Workshops
Ozark Ballad and Song Presentation
Sara Grey
Though the
region is small, and often overlooked by people who are
looking for wonderful traditional songs and ballads, The
Ozarks are a deep well of oral traditional songs with a
unique voice. The singing styles of Almeda Riddle, Ollie
Gilbert, Harrison Burnett, and so many other great
traditional singers, will leave you with admiration and
love of the old songs that migrated into that region of
the States.
The Ozarks is fortunate to have had so many excellent
collectors and preservers of these great songs. In this
presentation Tricia Hearn, formally an archivist at the
Ozark Center in Mountain View, Arkansas, and I will be
illustrating, through background information, the singing
of some of these old ballads and songs. The contrast
between these singing styles, and those from other regions
of the country, highlight the idiosyncratic phrasing and
crooked verses in the vernacular.
Come prepared to be delighted and surprised to hear these
unique songs.
Western Song Presentation
Sara Grey and Kieron Means
This presentation
is a unique look at songs in the oral tradition of people
who migrated and took them into the Panhandle, the Great
Plains and the Western States.
There was so much happening in the west between the 1800s
and the 1920s, and songs evolved to reflect all this
activity, including
the gold rush, the outlaws, the ranchers, the cattle drives,
the railroad, the Mormon tradition and the isolation,
particularly of women, in the prairie.
With westward migration, people began to create songs that
reflected the regions they settled in. They also sang the
old songs that had come with them and these began to evolve
due to their new environment. Black music and songs also had
a great influence
This is not just a random collection of well known western
songs. A great deal of research has gone into the songs and
their background. It is a unique and rare collection of old
songs and ballads from many sources.
Sara and Kieron sing these songs from the heart. Some are
stark and unaccompanied and others are with Kieron on guitar
and Sara on old-time banjo. They chat about the songs and
their history, but not in a scripted narrative, they have
good fun both playing as well as discussing their vast
knowledge of traditional songs and encouraging audience
participation
This will be illustrated throughout with a Power Point
presentation of wonderful old photographs that bring to life
the stories behind each song.
Tracing The Migration Of Songs Between Scotland & Ireland
And North America
Sara
Grey
Scots and Ulster Scots have emigrated in such numbers that no
other European Nation has ever lost such a high proportion of
it’s people. In the early days these were men and women who left
behind them a homeland rich in the oral tradition of song and
ballad singing; an inheritance which they carried with them
wherever they went. Their legacy is apparent to this day.
I will trace the migration of songs from Northern Ireland and
Scotland to North America by singing a song, or part of it, from
its Celtic source and then singing the American or Canadian
version showing the changes and the similarities. I like to make
the workshop as interactive and informal as possible by
encouraging the participants to sing on choruses and refrains,
and ask any relevant questions.
CD/Booklet
Over the years people have asked for something tangible to take
away from workshops that I have given on ballads and songs
across the Atlantic so I first developed a 'working booklet' of
some permutations of songs and ballads that have travelled from
East to West - some that have come back - some where tunes
change and text doesn't and vice versa. I had purposely chosen
songs with wide, interesting links where big, sometimes
humourous changes took place.
There was such an interest in the booklet that I decided to
take it a step further and add an audio clip of each British and
North American version. The result has been a tidy, sturdy
working booklet that has a CD in the back with at least one,
sometimes two, variants of the ballads and songs. Tom Spiers,
from Aberdeen, a fine fiddler and singer of old songs has done
the honours by singing most of the Scottish tracks and I have
sung the American and Canadian versions. The CD is interspersed
with source singers from Scotland.
Americana
Sara Grey
A journey in traditional
songs from all around the United States of America. The
journey starts in New England and moves on to the
Southern Appalachians, black songs of the Georgia coast, the
Ozarks, the Mississippi Delta, the Panhandle of Texas, the
Great Plains and finally to the great, rarely-sung traditional
songs from the Western States.
Songs of The Western States
Sara Grey
Explore some of the older
songs from the western states. These songs include ballads
which have travelled to the west and songs which have been
made up by the people of the west. There are cowboy songs,
gold rush songs, outlaw ballads, Mormon songs and many others.
Songs from the Flanders
Collection
Sara Grey
Helen Hartness Flanders
was born and raised in Vermont across the river form my home
in New Hampshire. She was on of the foremost collectors of
songs and ballads in New England and also up into New
Brunswick. The workshop looks at songs from the Flanders
Collection and in particular ballads and songs from Vermont,
New Hampshire and the Province of New Brunswick.
Jean Ritchie
Sara Grey & Kieron Means
Kieron and I are devoted to
presenting Jean's written songs along with some traditional
songs that she has adapted over the years. As a young girl in
Viper, Kentucky, she wrote poetry and when my ex-husband,
Charlie Grey, and I were living for a few years in the mid 60's
in Port Washington, New York, where Jean lives, she asked
Charlie to transcribe the music which became "A Celebration of
Life" - a compilation of her poetry set to traditional tunes.
They are so varied and command as much attention and interest as
the songs she grew up with.
Banjo
Sara Grey
5-string Banjo playing for students at beginners,
intermediate and advanced levels.
Irish Immigration Songs And
How They Change When They Reach America
Sara Grey
Traditional Songs From The
Logging Camps Of Canada And The United States
Sara Grey
How,
As Americans And Canadians, We Can Approach
Singing Dialect Songs From The
Celtic Traditions
Sara Grey
Interpretation of Ballads
& Songs - Choice Of Song, Phrasing,
Dynamics, Etc
Sara Grey
This workshop won't be specifically about
"how to sing"...breathing exercises, etc, although we will touch
on using breathing to help tie phrases together. It will be a
very interactive, hands-on workshop, so please come along with
one or two songs or ballads that may have given you trouble over
the years, and we will work through them to see what we can to
do make them easier, more comfortable to sing, and hopefully, by
the end of the day, you will approach the song in a different
way.
We'll be discussing and working on ways of "bringing these songs
and ballads to life".....It doesn't require a fabulous voice
...it requires "getting inside and understanding what you're
singing, and working on ways to interpret the story.
We'll work through ballads and songs in terms of finding the
"natural built in dynamics, how to handle dialogue and narrative
in a song so the listener can distinguish who is speaking,
working on phrasing as you speak so that the song makes more
sense, instead of just going along with the rhythm and not
paying much attention about whether the song makes sense or
not., and making the very most of vowels and consonants without
over dramatising it.
By working with these tools, they will dramatically change the
way you approach songs and ballads.
How We Use The Banjo To Accompany
Songs.
Sara Grey
Cold Mountain
Sara Grey
The Cold Mountain workshop uses the book and film as a
background for a presentation of the songs from the American
Civil War. It looks at the power of song on a number levels, the
power of song to convey news and information in a time when the
only means of conveying these tragic events was by word of
mouth. Song has the power to convey emotions and the depth of
feelings at a time of division and conflict. It has the power to
bring people together in times of trouble and to lift their
spirits and give then a sense of belonging. Among the aspects of
life addressed by the songs used in the workshop are the
futility of war, the horror and tragedy of war, the role of
women at a time when men were away fighting and often not
returning, the strength of people facing insurmountable odds.