A 7-Week BLUEGRASS ENSEMBLE WORKSHOP with Keith Billik and Alan Epstein

Thursday , January 13, 2005
07:00 pm - February 24, 2005
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($75.00)

Two of Elderly's fine instructors are thinking outside the box in implementing this seven-week Bluegrass Ensemble Workshop for bluegrass afficianados who have a basic familiarity with their instrument and with bluegrass music in general but who lack ensemble-playing, performance, or jamming experience. Prior group-playing or stage experience is NOT necessary. [BUT NOTE: This Ensemble Workshop is NOT intended for beginners who have not yet learned the basics of their instrument.]

Commencing on Thursday evening, January 13, 2005, 7-8 p.m., this Bluegrass Ensemble course continues for the next six consecutive Thursdays (from 7-8 p.m.) and concludes with a special event on the final night of class, Thursday, February 24. [If a class session is cancelled due to inclement weather requiring Elderly to close its doors, any remaining sessions will move forward one week.] The seven one-hour classes are scheduled for January 13, 20, and 27, and February 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2005.

Keith and Alan have designed the course to improve your jamming skills and increase your confidence by offering you "real-world" ensemble experience that will develop your musicianship and competence playing in groups. "For many beginning and intermediate players, it can be difficult and intimidating to find others to form a group with....ensemble playing is a much different environment than solo practicing," Keith and Alan explain in the syllabus that will be provided to all attendees. The course focuses on ensemble interaction, creating professional arrangements of standard bluegrass repertoire, and confronting a problem that's common even among professional musicians: STAGE FRIGHT.

On the seventh and final night of the course, attendees will participate in an in-store concert--a recital of sorts--in Elderly's showroom during business hours, in order to provide you with an opportunity to showcase your newly-acquired confidence and the arrangements you've worked on for six weeks--for your family, friends, and an appreciative public. If this aspect of the course sounds scary, then this ensemble workshop is surely meant for you.

Experienced professional bluegrass musicians/instructors Keith and Alan will offer direction, serve as ensemble coaches, and focus on ensemble interaction.

Keith Billik is Elderly's showroom supervisor and bluegrass banjo expert on the sales floor, in addition to offering all levels of banjo instruction. While the banjo is currently his instrument of choice, he has also performed on acoustic and electric guitar, upright bass, piano, saxophone, lap steel, and other instruments. He mastered many aspects of the three-finger bluegrass banjo style while playing with Hot-Toe-Mitty, sharing a popular blend of bluegrass, swing, and folk music around Michigan, including headlining and festival appearances. Keith is in demand as a sideman on Michigan's live music scene, and he has contributed to various studio projects.

Alan Epstein was the founder and director of the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra. He has been playing bluegrass music for 25 years, and as a mandolin player and singer he has played in bluegrass bands in Colorado, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, studying mandolin with some of the top players in the country, including Butch Baldassari, Tim O'Brien, and Charlie Rappaport.
Alan has taught mandolin successfully for years, and for two years was on the "Bluegrass Week" teaching staff at the prestigious Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, West Virginia.
Since his recent move to Michigan, he is a welcome addition to Elderly's teaching staff.

All bluegrass instruments are welcome--and needed--for this ensemble course: guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, and there's also a category for "other" instruments, such as Dobro.... Workshop spaces are limited for each instrument, however (nobody wanting a bluegrass ensemble consisting of nothing but 20 resonator banjos, right?), so sign up soon.

Although Alan and Keith are competent to offer specific advice to each instrumentalist in the workshop, the focus will be on interaction among musicians. In addition to offering ensemble-playing experience and valuable hints and tips on jamming etiquette, Alan and Keith stress the following in the syllabus: "The main goal of the course will be to make you feel comfortable and confident in an ensemble environment. Upon completion of the course, it is our goal that all of you will be ready, willing and able to sit in at the next parking-lot jam session....Don't forget the most important goal of them all--HAVE FUN!"

We can't resist closing with a few words from Fleischhauer and Rosenberg's excellent book Bluegrass Odyssey. In addition to explaining that "Fear mixes with the adrenaline [sic] that begins flowing...building to the release that is performance," the authors share (page 11) a tidbit that supports the benefits to be gained from a Bluegrass Ensemble Course ending with a public recital: "The intensity of bluegrass performance also comes in part from knowing that the musicians themselves aren't always certain what to expect from each other, particularly when the focus shifts from ensemble to solo." What fun!

Sign up and join the "jam." Perhaps Elderly will also offer an Old-Time Ensemble Workshop or.... Check here for future events.