Going Out for Great Grooves
To play at Old Songs you got to have a fiddle and a band



ALTAMONT — In its 26 years, the Old Songs Festival has embraced several generations, and The Great Groove Band will make sure there’s another.

The festival, which attracts crowds ranging from latter-day hippies to new-age musicians, inspires participation — singing, dancing, and playing music.

The Great Groove Band encourages school-aged musicians to come with their families, bring their instruments, and, after a little coaching, give a half-hour main stage performance with their teachers.

They will perform on the last evening of this weekend’s three-day festival at the Altamont fairgrounds
"It’s open to kids who play"Just for this weekend we have children coming from all over the Northeast," said Roger Mock, one of the event’s administrators. "They’re coached by teachers during the weekend, and they rehearse it Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the festival, and then they play it on stage."

Playing with them are the students’ coaches and volunteer parents and friends, making a grand jamboree of fiddle music that has become an Old Songs Festival staple. The Great Groove Band was created by western Massachusetts fiddler and teacher, Donna Hebert, who founded the program in her home state.
"I felt it was time to move beyond just performing for children at folk festivals, to seek their deeper involvement as full participants in the music," said Hebert, an Amherst College fiddle instructor.

Schenectady fiddler and teacher Jane Rothfield is a band member and co-developer of the band’s curriculum, along with Hebert. Rothfield studied at Julliard and Hartt as a young musician before going on to becoming an old-time dance fiddler.
"We’ve arranged the music in rising levels of difficulty so new students can play a basic setting of the tune along with older, more experienced musicians who take on the tune in all its style and glory," said Rothfield.
"This is not a recital," she continued. "Instead, it’s a structured jam session. We teach different tunes each year, scoring them for fiddle, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and bass, and we arrange them on the spot when we arrive at the festival and see who shows up to play."

Recently, the American String Teachers’ Association has begun an initiative called Alternative Styles, which would bring fiddling into schools’ string curriculum.
The band cites Maura McNamara, a Saratoga Springs teacher, saying, "The Great Groove Band is an ideal place to introduce fiddling to string players and school musicians. They are surrounded by folk music the entire weekend, so it’s a total immersion, with many opportunities to play outside of the Groove Band rehearsals."
Some of the music that will be a part of this year’s performance in Altamont include "Amazing Grace," Norwegian waltzes, Irish jigs, and Scottish marches, as well as French-Canadian, New England, and Appalachian reels and songs.

For more information, or for families of young musicians who want to register for the festivals, the Great Groove Band’s website is: www.dhebert.com/greatgrooveband.html.
"The music you will hear is by and large under the radar of media or what you might hear on the radio or see on television," Mock told The Enterprise. "The music has been created in specific cultures and is passed on"It’s a way for people to come together and play music."

Old Songs events

Three main concerts will play at the festival — two at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and one at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The special guests for this year’s festival are Shetland’s Heritage Fiddlers from the Shetland Islands, who are all students of Tom Anderson, a well-respected teacher of the Shetland fiddle style.

Other music will include:

— Italian flat-picking guitar, by master Beppe Gambetta;

— Celtic music with appearances of Téada from Ireland; Lian de Cubel, a six-piece ensemble from Northern Spain; and William Jackson from Scotland;

— Old-time music represented by Allan Jabbour, Ken Perlman, the Raisin Pickers, and Jody Stecher and Kate Brilin;

— Blues by master Paul Geremia;

— Songs performed by singers in various genres including Michael Cooney, Byrne & Barrett, Peggy Seeger, Cris Williamson, Kim and Reggie Harris, Joe Hickerson, Enoch Kent, Margaret MacArthur, John Roberts, and George Ward; and

— Children’s music, including the Ivy Vine Players, the Jug Band Workshop, and Roger the Jester.

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The Old Songs Festival will take place at the Altamont fairgrounds on Route 146 in the village of Altamont, this weekend on June 23, 24, and 25. Prices vary depending on how many days you attend and whether or not you purchase a camping spot. Tickets start at $30 for Friday and run to $90 for the entire three days. For additional information, call 765-2815.