "jam ensemble" session. It was an every-day thing, where each instructor leads an ensemble consisting of whoever shows up. The idea is to go the the same instructor every day, and arrange tunes for the group and stuff. I went to Buddy Spicher's. His arranging creativity was challenged by the task of coming up with a way to handle 15 or so fiddlers (and an occasional guitarist) and make it sound good. We worked with tunes everyone already knew, mainly "San Antonio Rose" and "Maiden's Prayer." Towards the end of the week there was a night for all the ensembles to play their tunes. It was fun and everyone sounded great. This was the same night when all the campers played for one another.
The gruelling "Fiddler's Shuffle" is still on the schedule. This time the first two days were shuffle days. It was a bit much for me. If I were running the show the first day would be a shuffle, because it is a good get-acquainted thing. After that it would be more open and people could go the instructors who interested them. If there was to be a second shuffle day I would put it towards the end of the week. My thinking is that not everyone is going to want to see each instructor every day, so having more days "open" is better. Two "Fiddlers' Shuffle" days in a week is plenty for me.
There were some special events this year. One was the "skateboard session." On Tuesday night when the bluegrass world was at the Courtney Johnson Memorial thing at the Ryman (some people from camp went), Vic Wooten and Roy "Futureman" Wooten came out to camp. Roy found a garbage can to drum on, while Vic and Mark played and skateboarded. At the same time. The protocol is apparently that whoever is soloing skateboards around. It was quite impressive to watch (the music would've been incredible even without the skating!). I'm thinking about a new Olympic event, perhaps.
We received a very pleasant surprise in the form of a couple of visits from Frazier Moss. I'd only heard him play once, about ten years ago. He's still playing, but declining health has taken a little of the edge off his game. He still plays when he can, though, and loves to listen to good fiddling as well. He has a fiddle someone built for him, bearing the inscription "I fiddle because I just can't help it." It was fun hearing him play, and he seemed to enjoy hearing other people play. I think any camp which fails to offer campers a chance to hang out with "old guys" like Frazier Moss is missing a lot.
The other big thing was Mark's wedding. This came as a bit of a surprise to us campers, who found out when we arrived that the last night of the camp would be a wedding celebration (and I didn't have a thing to wear!). We'd only been told that "something special" was planned for the last night of camp. The bride, known to me only as Carla (She's Carla O'Connor now, I guess), was a childhood friend of Mark's from Washington. Anyway, the weather held up, about a dozen fiddlers (campers & staff) played Mark's "Appalachian Waltz," and, as Randy said, "Mark bit the dust." It was a terrific ceremony: straightforward, sincere, and in front of family and a few friends. And to top it all off, Mark gave Carla a horse! After the ceremony this wrangler guy comes trotting out with a gorgeous pony. The pony must have been quite a surprise based on Carla's reaction. That night there was a dance featuring Rufus Thibodeaux's Cajun band.
The banquet was catered by our pals from "The Mad Platter," who provided their usual excellent service all week long.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "Ok, so the food was good and there were lots of nice people there, and a wedding and all that. But what did you learn, Bo?"
If you read about last year's camp you'll recall that last year I went with the vaguest of intentions: to see what other people are doing, and to meet some new fiddlers, and maybe to get some ideas to work on. I was successful, and I am definitely playing better now than a year ago. This year I went to get some particulars, some technical homework. I played a lot more than I did last year too. So what did I learn?
On the technical level, I've got to get my double-stops happening. Buddy Spicher and Randy Elmore both blew me away with their fluency in double-stops. It's something I've been hiding from for a long time. Sure, I'll throw in the occasional double-stop passage, usually in a waltz or slow tune. But these guys were maniacs. Buddy made several nice demonstrations with Billy Cantreras (his "protege"). Billy would play the melody and Buddy would take 2 harmony lines. And Randy was his own accompaniment, going into and out of double-stop lines in his solos, always in an appropriate fashion (in fact his playing in general reminds me of Johnny Gimble's, both technically and in terms of his tasteful style). Also on the technical front I have some work to do on my bowing.
On the non-technical level, I think I found myself stretching out a lot this time, trying things which I wasn't sure would come off, working without a net you might say. Buddy coaxed me into playing a lot of nutty stuff, like soloing in Bb on "San Antonio Rose" (which I rarely play at all, and never in Bb) or playing a chorus of "Back Home in Indiana" in Ab (that was a bumpy ride). Randy Elmore told of one of his first gigs with a real band, in which he found out that in Texas, when the bandleader tells you to take a solo, it's better to play something and stink than to not play at all. That gave me a lot to think about. Not that it is my goal to stink, mind you, but that you have to take a chance now and then and you shouldn't be afraid to mess up in front of people. Especially at a jam session, for crying out loud. This time around at camp it felt like a safe place to be doing that sort of thing.
There were a good many people at camp who'd been there last fall, and it was fun to catch up on what they're doing and hear them play again. There are several families who've made this camp a part of their yearly routine and I think that's great. I like having "camp friends" and seeing them every year.
Back to camp diary page so you can read about the other years.
Check out theQuotes of the Week, some from last year plus a couple of new ones from this year.
Add your own comments to my camp scrapbook.
Back to Bo's Home Page.