EARFUL OF FIDDLE MUSIC AND DANCE CAMP - June 29 - July 1, 2010
Featured Instructors
NIC GAREISS (Appalachian clogging, percussive dance)
Nic Gareiss is a performer, teacher and researcher in the field of
traditional music and percussive dance. Since the age of eight,
he has been intrigued by cultures that employ the feet as rhythmic
entities, transforming dance into a musical activity that appeals
to both the eyes and the ears. This fascination has led Nic on an
international study of shoe-sounds and grooves from Irish
sean-nós dance, to American flat-footing, to Quebecois gigue. From this
wide berth of traditional dance experience, Nic has
gleaned figurations, motives and shoe sounds from percussive dance
traditions worldwide. In 2007, Nic spent a year living in
Ireland studying at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in
Limerick, Ireland. He has collaborated with Aladair Fraser &
Natalie Haas, Liz Carroll, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, and the David
Munnelly Band and has performed across North American as
well as in Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Australia.
SHEILA GRAZIANO (Canadian and English-based step dance)
Sheila Graziano discovered her passion for dance at an early age. Rooted
in ten years of tap lessons as a child, her enthusiasm grew with the
discovery of Appalachian clogging and other forms of traditional dance.
Smitten with the art, Sheila Graziano devotes much of her time to
continually developing her skills and knowledge of traditional
dance, including American, English, Irish, Scottish, and Canadian dance
steps. Ms. Graziano was a founder and member of The Crosstown Cloggers,
Crow's Feet, and The Commonwealth Dance Collective. She performed as a
soloist with The Raisin Pickers stringband for many years. Sheila's
current duo, Matter & Ghost, is a collaboration with Michigan's state
troubadour, Neil
Woodward. She teaches ongoing private lessons, various dance workshops,
and is the dance instructor and choreographer for
two performing high school groups in southeast Michigan's Washtenaw
County (The Saline Fiddlers and Fiddlers ReStrung).
For more information, please go to
http://www.matterandghost.com/BRIDGE.html and click on the 'step
dance' link.
Sheila is very committed to passing on the 'common wealth' of knowledge
of the dances and dance styles that she has learned
over the years, and welcomes the opportunity to work with Earful of
Fiddle campers this summer!
DANIEL GORNO (Appalachian clogging, French-Canadian step dance)
Daniel Gorno performs and teaches traditional dances from Ireland,
France, England, Canada and Appalachia. He strives to
entertain, inspire
and educate workshop participants and audiences in experiencing dance as
it has been created and moulded
by cultures and generations. He has
studied step dancing and traditional social dancing for 25 years, most
notably with Benoit Bourque, one of Quebecs great stepdancers. Daniel
plays bones and bodhran at dances and school programs with string band
Tanglemere, and leads workshops in jitterbug, waltz, polka, Cajun dance
and even a tango or two. An original member of "Dance
All Night" and
current dancer with "Step in Time," Daniel also calls contras and
squares. Dan grew up on Grosse Ile, Michigan, attended Thomas Jefferson
College and now lives in Northern Michigan where he has been a potter
for 36 years.
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BRUCE BAUMAN (Old-time fiddle)
Since his childhood (square dancing and fiddle music was part of growing
up in southeast Michigan in the 1950’s) and as one of
the Founders, in 1974, of the Wheatland Music Organization, dedicated to
the presentation and preservation of the Traditional Arts, Bruce has
long studied traditional fiddling. In 1977 he began fiddling in earnest
and devoted the next twenty-two years learning to play as he closely
watched fiddlers come and go through WMO educational programs.
In 1996 he was offered a teaching position through Wheatland’s emerging
Community Education Lesson Program, and there have been over 175 private
fiddle students since then. He continues to have students through
Wheatland. Since 1996 he has conducted multiple workshops at every
Wheatland Music Festival and Traditional Arts Weekend, with a few
hundred participants taking part over the years.
There are four albums of instructional fiddling through his “Earful of
Fiddle” business. There have also been regular teaching opportunities
through other Michigan traditional music organizations, the Blissfest
(Petoskey), the Looking Glass (Lansing) and the Hiawatha (Marquette)
Traditional Music Organizations.
Further opportunities to teach have come through Bruce’s membership in a
traditional string band, the Rhythm Billies, and he has played for
traditional dancing all over Michigan for over thirty years. The Rhythm
Billies have two albums of Old-Time music, “North
of North Carolina” (1994) and “Phrenology” (2008).
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JOHN HATTON (Old-time guitar)
John Hatton has carefully studied the guitar as an accompaniment or back
up instrument and has given many workshops on how
to use melodic and
rhythm techniques. His primary focus is backing up fiddle players.
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DAVID BOWEN (Irish guitar)
David Bowen is a multi-instrumental musician and vocalist and two-time
medal winner for guitar playing in the prestigious Fleadh Cheoill
Eireann All-Ireland music championship competitions. He has performed in
over thirty music festivals in the United States, Canada, and Ireland,
including The Alaska Folk Festival, San Diego Saint Patrick’s Festival,
The Houston International Festival The Wheatland Festival, and The
Canada Celtic Roots Festival. Other music appearances include The Ozark
Folk Center, Colonial Williamsburg, The Ann Arbor Ark, RTE Ireland radio
and television, and concert performance at the Miko Russell Center in
Doolin, County Clare. David is a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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BOB BORCHERDING (Irish fiddle)
Bob Borcherding, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, has been playing
fiddle since 1980. After having played mandolin and guitar,
he picked up
a fiddle and found that he could make it work. After that, his other
instruments stayed in their cases.
Being eclectic in his interests, Bob has learned to play a variety of
stylistically-correct fiddle traditions, including Midwestern
(Illinois/Missouri), Irish, Cape Breton, Scandinavian, New England, and
Appalachianhas studied Cape Breton fiddling with Buddy MacMaster and
David Greenburg; Irish fiddling with Liz Carroll, James Kelly, Seamus
Connolly, and Patrick Orceau; New England Contradance music with Bob
McQuillen, April Limber, and Pete Colby; learned old-time music through
immersion in the old-time
music and dance revival, having spent years
listening to, jamming with, and dancing to the music of countless
excellent fiddlers.
One of Bobs primary influences in old-time dance
fiddling has been the playing of Geoff Seitz.
Although Bob is adamant that the only way to learn the proper styling
for any music is through dedicated, intense listening, he
has found that
being able to read music is a valuable asset to learning, after has
listened enough to know the style well. Teaching
is now a focus of Bobs
playing, since he recognizes that the old musicians, recordings, and
books that shaped his playing are scarce or non-existent, hence he feels
a need to share his experiences and resources so that the beauty of old
folk fiddling styles do not disappear, becoming a museum piece.
Bob is also a dance caller and has enjoyed playing for dances since that
time, enjoying the interplay between dancer and musician, and has been
on staff at Kentucky Summer Dance School and Winter in the Woods,
traditional dance camps near Jabez, Kentucky.
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SUSAN NICHOLSON (Fiddle)
Susan began playing violin at the age of 7, with instruction from a
wonderful O.S.F. nun, Sr. Muriel. Susan enjoyed the violin;
playing in orchestra and theater pit ensembles as well as solo recitals,
but once out of school, she became more entranced with travel and
stopped playing altogether. Then, she met fiddler Jan Earnest who
introduced her to Irish & Scottish music. She joined Jan's band the
Glenghillies, (later the Ghillies), and they played festivals, pubs,
private and civic events, and even had the honor
of sharing the stage with Ireland's Chieftains on a number of occasions!
After the Ghillies disbanded, Susan joined forces with
Ghillie-mate John Nicholson to begin Frogwater.
They've been at it ever since; now combining music & marriage (with
children!), creating their unique blend of Celtic, Blues,
Old-timey, Cajun and original material. Susan has enjoyed recording and
performing with varying artists and bands, and has
received a WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) award for "Best
Specialty Instrument", as well as multiple awards with
Frogwater. It's a love of traditional (and particularly Celtic) music
that has always fueled Susan's musical heart and keeps it
pumping!
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