Camps and workshops
Summer 2010 Residential Adult Camps
New England July Adult Camp
July 18-25, 2010 (7 nights)
Led by John Harrison, Marytha Paffrath, Peggy Larson
A seven-day long residential singing camp for adults in the hills of western Massachusetts led by three dynamic Village Harmony leaders. John Harrison, director of the Montpelier Gospel Choir and long-time Village Harmony teacher, will lead the group with soul-filled gospel songs. Marytha Paffrath, the principal percussionist of the women's ensemble Libana, will delight singers with her high energy and eclectic repertoire, but perhaps most of all with her drumming expertise as she leads willing campers in drumming technique, African rhythms, and playing for dance. (Marytha will provide a number of drums, but also hopes some participants will bring their own.) And jazz singer Peggy Larson, who won accolades for her teaching at our 2008 winter weekend, will delight participants with an eclectic mix of fascinating traditions, including yoik yodeling techniques from the Sami people of Scandinavia and 'mouth music' and sean-nos ballad singing from Ireland.
The group will be in residence at Woolman Hill Quaker retreat center outside Deerfield, MA. Participants will stay in the main lodge building and in the rustic cabins dotting the 170-acre property. The week will culminate with a single performance in Ashfield, MA on Sunday afternoon.
At this session, you will be immersed in the traditional Village Harmony aesthetic: the transformational power of living in a close community that lives, works and socializes intensely together while studying to prepare a concert program. The kitchen will be overseen by a master cook, with participants sharing in the preparation of meals. The week will culminate with a single performance in Ashfield, MA on Sunday afternoon. Bring along your instruments and you will find yourself in a village band for the dancing or accompanying some of the singing.
In residence at Woolman Hill Quaker Center, Deerfield, MA
$675
Leaders
JOHN HARRISON grew up training in the classic boy’s choir tradition, but upon graduating from high school escaped to New York City where he sang with rock n’ roll bands in the late seventies punk scene. During his 13 years in NYC, he sang, played saxophone and performed in a long-running downtown musical-comedy revue with Dennis Leary, The Uptown Horns, Adam Roth and other musical and comedic luminaries. Upon moving to Vermont in the early 1990s, John combined a desire to sing sacred music again with his experience in jazz, blues and R&B, by starting a small gospel singing group in Plainfield. John has led the Montpelier Gospel Choir for the past 14 years. This is John's ninth year leading Village Harmony.
MARYTHA PAFFRATH, a singer, accomplished percussionist and avid student of world rhythms and techniques, tours nationally and internationally with the acclaimed world music ensemble Libana. She is the director of the Instrumental Music and Dance Program at the Cambridge Friend’s School in Cambridge, MA, where she brings her 29 years of teaching, and commitment to multicultural arts to the development of faculty, programs and curriculum. She infuses her lively yet patient teaching style into vocal and drum workshops around the country, focusing on international repertoire, rhythm and solid technique. An innovator, teacher, composer and writer, Marytha believes deeply in bringing the simplicity of rhythm and song to the complexity of the world. This will be Marytha's fourth year teaching with Village Harmony.
PEGGY LARSON, from St. Paul, Minnesota, is a jazz singer, voice teacher and choral conductor specializing in
both avante garde jazz singing and world music traditions. Peggy is
currently the leader of Earthtones, a women’s world music
ensemble in St. Paul. As a long-time resident of the Netherlands, Peggy
founded and led the improvisational jazz choir Tamam and the women’s
group Peggy’s
Angels, popular for their performances of jazz and world music. Peggy
has traveled widely to study ethnic music, and will
be teaching an eclectic mix of fascinating traditions, including yoik yodeling
techniques from the Sami people of Scandinavia and ‘mouth music’ and sean-nos ballad
singing from Ireland.
Woolman hill Quaker Center
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Woolman Hill is a Quaker retreat and conference center situated on 110 ridge-top acres of meadows and woodlands in western Massachusetts. We will sleep in bedrooms in the main farmhouse and four rustic cabins in the wooded areas, with primarily dormitory-style housing.. The main lodge also has sitting rooms and a large, open dining hall which will double as a rehearsal space; the separate historic Quaker meeting house--relocated board by board from Cape Cod--can also be used for singing sessions.