2020 Faculty
John McCutcheon
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Appleseed Collective
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Ellis Delaney
Tasana Camara
Vidar Skrede & Randy Gosa
Virtual Folk College: May 22-23
Folk College was to be this weekend, and we're so sad that coronavirus kept us from gathering, so we're presenting an abbreviated version.
Welcome to our first (and hopefully only) Virtual Folk College. It's free, it's easy, it's tiny, and we want you to be there!
Friday, May 22
6:30 to 7:30 pm Zoom Cocktail Hour
This will be a chance to see each other and chat via Zoom. Bring a show-and-tell item if you'd like, and of course BYOB! Toward the end, we'll explain the online jam that follows.
Here is the Zoom Cocktail Hour Link
7:30 Jamming via jammr.net
See the notes below on how to jam via Jammr.
Saturday, May 23
2:00 pm Zoom Open Mic / Show & Tell
If you want to perform, sign up in the chat box once the session has started.
Here is the Zoom Open Mic / Show & Tell Link
7:30 Jamming via jammr.net
See the notes below on how to jam via Jammr.
How to Join the Jam
Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23, 7:30 pm
PREP
Before the jam, you'll need to download jammr.net, create an account, and get headphones. The only rule besides HAVE FUN is YOU MUST WEAR HEADPHONES OR EARBUDS. Although you can connect without them, the result will be loud squealing feedback heard by other people. On a Mac, you'll get a security message when downloading - go to Security within System Preferences to override.
WHAT WE'LL PLAY
Because of the way jammr is set up, rounds work really well. We'll work from the rounds at https://kensharpbus.wixsite.com/website-1, with sheet music there thanks to Ken Sharp. We can stick with simpler rounds for those who play by ear. After a few rounds, we'll switch to "regular" jam tunes. It takes a while to set each one up, so we'll play through each more times than usual.
AT JAM TIME
Open jammr, login, select the jam labeled 'Folk College', and click 'connect'. After a delay, you'll hear music - you can start playing! You'll see the names of everyone in the jam, but won't see your own name. You can mute people by clicking next to their name. If our jam is big, mute most everyone except Linda and Karen (khirshon51), then add people back as long as it isn't unwieldy for you. Turn 'metronome' off. Turn 'send' on. If you're confused about 'send', just make sure it's a different color than 'metronome'. Linda will have a metronome going that we'll follow. Any problems, questions, suggestions, type in the chat area at the bottom. Feel free to leave our jam and start others if you'd like.
TRY IT IN ADVANCE
If you have time, try it out in advance of our jam to make sure it works for you. The etiquette of jammr is that it's fine to connect to any jam and not considered rude to leave or to just listen and not play. If you want to try a one-on-one session in advance, email jam@folkcollege.com and someone from our jammr team will contact you.
TROUBLESHOOTING
See https://kensharpbus.wixsite.com/website-1 for more tips.
Folk College Postponed to 2021
Dear Friends,
Folk College is about our passion for people and music. It is a supportive community of folk music lovers that keeps growing and evolving to meet the needs of musicians of all levels and backgrounds. The sense of community is what we love most about Folk College, and we're so sad that we won't be able to see you this year. Obviously we need to put everyone's health and safety first, so we must postpone Folk College for May 2020.
On a brighter note, we'll be able to offer this year's line-up next year. Just about all of our teacher have committed for Folk College 2021, including John McCutcheon, The Appleseed Collective, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Vidar Skrede, Randy Gosa, and most of the others. We're thrilled to have this fabulous line-up in our Folk College future!
If you have registered for this year, you can receive a refund, roll your registration over to 2021, or donate all or part of your registration to Folk College or the Huntingdon County Arts Council. We did incur expenses and would certainly welcome any donations to help us cover these losses.
Meanwhile, we hope that our fall event, Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering, will be a lovely, healthy reunion for us all! Please save the weekend of Sept 11-13, 2020, check folkgathering.com for specifics (coming soon), and hopefully the pandemic will be a thing of the past.
We hope that all of you are staying healthy and playing lots of music!
Peace, love, and music,
Linda Littleton, Founder and Artistic Director
Holly Foy, Program Director
John Kearns, Executive Director, Huntingdon County Arts Council
That's the way that the world goes 'round.
You're up one day and the next you're down.
– John Prine
Folk College 2020 Postponed
Workshops • Concerts • Coaching Sessions Jamming • Singing • Dancing
• A fun & friendly weekend of playing & hearing folk music
• Warm, welcoming, and fun
• Pick up an instrument and rekindle your love of music
• Plenty to do for musicians of all levels
• Lots for non-musicians too
• Located on a beautiful college campus in the mountains of Pennsylvania
A Truly Special Weekend
Folk College was founded to help more people learn to play music together. It is a non-competitive environment where you can kindle—or rekindle—your love of playing through folk music. Each year the staff includes nationally known musicians and wonderfully nurturing teachers from a broad spectrum of folk styles. Within one weekend, you’ll have a choice of workshops ranging from old time to Celtic to blues to international, and you’ll get to sing, dance, play, and listen.
Easy to Participate
Many workshops, with subjects like “Learning to Jam,” “Tunes that are Cooler Than They are Hard,” and “How to Play by Ear” are designed to encourage musicians who have been “stuck in their living room,” haven't picked up their instrument since high school, or maybe just wanted to play an instrument but never dared!
Non-Musicians Welcome
From “Try a Banjo” and “Try a Fiddle” to “Beginning Harmonica” and “Beginning Jaw Harp” and “Fun & Easy Percussion,” there are workshops designed for the total non-musician in mind.
Full of Gems for All Levels
In addition to workshops geared toward beginners and non-musicians, there's plenty of interest for the intermediate and advanced musician. Folk College participants return year after year and many are teachers and performers in their own right. Whether you explore a new genre, take home a new concept, or jam with an erhu, musicians of all levels will discover many gems at Folk College.
Student Bands: Coached by Pros
The culmination of the weekend’s activities is the Student Bands Concert. You’ll choose from an eclectic list of options and be coached by a professional musician in that genre. Or if you're attending Folk College with your own band, you can request to be coached together. Most participants agree that the Student Band experience is what makes Folk College unique, and certainly an audience of your peers is one of the most appreciative you'll ever have!
Concerts, Jamming, Dancing
Each evening features a staff concert followed by staff-led jam sessions that many people have said are the best jams they've attend all year. Saturday after the concert, there’s a contradance with an open band. And the finale on Sunday is the Student Bands Concert – so you’ll go home with a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Read On
So go ahead and browse these pages and be sure to check us out on Facebook. You'll get a sense of how people feel about Folk College, and you'll understand why they keep coming back. We hope you'll join us!
Folk College is a project of Simple Gifts and the Huntingdon County Arts Council, supported in part by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour.
And If You Love Folk College . . .
Mark your calendar for:
Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering
September 11-13, 2020
Our sister festival, Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering, is a weekend of music workshops, jamming, concerts and dancing at Greenwood Furnace State Park in Central Pennsylvania. Musicians of all levels as well as non-musicians who wish to listen, try an instrument or pick up a dance step or two, are invited to participate in workshops designed and led by professional instructors.
The Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering is organized by the same people that bring you Folk College. A special focus of the Folk Gathering is Pennsylvania's musical traditions, and each year we honor a Pennsylvania Heritage Musician to celebrate their contribution to the musical heritage of our state.
Want More Information?
Our Folk College booklet has all of the information in one handy publication: schedule, faculty info, background and more. Booklets will be mailed in March. To request your copy, send your name and address to:
Volunteer
Both festivals need volunteers. Full or partial scholarships are available in exchange for helping with the festivals. Contact us at info@folkcollege.com for info.
Link to Mobile Website (optimized for smartphones)
Ranked Top 25 Summer Music Camp
Folk College is honored to be listed as one of the top 25 summer music camp by Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Sponsored By:
What Participants Are Saying
Want More Information?
Our Folk College booklet has all of the information in one handy publication: schedule, faculty info, background and more. To request your copy, send your name and address to:
