A FREE In-Store Concert by Elderly's second Bluegrass Ensemble Workshop students

Thursday , May 26, 2005
07:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
in-store performance (free)

This is our story and we're stickin' to it: Elderly instructors Keith Billik and Alan Epstein decided late last year that there was a need for a "Bluegrass Ensemble Workshop" course, to help inexperienced bluegrass musicians learn to "play nice with others"--to learn appropriate jam etiquette, etc. Professional musicians both, Billik and Epstein prepared a syllabus and taught the first seven-week Ensemble Workshop course with such successful results (proven by the students who offered a free concert for the public at the end of the course) that they decided to offer a second such course on the heels of the first.

Now the second Ensemble Workshop course is nearing its end and will culminate in a free concert on Thursday evening, May 26, 7:00 p.m., by the graduating students, who will show off their newly-learned ensemble talents (how to arrange a "break," when to step in for your break, how NOT to step on another player's break...) and prove that they, too, can overcome the inexorable stage fright problem, from which all performers suffer. The eight-member Elderly Mountain Boys band consists of Bob Ashbaugh, Evan Cochran, Mike Erwine, Dave Haggadone, Steve Schneider, Joey Schultz, Kent Refsal, and Johathan Walton.

Those of us who haven't ever tried to join a bluegrass jam were perhaps not even aware that there is such a thing as "jam etiquette" and might wonder "Why a bluegrass ensemble course?" The best answer we've found comes from an anecdote printed by Tim Little, editor of The Michigan Bluegrass Newsletter, in which magazine Tim offered his whole-hearted support for Elderly's newly-offered ensemble course--and an explanation for why Elderly is providing a valuable service with the seven-week course:
"...I studied and practiced for a couple of years...'round about 1977 I set off for the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival with a newly purchased Gibson RB250 banjo. I had lofty dreams of sliding seamlessly into the numerous jam sessions which I had ovserved in my several years as a festival audience member.
It was not to be! That summer I learned the hard way that there was a whole world of rules, conventions, and etiquette surrounding Bluegrass jam sessions and ensemble playing.
It took several painful years and seeing a lot of musicians' backs, before I finally picked up on how to fit in reasonably well. It's a shame that other fledgling musicians should have to go through such a frequently painful initiation process.
Now they don't."
Tim proceeded to explain how Elderly's newly-instituted ensemble course taught pickers "the ways as well as the taboos of bluegrass jamming."
"Did the class succeed? You bet," Tim wrote. How would he know? He and Roberta were right there in the front row during the February in-store concert by the first band of graduates.
Join us for Elderly's second ensemble concert on Thursday evening, May 26. Bring the family, introduce the kids to "the high lonesome sound" of traditional American music, and be part of the audience that helps the Elderly Mountain Boys overcome their stage fright.