Hey everyone,

I'm looking into Fiddle Camps for 2012.  Sort of have my eye on The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wa.  Heck, its a short Ferry ride from Whidbey Island were I spent a few year in the US Navy.  I live in Colorado and know there are a few camps here but I'd like to travel.  Anyone been to The Festival?  Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Ashokan Fiddle and Dance is the camp I'd recommend!!!! ...the best camp I've been to for the past 6 years, setup and run by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason and staff....awesome camp, wonderful people. fabulous food, the best teachers and this year will be the beginning of the new "green" campus..if the weather holds out. I go to Old-Time Week. Check out the website and see all the camps they offer. This camp is in the Catskills about 2.5 hours out of NYC.
Stay tuned...see ya at camp.
Diane

I know you're looking to travel out of state, but the rockygrass academy in Lyons in July is always well worth it. This year's instructors are darol anger, Brian wicklund and shad Cobb.

My gf Gail and went to Ashokan for Southern Week a couple of summers ago. That is where I picked up my first borrowed fiddle for the fiddle workshop given by Bev Smith. I got hooked. Bought my first eBay fiddle the day after I returned.

The class was called Fiddle 1 1/2, for those who already know what the bow is for. We learned one tune in one week. It was enough encouragement for me.

Larry

I think that you should choose a camp with classes that match your ability level. Some of the camps accommodate beginners and some are focused on more experienced players. Be sure to take a recording device if you go because you can only retain so much info without one. You also may need to choose a camp that matches the styles you like to play. Some are only about one or two styles so do your research. If you are just a beginner, you'll have to learn a lot of the basics before you can apply a style but it is good to start out on tunes that you will play in the future. The camp that I liked the best was Mark O'Conner's Fiddle Camp when it was just outside of Nashville. Now his camps are in NYC and California. One of my students recently went to Jay and Molly's Ashoken camp and he loved it. He is into old time and his band plays lots of dances. Another one of my students went to Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp and he was just getting started in guitar and the teacher was going way too fast for him to keep up and he didn't have a good experience.

Here's another great camp for Old - Time Week with classes for all levels and different instruments. Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, NC. See the home page on Google. This is one fabulous place...They have different weeks for different styles....Fiddle Week and Old-Time being great. Camps are offered July-August. Yes, take a recording device with you. Both Ashokan and Swannanoa let you change classes and instructors at the beginning of the week if the class is too advanced or too beginning for you...these two camps really want you to to have a great time and learn.
The week-long camps are held on the campus of Warren Wilson College...great teachers and staff. Just like being in college for a week...lots of jamming. I highly recommend it for beginners up to advanced players.
Diane

...me toooooooooo Promising myself in 2012 I am going to focus on some festivals, workshops and the such.......

If you're into Irish, you might check out the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat near Dallas, Texas. Don't yet know who the headliners will be for next October, but this year I went to Liz Carroll's class, which was pretty amazing. Martin Hayes and Rose Conway Flanagan were also fiddle teachers. It's usually near Halloween weekend. Tons of great music.

The Leahy's had an Irish & Canadian music camp in Canada that was highly recommended. My friend, fine young fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves, speaks highly of Valley of the Moon. There's a spring camp in Big Sur that fiddler Grace Forrest was talking about. Ashokan is a wonderful camp. They have 3 theme weeks, Western & Swing, Northern (northern styles like Fr.Canadian & Scandy), and Southern. Ashokan does not have an "old-time week"; it's O-T & Cajun, with a nice proportion of classes in each. They give squares & contras, and the social dancing is Cajun & zydeco. Augusta camp at the college in Elkins also has a number of theme weeks, some historical-cultural-crafts, others music-centered. A good place to study Cajun accordeon. Balfa Camp (Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage camp) in LA is a good one to meet a variety of Cajun players and hear many great bands. Red Stick Ramblers just added a camp to their very popular BlackPot festival, which just finished up yesterday. If you have a preferred professional fiddler or band, and that person/group has a website, you can find info about many other good camps & festivals by reading where your favorites will be teaching.

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Originally posted by jacroom

Hey everyone,

I'm looking into Fiddle Camps for 2012.  Sort of have my eye on The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wa.  Heck, its a short Ferry ride from Whidbey Island were I spent a few year in the US Navy.  I live in Colorado and know there are a few camps here but I'd like to travel.  Anyone been to The Festival?  Any other suggestions?

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I started going to Fiddle Tunes (as it's generally known) in its second year, 1978, and I've only missed one year since! It's a truly amazing festival, encompassing many fiddling traditions (and many accompanying instruments as well), and there is really no other festival like it in the country. Fiddle Tunes over the years has been a powerful force in my musical development, and I've been introduced to music - and people! - from many traditions that I never would have otherwise encountered, and my life is much the richer for it. You've gotten a lot of good suggestions here, and I've been to several of the camps mentioned, but you absolutely can't go wrong with Fiddle Tunes - and it's in a beautiful location, to boot! Highly recommended!

Edited by - Brendan Doyle on 11/01/2011 03:58:11

Hi, first time poster here. I am from Eastern New Mexico and have played guitar for a long time and started playing fiddle late in life. I greatly enjoy the posts here and have picked up some great information so thanks to all.

I have had good experiences at http://campbluegrass.com/index.html. It takes place during the 3rd week of July and is in Levelland, Texas which is roughly 30 miles west of Lubbock.

Thanks,    Mike

You should go to Megan Lynch's fiddle camp. I went to her youth camp last year and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!

I can recommend both Ashokan's Southern week and Augusta's Old-Time week. My mom (who plays guitar and is learning banjo) and I (fiddle) went to Ashokan in 2010 and Augusta this year (it was closer for us). We loved both of them.

Ashokan, for us, was our first music camp experience and was just an eye-opener to how fun and interesting such a thing could be. We're from Appalachia but hadn't really studied old-time music nor really considered that that was a thing one did, if that makes sense. We were just learning to play, and Mom had been to folk-dance camps in the 60's, and thought a camp would be fun. We took as many classes as we could, went to dances at night, jammed a little bit when we dared, and just loved it. Ashokan was my first real try at learning fiddle tunes by ear, and it made me brave enough to try going to local jams back home, which has been a lot more fun and educational than playing by myself in my apartment.

But Ashokan was something like 13 hours drive away for us (Virginia to New York). So we went to Augusta this year. And also loved it. While I enjoyed taking a variety of classes at Ashokan, I liked Augusta's focus on just one class, and felt I maybe learned a bit more that way. I also liked that Augusta, being in WV, could bring in these old-time fiddlers and have awesome concerts several times in the week. I missed, a bit, the small, we're-all-doing-the-same-thing feel of Ashokan, since at Augusta they were also having dance and vocal weeks, and so it's bigger and you don't get to know everyone. But I jammed quite a bit more at Augusta (which was probably more me feeling more comfortable with it), and a four-hour-drive was much better than 13. We might try Swannanoa next summer, just to try everything within driving distance, even though we did love Augusta. We'll be at one or the other.

If you're voting on food, though, Ashokan wins hands down.

Well I decided to put in for Rockygrass Fiddle Academy. I'll know around November 18th (by the way the lottary sign-up is still open) whether or not I got into the Fiddle Class. If not, I'll travel.

Thanks for your suggestions and I guess things are still fluid.

Good luck - maybe I'll see you there!  As you probably noticed, the instructors I listed above for RG Academy were incorrect (planet bluegrass still had the 2011 instructors on their site at the time).  2012 instructors are Gabe Witcher, Jeremy Garrett (Infamous Stringdusters), and one more TBA. 

Don't matter to me. Its all learning.

Jack,

Camps are great fun and a good place to meet folks. In addition, I'd find a local fiddle teacher you could work with on a more regular basis and get hooked into the playing scene in your ares. One of the best fiddlers of all time - Miles Krassen - lives not too far from you in Boulder. He would be great for either old time or Irish. What type of music are you into?

Dan

Thanks fiddledan, I've been seeing a great teacher, Adam Gladblum, for just over a year. I wouldn't trade him in for anyone.

Great to hear Jack. BTW, in a "duh" moment, did you look into Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp? I taught there a few years ago and it was a GREAT camp and right in your "backyard". Here's the link. http://www.rmfiddle.com/

I'll be doing a one day in Evart Michigan in July if you get that way.

Dan
http://www.Clawdan.com
 

I didn't get selected for Rockygrass so I'll look at something else. I have checked into Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp and almost went last year but I think I'm going to take a hard look at the Rolland camp in Westcliffe. It appears to be a little more Fiddle intense than RMFC. Guess I'll check with my teacher and see what he thinks.

Hi Jack....You might want to consider...Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington State and my favorite...Askokan Fiddle and Dance...this one has three camps for fiddles: Southern Week, Northern Week and Swing Week...plus a new camp for guitar...Guitar Week.
Check the websites for these.
Diane in SoCal

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Originally posted by jacroom

I didn't get selected for Rockygrass so I'll look at something else. I have checked into Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp and almost went last year but I think I'm going to take a hard look at the Rolland camp in Westcliffe. It appears to be a little more Fiddle intense than RMFC. Guess I'll check with my teacher and see what he thinks.

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 I met the the Rolland boys a few months ago. They said it was a great camp  - (They might be slightly prejudiced tho!) They tried to convince me to go the day before it started but naturally that wasn't very much time notice!

Another great summer place for camps is in Asheville, NC. Visit the website of the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College for an idea of their different, weekly camps...this place is awesome. I have attend many of these at the college.
Stay tuned. Diane

I'm considering going to the Catskills Irish Arts Week. this summer. I've never been to a camp before.

Rolland camp would be a great choice. Many styles and they understand the music.

Dan

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Originally posted by fiddledan

Rolland camp would be a great choice. Many styles and they understand the music.

Dan

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   I heard about this one too late as well and am hoping to attend next year.  That whole family was awesome to watch and listen to at the AZ State Fiddle Competition.