2009
Traditional Village Harmony 9-Day Adult Workshops
Oregon Cascades Labor Day Week Camp
September 4-13
Led by Patty Cuyler, Larry Gordon, third teacher TBA
This will be our third annual Labor Day week singing camp at St. Benedict’s Lodge in the Cascades. Bounded on one side by the wild and scenic McKenzie River and on the other by national forest, the 70-acre complex is an inspiring setting for a singing retreat.
Larry and Patty will bring an eclectic selection of music to teach, aiming for a broad introduction to the exciting traditional singing styles that Village Harmony is particularly known for: American shape-note, gospel and Appalachian music, Balkan village songs, Corsican, Georgian and Ukrainian polyphony. We’ll put together a dance band with those of you who play instruments, so bring them along!
Camp participants can look forward to close encounters with Oregon’s famous old-growth fir trees, off-hours hikes to waterfalls, lava flows, wildflower meadows, and forever-view peaks within close range of the retreat center. The McKenzie River is swift, cold and dangerous, but fine swimming can be found in nearby lakes and creeks, and natural hot springs. St. Benedict’s is a Dominican retreat center set in the heart of the
Cathedral Forest in McKenzie, Oregon, about 50 miles east of Eugene at the edge of the Willamette National Forest. Accommodations are largely single rooms with shared bathhouse facilities; a handicapped-accessible guesthouse is also available for our use. We will do our own cooking— this camp is famous for its great menus and mid-camp Georgian feast— in the center’s wonderfully-equipped and spacious kitchen.
Up to 40 participants.
At St Benedict’s Lodge, McKenzie, Oregon.
$725
Village Harmony founder and director LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing. Larry is an inspired organizer with an unerring eye for good repertoire and a unique knack of pulling together interesting combinations of singers and letting them shine. His patient and relaxed, yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic adhoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.
Co-director PATTY CUYLER of Marshfield, Vermont, is an energetic, dynamic workshop leader and director with special expertise in teaching Corsican, Georgian and South African singing and dance music. Her passion for honest, direct music coaxes fierce, forthright singing out of even the most timid singers. An instrumentalist from an early age, Patty is a brass player and self-taught accordion player. Since 1995 she has co-directed Village Harmony and Northern Harmony with Larry; in 2002 she founded a women’s Corsican trio and began the Montpelier World Music Chorus and Boston Harmony in 2004. Patty has edited and published two volumes of The Folk Rhythm South African songbook series, as well as three books of Georgian folk and sacred songs. She has also compiled a large collection of her own arrangements of old gospel-quartet music.
St. Benedict’s Lodge, McKenzie River, Oregon
Located on the McKenzie River at the edge of the Willamette National Forest, St. Benedict’s is an inspiring setting for singing, with close encounters with Oregon’s famous old-growth fir trees, off-hours hikes to waterfalls, lava flows, wildflower meadows, and forever-view peaks. There is fine swimming to be had in nearby lakes and creeks, and relaxing soaks in natural hot springs. There’s a big lawn in front - perfect for volleyball, frisbee, and dancing.