New mandolin improvisation book

Spencer C. Sorenson of Bluegrass Music Denmark writes:

One of our former members, Jesper Rübner-Petersen, now living and teaching mandolin in Germany, has just had a book on bluegrass mandolin improvisation published by Mel Bay in the United States. It is a well written, thorough book that mandolin players at many levels can learn a lot from. The book contains 200 pages, and comes with a CD, where the numerous examples all can be heard. Jesper has made a MySpace page about the book. We are extremely proud that one of our native sons has produced such a fine bluegrass work.

The book can be ordered from the Mel Bay website, where full details can be found.

New stock in the New Acoustic Gallery

Oliver Waitze of the New Acoustic Gallery in Solingen, Germany, reports that in the last few days many interesting new items - books, instruments, accessories, and CDs - have been added to the Gallery's stock.

The books include Jim Mills's Gibson Mastertone flathead 5-string banjos and Manfred Fuchs's Gypsy jazz workshop; the accessories include new Blue Chip picks and Paige capos, mandolin tailpieces, arm-rests, and ToneGards; the CDs include Mike Marshall albums (left); and the instruments include the Weber mandocello (right).

All of these can be ordered through the NAG Internet Shop or by the Hotline: +49 0212/2474007.

Tony Trischka School of Banjo online

The Tony Trischka School of Banjo makes it possible for pickers anywhere in the world to register ($60 for three months) for online lessons at beginning, intermediate, or advanced level from one of the greatest living banjoists. The student body now includes pickers from England, Germany, Spain, and Australia.

The website already has over 160 video lessons, and more are being added - clawhammer lessons from Bob Carlin are coming soon. In addition, a student can get personal banjo instruction by sending Tony Trischka a video via the site and receiving his response.

The many features of the site are well worth checking out. A YouTube video taken at IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2009 includes a lot of good music: the 'blazing Czech player' mentioned is Martin Fridrich of COP (CZ). Thanks to Lilly Pavlak for forwarding news of the TTSB.

Harmony singing workshops in 2010

Thanks to Rienk Janssen for the news that Sue Thompson (USA) - vocalist, guitarist, vocal arranger, and teacher - will be in Europe for six months, starting in March 2010, and is available to give guitar instruction and workshops in harmony singing.

Sue created the instructional course How to sing harmony the natural way, together with Keith Little and Don Share. She can be contacted by e-mail.

Successful 1st Munich BlueGrass Festival

Night Run in action!

Last weekend I spent at an amazing event, which had invited me as their patron: The Munich BlueGrass Friends e.V., a registered association formed by 10 enthusiastic people, mostly bluegrass musicians, in June 2008. The first edition of their Munich BlueGrass Festival on 16/17 October was an extremely pleasant experience of great hospitality, an amazing pool of local bands aged 9 - ??, with only three bands out of eleven coming from outside Munich, one of which from Salzburg Austria, Grey Fox, could be heard on Friday night, lined in a programme with Cool Grass, a teen/twens band, Strictly Bluegrass and a double set by Rüdiger Helbig & Huckleberry Five, who also featured clogging by Silvia Plankl - which made a pretty dynamic contrast to the rest of the programme.
The association is focusing on making Bluegrass music better known in the Munich area and in addition they raise money to support young bluegrass musicians by paying part of their music lessons. This programme is carefully set up and highly successful, as could be heard on Saturday with the Girlie Band, consisting of girls aged 9-11 and supported by their dedicated teacher Rupert Paulik: check out the little sequence I took (well, it sounds much better of course than my video recorder allowed!).

Cool Grass showed the best of their talent, when they performed again on Saturday afternoon they challenged themselves even with an Alison Krauss song but delivered extremely well.
Rolling Hills and Munich Mountain Ramblers were created through so called "Band Workshops" offered by Rupert Paulik already some years ago, and did really well on stage: Their repertoire streched from traditional into pop music and back, delivered in a highly professional manner. All aspects from stage presence to musical skill were well trained and all went down easily.

The programme continued with Strictly Bluegrass and closed with a double set by Night Run from the Karlsruhe area. They did a phantastic show featuring new and traditional material, their gospels were awesome and their music pure enjoyment - a worthy closing act. As they were the only band with a single mic-setup the sound engineer was challenged at first. This problem however was solved in the break and the closing sequence was a brilliant and most enjoyable finish to the festival.
In the end, enough tickets were sold to pay for the event, some additional money was raised for the Bluegrass Youth Foundation, audience and musicians went home happy and the organisers are already thinking of the next edition to be held 26/27 June 2010! Congratulations to this successful team!

Angelika Torrie

BBMA Tuition Tent at Didmarton festival

This year at the Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, which takes place from 4 to 6 September at Kemble Airfield, near Cirencester, the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA) is introducing a brand new learning scheme.

The idea behind this innovative concept is that anyone of any age or ability will have access to one-on-one lessons on their chosen bluegrass instrument. Spare instruments will be available, with the aim of enabling festival-goers to try out a new instrument.

The instruments offered include banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and Dobro ®. Lessons on these five instruments will be covered by three experienced British teachers. The half-hour lessons, costing only £10 (£8 for BBMA members), will take place in a purpose-built marquee.

Lessons will commence at 12:00 noon on each day (Friday and Saturday, 4 and 5 September) with the last session from 15:00 to 15:30. Sign-up sheets will be available at the on-site merchandising stall.

Alternatively, slots can be booked in advance by e-mail. Put 'BBMA Tuition' in the subject line and provide your name, address, and telephone number, together with your choice of lesson. The lessons available are:

Banjo - John Breese
Mandolin and guitar - Charlotte Carrivick
Fiddle and Dobro ® - Laura Carrivick

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT FOR ANY LESSON(S) MUST BE COMPLETED ON ARRIVAL AT THE FESTIVAL SITE BY GOING TO THE MERCHANDISING STALL.

The BBMA was founded in November 1990. Its aim is to promote and support bluegrass music in Great Britain. For further information about the BBMA and this Press Release contact Richard F Thompson, BBMA Press Relations, 14 Lime Grove, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, WS13 6ER. ‘Phone +44 (0)1543 252683; e-mail.

Those interested in joining the BBMA can do so by contacting the Membership Team, Clare and David Rozzell, 26 Martin Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO3 6JZ; e-mail. Alternatively, you may join on-line at the BBMA website.

For more information about the Didmarton Bluegrass Festival, visit their website.

The full BBMA press release can be read here.

New Acoustic Gallery news

The New Acoustic Gallery (NAG) in Solingen, Germany, now has the Tone-Gard™ (shown on left) in stock at €89.90 each. The Tone-Gard™ holds a mandolin away from the player's body to avoid damping vibrations, and is used by many prominent mandolinists, including David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, John Reischman, and many others.

Oliver Waitze of the NAG will be one of the three distinguished instructors at the Bluegrass Workshop in the Bayerischen Musikakademie Hammelburg (7-9 August 2009), together with Jürgen Biller and Rupert Paulik. Further details can be found here or obtained from Peter Näder, Popularmusikbeauftragter des Bezirks Unterfranken, Bayerische Musikakademie, 97762 Hammelburg, Am Schlossberg: e-mail (readable with Javascript).

The NAG's 1st International Mandolin Festival will be held on 29-30 August, with jazz, swing, and classical music among the genres that will be featured.

Oliver Waitze's book Flatpicking guitar: master technique: (in English & German) is now published by Mel Bay Publications Inc. and available from Amazon.

More details on all these items from the NAG's July newsletter can be found on its website.

Homespun Tapes: new delivery system

Music has historically brought us through hard times, bringing enjoyment to those who play it and to those who listen. What better way to lift spirits and create a sense of community?

Homespun Tapes continue to make their massive catalogue of prime instructional material available in innovative ways. The new Homespun Instant Access Delivery System makes it possible for anyone with a high-speed internet connection to receive a Homespun DVD and tab/music booklet delivered directly to their computer, with no waiting or postal charges. More information is here.

Keep in touch with Homespun Tapes for future offers. An article on Homespun by David McCarty appeared in the March 2009 ('Instruments') issue of Bluegrass Unlimited.

The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads

BLUEGRASS EUROPE, EBMA's official magazine, is proud to announce that Kevin Lynch, well-known mandolin player and freelance writer who now resides in the Netherlands, will review the latest, major project on guitar giant Clarence White in the June/July issue. His in-depth article will feature very rare photos and references to European tours of the past. Contact Kevin at KLbgrass @ aol.com.

“The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads”

(press release) Roland White & Diane Bouska have released an impressive 102-page book and 2-CD set presenting the legendary Clarence White’s flatpicking acoustic guitar style.

The book includes transcripts in notation and tab format to 14 tunes (a wonderful cooperative effort by Matt Flinner, Steve Pottier and Diane Bouska). You also get detailed and easy-to-follow instructional text by Bouska, a personal and extensive biography by brother Roland, a large collection of photos (some previously unpublished), a heartfelt ‘Foreword’ written for the book by Marty Stuart and much more.

CD-1 features Clarence playing all 14 tunes in the book on his Martin D-18 guitar. These are home recordings made in 1962 by Clarence for his guitar students. These cuts contain only Clarence’s lead playing and one rhythm guitar.

CD-2 features basic rhythm tracks of the 14 tunes in the book by Roland White (rhythm guitar) and Missy Raines (bass). This allows you to practice your playing as you work your way through the book. There are instructions for a free software tool to adjust the speed of the tracks to your comfort level. This disc also includes CD-ROM video of Clarence -- complete with close-up views of his hands in action as he plays two songs from the book/CD. Plus a lengthy slide-show of amazing photos (including The Country Boys and Kentucky Colonels bands).

A fine retrospective of Clarence’s life & career in bluegrass music and a great treasure for all Clarence White fans, listeners and musicians alike.

Information is available at www.rolandwhite.com.

Bluegrass Lessons Online

Jon Meek, bluegrass performer and instructor in the USA, sends news of the services offered through his website, Bluegrass Lessons Online:

The site has lots of free tablature, music, and videos to facilitate learning, and I offer one-on-one instruction in banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and dobro using video-conferencing software such as Skype and iChat.

The system makes it possible for teaching to be tailored to the individual student. Samples from an interactive mandolin lesson on YouTube can be viewed on the site; the scale of charges is here.

Jon has been involved with several genres of music (including electric guitar, African drumming, and Irish fiddle): he studied banjo under Tony Trischka at high school; took his BA in music; started the Bozeman Bluegrass Camp at Bozeman, Montana, in 2006; and is a member of the Bridger Creek Boys four-piece bluegrass band, operating in the Rocky Mountain states of the USA.

Braille-friendly banjo tab

Tangier Sound is a blog run by Pat and Patrick Costello (USA), who also produce books including The how and the Tao of old time banjo and A book of five strings, and sell Somerset County banjos.

Patrick Costello has recently posted banjo tablature that can be used by visually-impaired players, at the request of Ruud from the Netherlands; other contributors include Ytske from Sweden. These developments have also been noted on BoingBoing, one of the most popular blogs.

Tim O'Brien Mandolin Workshop in Genova (Italy), SATURDAY 14th Feb 2009

Martino Coppo of Redwine reports:
On the occasion of "THE BLUEGRASS PARTY" that Red Wine will host in Genova on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th February 2009, at the Teatro della Gioventù, Tim O'Brien will hold a unique bluegrass/folk mandolin workshop.
The workshop will take place at Casa Della Musica (Via Marino Boccanegra 15, I-16126 Genova–Area Darsena, PALAZZINA METELINO, 3rd floor, tel. +39-010-4213090), on Saturday, 14th February 2009, at the following times: 10:30 to 12:30 am, and 2:00 to 6:00 pm.
The fee is Euro 60,00 per person, and Euro 50,00 if you also purchase a ticket for the evening show.
For information and/or to register please contact Martino Coppo or Casa della Musica (E-mail), Segreteria +39-010.4213090; +39-010. 4213089.
The number of participants is limited, so sign up now!!

Enrol in Sore Fingers Old Time classes!

John Herrmann (picture from Old Time Herald magazine)

The organisers of Sore Fingers Summer Schools have appealed to Old Time players to rally and book for Sore Fingers Week 2009 (13-17 Apr. 2009):

We have Joe Newberry teaching banjo and John Herrmann teaching fiddle, but only three students booked across both courses.

We know it’s got nothing to do with the recession since the bluegrass courses are booking at just below the normal rate. A little slower, but that was to be expected this year with all that's been going on.

Our cutoff is early January, when we book flights and totally commit to bringing a tutor over to teach. At this point, we will make a huge loss on these two courses unless we can attract at least thirteen students for each class. If it was always your intention to book, please let us know at the earliest opportunity.

This appeal has been necessary every year. We are seriously reviewing the viability of the Old Time classes and whether we should run them under a totally new format which didn’t involve flying a tutor in from the US. Sore Fingers will always have Old Time represented in some form or other and we have had some very loyal support over the past years which we feel we are indebted to. So there would be an alternative, but not in the current format.

If anyone out there has any suggestions or ideas about this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us [e-mail]; we run these things for you, not us!

Guitar workshop date now 22 Nov. 2008

The Flatpicking Workshop with Oliver Waitze (above), originally scheduled for 29 November 2008 at the New Acoustic Gallery in Solingen, Germany, has been brought forward to 22 November 2008. Tel.: +49 0212/2474007.

The fee for taking part is €90 (maximum of ten participants). The workshop begins at 10:00 and ends at 17:00. It's designed for everyone who wants to learn, or improve their knowledge of, plectrum playing, and all levels of ability are welcome. The content includes bluegrass, fiddle tunes, cross-picking, G-runs, Lester Flatt runs, rhythm with bass, Django-style rhythm, Tony Rice style, Clarence White style...

The new flatpicking books Master technique and Flatpicker's tunebook will also be available.

New Acoustic Gallery
Neuenhofer Str. 122
42657 Solingen
Tel.: +49 0212/2474007
e-mail

Half a Turn teaches bluegrass

Half a Turn (Bruno van Hoek, Elly Beurskens, Peter Broekhuijsen, Paul van Vlodrop)

Elly Beurskens of the Dutch band Half a Turn reports that last August the band organised a workshop-weekend in the Eifel region of Germany - total immersion in bluegrass for 48 hours, with fourteen 'students' taking part. The schedule included classes in banjo, mandolin, guitar, harmony singing, and the vital matter of band cooperation and dynamics, together with individual tuition, jamming, and an evening concert.

The intense Eifel weekend was so successful that the band plans to repeat it every year, and to give similar tuition in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries. A specimen comment by one of the participants:

The workshop on band cooperation made us listen to our own band in a very different way: we now know how to evolve from a 'fun band' to a 'good band'.

For more detail, see the full text of Elly's report in the next issue of Bluegrass Europe, or contact Half a Turn by e-mail.

Johnny Butten: news

Johnny Butten, English-born multi-instrumentalist now resident in the USA, will bring out his new swing-flavoured bluegrass album Solo in mid July. On it he plays all the instruments - banjo, upright bass, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. Sample tracks can be heard on his MySpace page. Solo will be available through many online outlets, including CD Baby, iTunes, Napster and Amazon.com, and will be available for order through various stores worldwide.

Also for release in mid July is the first of Johnny's Pick it right series - a beginner bluegrass banjo instructional DVD, including tablature booklet and onscreen graphics/chord charts never used in any previous banjo DVD. Other DVDs in the Pick it right series include Intermediate 1, 2, 3, and 4, advanced picking techniques, riffs and licks, speed picking, and a 1 hour DVD on banjo assembly and set-up with detailed video and graphics! These will be released throughout the summer and early fall.

Johnny Butten remains the official last holder of the World's Fastest Banjo Player title, according to the Guinness organisation. However, Guinness are now revising the rules to allow more precise comparison between players, and a rematch between Johnny and the previous record holder is possible.

Johnny's new band includes Joe Smart (guitar), a winner of the Winfield flatpicking competition, and Craig Mozley (bass); the position of mandolin player is still open.

As well as endorsing Kel Kroydon banjos, Johnny now endorses Schatten instrument pickups. They make pickups (and preamps) for many instruments, especially all bluegrass instruments, and have supplied him with their latest BJ-02 Pro Model. After a four-week trial period, he finds it superior to any other pickup he has used: 'Easy installation, well hidden, aesthetically pleasing, excellent volume control, and superior tone... I can't wait to try Schatten on my fiddle and guitar!'

An article on Johnny and his activities is in preparation for High Plains Reader, a magazine covering the mid-western USA.

Roberto dalla Vecchia: news

Roberto Dalla Vecchia ('Flatpicking Guitar with Italian Gusto') has relaunched his website with new design and new content. Suggestions for further improvements are welcome!

All Roberto's CDs and tab books can now be bought online in the US via Marv's Music website, run by Marv Sobolesky. And his Grateful CD can now be bought in MP3 format via CDBaby.com as one zip download including the MP3s (suitable for any MP3 player) and a JPG of the album art, for $9.95. His upcoming concerts and workshops include:

Mon. 24-Sat. 29 Mar.: Flatpicking guitar workshop (which still has one vacancy), 23rd International Workshop of Acoustic Music, Virton, Belgium.

Fri. 4 Apr.: vicenzAcustica 4, with special guests Paolo Bonfanti and Chris Newman in concert, Astra Theatre, Vicenza, Italy; 21:00. +39 0444 505183. Tickets €14.00 in advance, €16.00 at the door.

Fri. 23-Sat. 24 May: 11th International Acoustic Guitar Meeting, Fortezza Firmafede, Sarzana (La Spezia), Italy; includes Roberto in concert, 21:00 on Friday, and the Italian Flatpickers Convention on Saturday.

Fri. 30 May-Mon. 2 June: Acoustic Guitar Workshop 4, Recoaro T., Italy, +39 0444 505183. For all levels of players; two vacancies still available.

First Annual Summer Fiddle Camp, Czech Republic, 21-25 July

Fiddler, bandleader, and luthier Jiří (George) Králík reports that his First Annual Summer Fiddle Camp will be held from 21 to 25 July 2008 at Tyniste nad Orlici, in the foothills of Orlicke Hory, 130 km east of Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Classes in English and Czech, for over five hours a day, will include bluegrass, old-time, swing, classical technique, and musical theory. Full details can be found here.

Krüger Brothers at the New Acoustic Gallery

Oliver Waitze reports that the outstanding Krüger Brothers (CH/USA) will be performing in concert at the New Acoustic Gallery, Solingen, Germany, on 11 March 2008 at 7:30 p.m. Admission: €25. Tickets can be reserved by 'phone (+49 (0)212/2474007) or e-mail.

The Flatpicker's tunebook is available from the NAG. For more details, see the European Bluegrass Blog post of 24 November.

The first news has been received of one of the many instruments stolen from the NAG in February 2006. A Prucha Elban banjo was seen in Hank's Guitar Shop, Denmark Street, London, in June 2007, but it has since disappeared.

The NAG is also offering reductions ranging from €200 to €1,300 on several Deering banjos. For more details, see the NAG website.

Roberto Dalla Vecchia: news and 2008 gigs

Roberto Dalla Vecchia sends his wishes for everyone: 'a beautiful Christmas season with family and friends, and a New Year full of incredible music!'

Roberto recently made a twenty-day tour in the USA with guitar wizard Mark Cosgrove, receiving a warm welcome at venues in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington. He also played a benefit concert for Emergency in Washington DC, and would like to encourage everyone to support this non-profit organization. Pictures of the tour are here, and videos from the last show of the tour are on YouTube here and here.

More pictures from FlatMEETing, the first meeting of Italian flatpickers, are here. The Open Spaces tab book is back in stock, still at €12.00 euro (Paypal); shipping is free. Order from Roberto by e-mail, with your address. And Roberto's Christmas music favorites can be heard here; click on the 'Play' button.

As his 'Link of the Month', Roberto recommends Becky Taylor's radio programme 'Out of the box' on www.WorldWideBluegrass.com, every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (US EST).

2008 gigs:

Fri. 25 Jan. and Sat. 26 Jan.: Roberto Dalla Vecchia and Luca Francioso in concert at 7:30 p.m.; Acoustic Jam, Soldiers' Theatre, Vicenza, Italy. Info & tickets tel. 0444 717281

Sun. 24 Feb.: Workshop and concert, 'Un week-end di chitarre a Tombelle', Vigonovo (VE), Italy. Info tel. +39 328 871 9891

Mon. 24-Sat. 29 Mar.: 23rd edition of the International Workshop of Acoustic Music, Virton, Belgium.

Fri. 4 Apr.: Roberto Dalla Vecchia and guests in concert, 21:00; vicenzAcustica 4, Vicenza, Italy. Info tel. +39 0444 505183

Fri. 30 May-Mon. 2 June: Acoustic Guitar Workshop 4, Italy. Info tel. +39 0444 505183

Flatpicker's tunebook by Oliver Waitze

Flatpicker's tunebook, by Oliver Waitze of the New Acoustic Gallery, is a collection of thirty classics from the genres of traditional bluegrass, gypsy & swing, traditional Irish music, Italian music, and world music.

The bluegrass section includes 'Forked deer', 'Lost Indian', 'Golden slippers', 'Big Sciota', 'Sally Goodin', 'Salt Creek', 'Whiskey before breakfast', 'President Garfield's Hornpipe', and 'Golden Eagle Hornpipe'. Tunes are shown in tab and standard notation, and the book comes with a sixty-track audio CD. Flatpicker's tunebook is published by Schell Music at €22.95.

First Spanish tutor for bluegrass guitar

Josep Traver's La guitarra acústica: Bluegrass is the first book to be published in Spanish on bluegrass guitar. It is suitable for beginners, as well as for advanced players who want to deepen their knowledge of acoustic folk guitar in general and the bluegrass style in particular.

It covers different aspects of bluegrass guitar: general characteristics, repertoire, accompaniment, chord inversions, harmonic substitutions, improvising, scales, arpeggios, and techniques such as flatpicking, crosspicking, and Carter family style. The text is divided into nineteen parts of progressive difficulty, so that the sections of most interest to the reader can be treated as independent units.

Format: 74 pages and a CD with 99 audio tracks of all examples. All the exercises are shown in standard notation as well as in tablature. Price: €23. On sale at Casa Beethoven y Audenis, Barcelona; Musical tres y Platero, Badalona; or online from Dinsic Publicacions Musicals SL, Santa Anna 10, E 3a 08002 Barcelona; telephone +93 318 06 05; fax +93 412 05 01.

Banjo workshop in Munich, 3-4 November 2007

Update (October 20, 2007): Adiaha Bürkmiller informs us that, while most workshop tickets are gone, there are a (very) few left. Contact her at the address below to secure your place on this banjo journey.

A bluegrass workshop for 5-string banjo will be held at Unterhaching in south Munich (München), Germany, on Saturday 3 November and Sunday 4 November 2007. The teachers are Rüdiger Helbig (D) and Ross Nickerson (USA). Rüdiger and his band, the Huckleberry Five, were the cover feature in the June-July 2007 issue of Bluegrass Europe.

The cost of the workshop, with snacks and coffee, is €180. With single room for one night and breakfast, the cost is €250. There is also a 'Bluegrass Evening' on Saturday, with the Huckleberry Five in Weyarn/OBB.

The programme includes:
· Right- and left-hand techniques
· Backup playing
· Practice habits and priorities
· Scruggs style and Keith style
· Up-the-neck work
· Jamming with others
· Rhythm and timing
· Playing in different keys and tunings
· Playing by ear and learning to play without tablature

Contact Adiaha Bürkmiller: tel. +49 (0)176-23640702; e-mail. The workshop flyer can be seen here.

Ross Nickerson, author of the Banjo encyclopedia and many other teaching aids, will also be giving workshops in Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen between 7 and 13 November.

Chris Jones Announces New Website

Chris Jones, a veteran of the European bluegrass circuit, has announced the release of his new website featuring video samples and a music store.

Banjo books in PDF format

Hi everybody,

I just want to inform you that both of my books, Banjo instrumentals and The 5-string banjo in D tuning, are now available in PDF format. They are a little cheaper than the printed versions, and you save the shipping costs. If you are interested in the books, please contact me. To get more informations about them, please visit my website.

Best wishes,

Andy Glandt

e-mail
+49-3641-331001
+49-0172-941-3523

Fox Tower Bluegrass Band (American Acoustic Music) *** 3unterwegs (Volkslieder und mehr zum Mitsingen) *** Familienprogramm *** Kinderprogramm *** Piece of Cheese (Irish & International Folk) *** Kralik & Glandt Trio (Bluegrass, Swing) *** Wolkenkratzer (ein vorwiegend lustiges Programm)

Adam Steffey DVD on Acutab

Acutab Publications announce the release of My approach to bluegrass mandolin, a new 2-DVD instructional set by Adam Steffey, IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year for each of the last five years.

On the first disc, Adam deals with and demonstrates rhythm playing, right-hand attack, note spacing, tone/volume, practising, and building speed. He then devotes some 45 minutes, using three common jam-session tunes, to showing how to build a mandolin solo, starting with the basic melody - in several different keys.

On the second disc, Adam teaches seven of his most requested solos. Each in turn is played with a band, broken down lick by lick, and then played (fast and slow) in a split-screen orientation. An accompanying printed booklet contains transcriptions for all solos, in both tab and standard notation.

Full playing time is four hours and twenty minutes. Full details are on the Acutab website. Acutab are also offering, at no extra charge, an autographed copy of an 11 in. x 17 in. (28 cm x 43.2 cm) colour poster, showing Adam with his Daley mandolin, for the first 300 customers placing an order through AcuTab. The Gibson company launched an Adam Steffey signature model mandolin in 2002.

Flatpicking at the New Acoustic Gallery

The next Flatpicking Guitar Workshop with Oliver Waitze will take place in the New Acoustic Gallery, Neuenhofer Strasse 122 (B229), 42657 Solingen, Germany, from 10.00 to 17.00 on 17 March 2007.

For everyone who wants to improve their flatpicking technique! Bluegrass, fiddle tunes, rhythm, melody, right-hand exercises, Lester Flatt G runs, endings, cross-picking in the styles of Clarence White and Tony Rice, lead picking, gourmet licks a la Tony Rice, scales... Cost of taking part: €90.00.

Oliver's new book Flatpicking: master technique will also be available. Contact the New Acoustic Gallery by post at the above address; by the website links given above; by 'phone (+49 (0)212/2474007); or by e-mail.

New flatpicking book from Oliver Waitze

EBMA member Oliver Waitze from the New Acoustic Gallery in Solingen, Germany, is happy to announce his first flatpicking book: Flatpicking: master technique. It presents and explains many backup rhythms, licks, intros, and endings, Tony Rice style, cross-picking, and well known tunes. Written text in German and English; sheet music and tablatures; 100 pages plus audio CD (70 min.). EUR 27,95. Order by e-mail.

New German mandolin website

Since 22 September 2006 a new German-language mandolin website has been operated by Rupert Paulik, a bluegrass musician from Munich in the German Federal Republic (BRD). This is not only a means of presenting Paulik's very individual teaching programme; it is an opportunity for all friends of bluegrass music and fans of mandolin music to find a lot of useful information.

An extensively researched bibliography shows at a glance the important literature from mandolin schools, tune collections, and instructional DVDs. You can also find information about the history of the mandolin, various construction methods, and developments of the use of the mandolin in music.

One feature of special interest is the free workshop offered, which enables the website visitor to study four extensively commentated steps through the internet, and to finally play a mandolin tune composed by Rupert Paulik himself. Being able to play great licks on the mandolin, without forgetting that the power of music comes from the heart - that is the dream of each bluegrass musician. To mark this, this tune's name is 'Big Lick'.