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Banjo camp in Michigan
By KELSEY HOLM, Courier Staff Writer
EAST LANSING, MICH. --- This summer, the Midwest will host its own version of "Dueling Banjos."
The weekend of June 3 offers banjo enthusiasts the opportunity to learn more about their unique instrument, with the first annual Midwest Banjo Camp.
The camp was dreamed up by Ken Perlman, a banjo musician and director of many other similar camps across the country and Stan Werbin, founder of the world-renowned Elderly Instruments music store, located a few miles west of the Michigan State University campus.
"Stan and I had talked about this theoretically for years, and it seemed the time was right. Elderly has such huge access to banjo players, and they've sold thousands of banjos over the years," says Perlman. "It's where people in the whole region go to buy equipment and recordings."
The camp's instructors --- all professional banjo players --- are a who's who of the most renowned banjo artists in the country. Two types of banjo play will be taught at the camp --- bluegrass and old-time.
Mac Benford, one of the camp's old-time instructors, says bluegrass was popularized by Earl Scruggs in the 1940s. One version of old-time banjo, called clawhammer, is closely related to the way the ancestor of the banjo was played in Africa.
"It's probably one of the oldest styles of banjo playing," says Benford of the clawhammer style. "The thing that's so unique about it is that rather than plucking the strings with the fleshy part of your fingertips, you strike the strings with your fingernail going downward."
In addition to holding ten class sessions over the course of the weekend, the Banjo Camp will feature staff-led jams, a faculty concert, demonstrations and a special novice program.
"There's a wide range (of levels), but most of the students have been playing for 10 to 30 years," says Perlman. "We are getting some beginners, and that's why we have a novice track --- a special set of classes for people who have been playing less than one year."
Though it always helps to have background in an instrument, says Libby Dunbar, special events coordinator at Elderly Instruments, this camp is truly for all banjo lovers.
"Anybody who is taken with banjo at all, they'll gain a lot from going to a camp like this and being saturated with it day and night. Playing, jamming and seeing the experts, they can't help but learn," she says.
Perlman calls it "48 hours of banjo immersion."
Says Benford, "That's one of the things that keeps us all coming back. A lot of what happens at camp is we try and send them off with a year's worth of stuff to work on at their own pace. In their own environment, there's enough stuff to last them until camp is held again next year."
Kelsey Holm can be contacted at (319) 291-1464 or kelsey.holm@wcfcourier.com.
The weekend of June 3 offers banjo enthusiasts the opportunity to learn more about their unique instrument, with the first annual Midwest Banjo Camp.
The camp was dreamed up by Ken Perlman, a banjo musician and director of many other similar camps across the country and Stan Werbin, founder of the world-renowned Elderly Instruments music store, located a few miles west of the Michigan State University campus.
"Stan and I had talked about this theoretically for years, and it seemed the time was right. Elderly has such huge access to banjo players, and they've sold thousands of banjos over the years," says Perlman. "It's where people in the whole region go to buy equipment and recordings."
The camp's instructors --- all professional banjo players --- are a who's who of the most renowned banjo artists in the country. Two types of banjo play will be taught at the camp --- bluegrass and old-time.
Mac Benford, one of the camp's old-time instructors, says bluegrass was popularized by Earl Scruggs in the 1940s. One version of old-time banjo, called clawhammer, is closely related to the way the ancestor of the banjo was played in Africa.
"It's probably one of the oldest styles of banjo playing," says Benford of the clawhammer style. "The thing that's so unique about it is that rather than plucking the strings with the fleshy part of your fingertips, you strike the strings with your fingernail going downward."
In addition to holding ten class sessions over the course of the weekend, the Banjo Camp will feature staff-led jams, a faculty concert, demonstrations and a special novice program.
"There's a wide range (of levels), but most of the students have been playing for 10 to 30 years," says Perlman. "We are getting some beginners, and that's why we have a novice track --- a special set of classes for people who have been playing less than one year."
Though it always helps to have background in an instrument, says Libby Dunbar, special events coordinator at Elderly Instruments, this camp is truly for all banjo lovers.
"Anybody who is taken with banjo at all, they'll gain a lot from going to a camp like this and being saturated with it day and night. Playing, jamming and seeing the experts, they can't help but learn," she says.
Perlman calls it "48 hours of banjo immersion."
Says Benford, "That's one of the things that keeps us all coming back. A lot of what happens at camp is we try and send them off with a year's worth of stuff to work on at their own pace. In their own environment, there's enough stuff to last them until camp is held again next year."
Kelsey Holm can be contacted at (319) 291-1464 or kelsey.holm@wcfcourier.com.
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