NORTHEAST HERITAGE MUSIC CAMP Schedules What they say about NHMC

Located in the heart of northern Vermont's Green Mountains, the Northeast Heritage Music Camp celebrates the acoustic music and folk dance traditions of New England and eastern Canada, along with related traditions from Scotland, Ireland, and the southeastern United States. Come join us next June for a week of music instruction by world class players from these great traditions, dance to their music at our nightly contras, hear them in concert, and -- if you're so inclined -- jam with them or fellow tunes-aficionados into the wee hours.

Sun. June 13 -- Sat. June 19, 2010

Directors: Peter Langston & Ken Perlman

NHMC offers a highly diverse musical experience. We're a fiddle camp, but you can also study fretted instruments like guitar, banjo, and mandolin, not to mention flute, whistle, piano, piano accordion, and voice. We started out with a focus on Québecois music, Cape Breton music, New England music and other northeastern styles, but we soon broadened our scope to include such other traditional music styles as Irish music, Scottish music, old-timey (Appalachian) music, and Swedish music. What's more, if you enjoy ensemble work, we offer band classes, singing classes, and choruses.

For fiddlers, our format offers students the opportunity to study with four different teachers per day, each of whom is an expert in a different style of playing. Many students have informed us that by comparing differences among these various classes in bowing technique, ornamentation, and musical emphases, they have been able to substantially deepen their general understanding of how to express musical style on their instruments.

Teaching Staff: We are proud to announce the following instructors for 2010 (our sixth year):

Irish Fiddle		Seamus Connolly
Appalachian Fiddle		Alan Jabbour
Québecois Fiddle		Éric Favreau
Cape Breton Fiddle		Kimberley Fraser
Shape Note Sing, Southern String Band		Pete Sutherland
Flute, Whistle		Grey Larsen
Guitar, Mandolin		David Surette
Fingerstyle Guitar, New England Folksongs		Cindy Kallet
Contra-dance Caller, Swedish fiddle		David Kaynor
Piano Accordion, Piano		Jeremiah McLane
Novice Fiddle, Fiddle Technical Help		Sarah Hotchkiss
French Canadian Step-Dancing		Alice Bérubé
Highland Bagpipes		Tim Cummings
Clawhammer Banjo		Ken Perlman
Flatpick Guitar, Western Swing Band		Peter Langston

Don't miss this rare opportunity to study with world-famous teachers in a group small enough to guarantee personal attention.

Instructors in prior years: Short bios are on-line for the slate of teachers in our first year (2005), our second year (2006), our third year (2007). our fourth year (2008). and last year (2009). Click on any of the years to see the line-ups for those past camps.

A note on our instructors: All of our teachers are extraordinary musicians who either grew up within their musical traditions, or have devoted a major proportion of their lives to learning it and understanding its subtleties. They are also highly gifted teachers who are eager to pass on their technical skills and lore to students. This being said, they don't think of themselves as "stars" they are approachable, personable, and prepared to deal with students' questions and concerns.

General Program: NHMC features four class sessions per day, each one hour and fifteen minutes long. Classes start at approximately 9 AM and continue until about 5:00 p.m. with breaks for lunch and an afternoon free period. Our evening program (Monday through Thursday) features staff-led jams and faculty concerts, followed by contra-dancing with music provided by our teachers. The Friday evening program features a concert of class-recitals, followed by contra-dancing, with music provided by class ensembles. Over the course of the week, you'll have the opportunity to hear in concert, and dance to the music of all of our faculty members.

New This Year: We continue our policy of offering more levels and options. In addition to four levels of fiddle instruction (novice, lower intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced), we now offer two levels of flute, and two levels each of guitar, piano, and banjo. You can now take full programs of singing classes, band classes, or guitar classes. Some other options include piping repertoire and French repertoire.

The Schedule: There are three kinds of schedule...
· The "Daily" schedule shows all the classes that are the same each day through the week.
· The "Evening" schedule gives details for the events that change from day to day, such as concert and dance band lineups.
· The "Week-at-a-Glance" schedule gives an overview of the week, showing all the class periods, meals, concerts, dances, & jams throughout the entire camp session.

Opening Night: Following dinner on Sunday night, we will hold a general orientation and "Meet the Faculty" event, followed by a get-acquainted contra dance.

Jamming: Each day we schedule a period of faculty-led jams at several levels -- "Slow jams" for those who are just beginning to grow on their instruments, "Up-to-Speed" jams for advanced or adventurous players, "Intermediate" jams for tweeners, and "Vocal" jams for singers at all levels. Alternatively, there is plenty of space for small or medium sized groups to organize their own jams during an afternoon free period, or after the conclusion of the evening program.

Beginners We firmly believe that having the opportunity to hear and observe world-renowned masters at close quarters provides sufficient inspiration to keep beginners firmly committed to progressing on the instrument for months or even years to come!

Novice Fiddle Program: NHMC offers a novice program aimed at both entry level and budding fiddlers, taught by Montpelier's own Sarah Hotchkiss of Woodbury Strings.

French Canadian Step-Dancing: Our step-dancing class teaches a blend of steps from several francophone traditions, including Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and the Metis culture of Manitoba.

Directors: Northeast Heritage Music Camp is headed up by two established musicians with extensive experience in working at and running similar events in other parts of the US. Ken Perlman, who doubles as clawhammer banjo instructor, has helped design and operate the Maryland Banjo Academy, Banjo Camp North (Groton, Mass.), the Suwannee Banjo Camp (High Springs, Florida), the Midwest Banjo Camp (Olivet, Michigan), and is co-director of the American Banjo Camp (Seattle area). Peter Langston, who doubles as guitar instructor and swing band leader, has been a director of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop for over ten years, and he co-directs the American Banjo Camp. Among the many other camps at which Ken or Peter have served on staff are the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the California Coast Music Camp, Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Alta Sierra Dance Camp, Common Ground on the Hill, the Tennessee Banjo Institute, Sierra Swing Dance Camp, the Santa Barbara Harvest Festival, Smokey Mountains Banjo Academy, Camp Bluegrass, and Lark in the Morning Music Camp.

Location: NHMC takes place on the lovely Johnson State College Campus in Johnson, Vermont. The town of Johnson is not far from Stowe, the famous ski resort -- roughly thirty miles northeast of Burlington, and about the same distance northwest of the state capital, Montpelier. Travel directions and other information about JSC are on their website, www.jsc.edu/Athletics/DirectionsToConferenceOpponents.aspx.

MySpace: Are you on MySpace? If you are, why not visit our MySpace page at www.myspace.com/NortheastHeritageMusicCamp and befriend us?

Air Travel: The nearest airport of any size is at Burlington, Vermont; the two nearest major airports are at Manchester, New Hampshire (less than a three-hour trip away by car) and Montreal (roughly two hours or less by via car, but there is the border crossing to be taken into account).

Arrival Time: Registration/check-in begins on Sunday at 2 PM. Try to arrive by 4 p.m at the latest. This will give you plenty of time to register, get set up in your dorm space, and be ready for dinner and the orientation events that follow.

Departure Time: JSC asks that students vacate their dorm rooms by 11 a.m. on Saturday. A final breakfast is available at Stearns Hall.

Lodging: Lodging is in the JSC dormitories. Dorm rooms at JSC feature desks, closets or wardrobes, phone and internet connections, lights, doors that lock, and electrical outlets (in addition to beds and windows). Some of these things may seem obvious, but we've attended camps that didn't have them... Returning students take note: we now have to pay more for single room occupancy. You may avoid this increase by going with double room occupancy (see the registration form for rates)].
Be sure to read the "Student Letter" to find out what items you still need to bring with you in order to make your stay at the JSC Dorms as comfortable as possible.

Email and Cell Phones: Email can be checked on JSC library computers, 24 hours a day. Some cell-phone services are operative in the Johnson area.

Dining: All meals are served at the Stearns Hall dining facility, and feature omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan options. These meals have been better than typical college fare. They offer, in addition to main courses, such things as salad bars, desert bars, soft drinks/coffee-tea stations, tofu stir-fry prepared to order, roast beef carved to order, etc. Our experience has been that the food quality all across the board (no pun intended) is exceptionally good.

Other Camp Info: The "Student Letter," containing practical information such as a weather profile for the area and lists of what to bring and what to leave home, can be found online on the NHMC Camp Info page.

Photos from prior years
+ (2005) -- our first year + (2006) -- our second year + (2007) -- our third year + (2008) -- our fourth year + (2009) -- last year Click on any year to see pictures taken at that year's camp.

Registration: To attend Northeast Heritage Music Camp you must preregister. Space is allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. (And the earlier you register, the better chance you have of getting the kind of room you want.)

To register, print out the registration form, fill it in, and send it with your Tuition payment to the address indicated. You are always welcome to send the full amount, but early in the year a deposit can hold your place (see the section on Tuition below). Registrations are possible right up until the start of camp, (if there's still space) -- see the note above.

	NHMC REGISTRATION FORM Click here to get a printable registration form.

Note to prior attendees: We have records streching all the way back to 2006, so when you're filling in your registration form you can can always make reference to information that we already have by entering (for example) "SAME AS 2008." However, our registration form does change over time, so please fill in a new registration form for us each time, even if you've attended every year since the start because, in our ongoing effort to tailor camp to your needs, we may be asking new questions that you haven't answered before.

Ages: Northeast Heritage Music Camp is designed and outfitted for adults, but we know that adults come in a wide range of ages. If you wish to register a particularly young adult (i.e. younger than 18) please discuss it with us first. The best way to reach us is by email.

Tuition: The regular rate is $740 (in US funds), which covers room, board (double occupancy), and tuition. The college charges an extra $25 for the week for a single room. Vermont residents have an option to forgo lodging costs (room and board) and commute to the event; The "commuter" option costs $500. There is also an option for a spouse (or parent, or partner) accompanying a regular attendee who wants to go to the evening events, stay on campus, and eat the meals, but not attend classes or other daytime events; the "Spouse rate" is one half the regular rate.

The simplest approach is to send the full amount when you register, but a deposit of $200 can hold your place (as a Resident, Commuter, or Spouse) until April 15th, when all outstanding tuition balances must be paid up. After that date, all new registrations must be accompanied by full tuition payment.

Meals may be purchased individually in the dining hall, but JSC regulations require that all students in residence must sign up for the meal plan.

Refunds and Cancellations: If camp is full we can place your name on the waiting list. If for any reason we can't fit you into camp, or you don't want to go on the waiting list, your entire payment will be returned to you. Also if you get into camp but then cancel before June 1st, all but $100 of your payment will be returned. If you cancel on June 1st or after, up until camp starts, all but $200 will be returned. After that there's no refund -- so don't DO that!

On-line Payment: We have no provision for paying on-line, but if you intend to pay by credit card, you can register by email.

E-Mail Payment: To register by email, display the registration form; use cut-and-paste to copy it into your text editor (e.g. NotePad, Emacs, ConTEXT, vi, or SimpleEdit); and then edit your answers into the form. Answer everything EXCEPT the question about your credit card number; go ahead and include the expiration date, but not the card number. E-mail the edited registration form to <Registration@NortheastHeritageMusicCamp.com> with a Subject: line of "NHMC Registration." Then, send a separate email message to <Registration@NortheastHeritageMusicCamp.com> with the same Subject line, containing just your credit card number with no other explanation (we'll figure it out). That's all there is to it!

Of course, if you paid by credit card last year and your credit card number and expiration have not changed, you can just say "Same as last year" in place of the number.

Partial Weeks: We view our week-long program as an integrated whole, and we are understandably reluctant to break it down and offer it by the day. At NHMC the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts, and most of our expenses are the same whether a student is at camp three days or six. All that said, we know that from time to time someone may be dying to attend even though circumstances make it impossible for him or her to spend the whole week, and we sympathize. When such situations arise we will deal with them on a case-by-case basis, but prices will necessarily be higher when taken day-by-day.

Gift Registrations: If you want to give a session of camp as a gift for Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, a special birthday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, or even April Fool's Day, and you'd like to surprise the recipient, you can send us the payment with a minimally filled-out registration form showing the recipient's name and address as well as your email address and phone number, and a note saying it's to be a surprise. We'll reserve a place at camp and keep the secret until the time you've specified, at which point we'll collect the other registration information.

NHMC Flyer You can print out your own copies of the NHMC flyer to give to friends, to pass out at a jam or dance, or to leave at a local music store. Help us get the word out -- the more the merrier! This flyer is dated Tuesday, 10-Nov-2009 00:07:28 PST. Set the orientation to Landscape. Set the margins to 0.5 inch. (To set print orientation and margins in most versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape, click on "Page Setup..." in the "File" menu.)

NHMC Poster We have a letter-size (8.5" x 11") NHMC poster that you can print out and post anywhere that other musicians might see it - a local music store, a dance, a neighborhood bulletin board, etc. For this poster you should set the orientation to Portrait, set the print margins to 0.5", and enable Fit To Page, if you have it. (To set print margins and Orientation in most versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape, click on "Page Setup..." in the "File" menu.)

Email Problems: If you're having trouble with email to us bouncing back to you, please send a copy of the bounce message (with all the headers left intact) to psl@acm.org and we'll get it working again.

IMPORTANT! If you or your Internet service provider are using a "whitelist" or a list of approved senders to block unwanted email, be sure to add psl@acm.org, info@northeastheritagemusiccamp.com, and KenPerlman@aol.com to your list when you register or write to us, otherwise you won't be able to receive acknowledgements for payments, directions to camp, answers to your questions, or other emailings from us.

Silly Promotional Products Department . . . and more!

Contact Us

Send questions or comments about registration (Registration@NortheastHeritageMusicCamp.com)

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