I used to be crazy about fishing and I particularly enjoyed catfishing. I would use a nice chunk of smelly bait, made out of liver, bread dough, and cotton, (a very secret recipe) press it onto my hook, and cast the line out. In my neighborhood the best way to catch catfish was bottom fishing, no bobbers allowed. We would set our rods in the crook of a y-shaped stick stuck in the ground and watch the line. You would know when a fish was tasting the bait because all of a sudden the line would go a little slack, and it was almost time to set the hook. Sometimes the fish would run with the bait and set the hook itself, sometimes you would wait for that moment when the line went really slack, letting you know the fish had picked up the bait, and whammo you would pick up your rod and set the hook. With a little practice on how to read the line you and your buddies could spend all afternoon catching nice cooking-sized catfish; easy when you knew how. But it didn’t really matter if the fish were biting. There was plenty of time to fool around with your friends while waiting for the fish to figure out there was free food on the bottom of the lake.
While I am pretty sure we won’t have workshops on catfishing, or how to make secret bait, at music camp I am sure that we will be able to show you how play a lot of good music and maybe tell you a few bluegrass secrets. And yes, there will be plenty of time to fool around with your friends and there will be plenty of time to pick all that music you are going to learn.
We have a really good lineup of teachers and some we haven’t seen for many, many years. Jack Tuttle will be teaching Bluegrass Band II?, Kathy Kallick will be teaching Bluegrass Band III?, while Bruce Molsky is going to be teaching Old-Time Band II/III?. The ever popular Bill Evans will be enlightening all those early stage 5-string prodigies with Bluegrass Banjo I?, while Wes Corbett will be focusing on Bluegrass Banjo II/III? and Joe Newberry of the Jump Steady Boys will be teaching the secrets of Old-Time Banjo II/III. Trisha Gagnon, a name familiar to many of our campers as bass player for John Reischman and the Jaybirds, will be teaching Acoustic Bass I? while Sam Grisman, who already has a bluegrass, jazz, and you name it, bass pedigree will be teaching Acoustic Bass II/III?. Since Geoff owns one of those guitars modified with a hubcap he is partial to the camp lineup for dobro. Mike Witcher will be teaching Bluegrass Dobro I/II? while Sally Van Meter, who we haven’t seen at camp for an awfully long time, will be teaching Bluegrass Dobro III. ? Our fiddle Corps…oh fiddle sticks we don’t have fiddle corps in bluegrass. Our Fiddle teachers are John Mailander, Beginning Fiddle I; ?Paul Shelasky Bluegrass Fiddle II/III?; and Tom Sauber Old-Time Fiddle II/III?. Jim Nunally is coming back to teach Guitar with Singing I/II?, while Rafe Stefanini will be teaching Old-Time Guitar Backup I/II, and Molly Tuttle teaching Guitar Solos II/III?. Between the music camp and the 40th Father’s Day Festival we are going to experience Monster Mandolin Madness (imagine a deep echoing voice announcing that while you picture a giant mandolin spewing flames out of its headstock….forgive my flights of fancy here). John Reischman is at camp this year teaching Mandolin I?, Chris Henry is covering Mandolin II?, while Mike Compton will be off the starting line with Mandolin III?. Some of our most popular classes are the vocal workshops. Carol McComb will be teaching Traditional Singing Styles II/III while Keith Little & Laurie Lewis are teaching Harmony Singing. No music camp would be complete without Kathleen Rushing’s Fungrass which is a music-based program for kids aged 4-10 involving song, dance, musical games, jamming, tie-dye and crafts, water and bubble play, and serendipitous moments of musical fun and learning!
Registration for the 2015 CBA Music Camp will open on February 7 come rain or shine. The 15th CBA Summer Music Camp will take place June 14th to 17th at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, California. More information is available at the music camp website http://cbamusiccamp.com. And we would like to remind you that you can give CBA Music Camp as a gift for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Graduation, Birthdays Valentine’s Day, and even April Fool’s Day. Check it out at our web site.
