The weekend of Aug. 10-12 will satisfy the needs of those in
the mood for New England, bluegrass, Scottish, Irish and/or world
folk music.
That weekend marks the fourth annual Heart of the Alleghenies
Folk Music Festival which will be held at the University of
Pittsburgh at Bradford campus for the second year in a row.
The gates open at noon Aug. 10 with check-in and registration
and a welcome jam in the jam tent.
Howard Blumenthal, one of the organizers of the event, said
people have already started signing up to participate in the many
events – including learning workshops – to be held those three
days.
“We are already way ahead of last year and we are excited about
that,” said Blumenthal. “We are going to try to involve the public
more. We want people to realize they can come for an afternoon,
individual events, whatever they want to do.
“Any adult who wants to learn to play an instrument, has learned
in the past to play an instrument and wants to pick it back up,
should try one of the workshops, or just come and get acquainted
with those same kinds of people,” suggested Blumenthal.
Those looking to spend more than an hour or two can stay over
one or both nights to participate in events.
Camping access for those with RVs and tents is available, as
well as dorm room renting with food options handy, too.
Prices for any of these sites or activities over the weekend can
be found on the HOTA festival Web site.
This year, there will be more opportunity for festival visitors
to participate in open jams with a new singing jam tent setup.
The highlight of the festival will be the evening and Sunday
afternoon dance and concerts.
The Friday night concert includes a staff concert followed by
Curt Osgood, Hope Grietzer and Jim McWilliams in the Mukaiyama
University Room. Any public member who doesn’t want to camp or
attend available workshops will have the ability to attend just the
concerts if they prefer.
Taking the stage Saturday will be Celticladda, a contra dance
band that, according to their Web site, travels throughout the
United States playing different events. They play a combination of
Celtic, Irish and Cape Breton style music.
Also playing Saturday will be the Doerfel Family Bluegrass Band,
a family of 10 kids joining their mother and father performing on
stage. Most of the children play instruments or sing, while one
helps help out with his siblings and another, just two years old,
has not yet shown the family just how he will participate.
Another popular event held at the festival is the instrument
exchange which will be held all three days in the University Room.
There is no fee to put an instrument in the sale.
“Anybody who has an instrument they want to sell or buy should
come out and take a look,” said Blumenthal. “Occasionally you can
find rare or hard-to-find instruments. Last year a hammered
dulcimer from the 1860s was sold. They are not the kind you will
find at the corner music store.”
HOTA workshops to be offered include those for anyone in the
range of beginner to advanced, or just starting out to
performer.
Instrumental workshops include contradance melodies, learning
fiddle tunes by ear, squeaks, squawks and squeals that provides
information on what is wrong with the instrument, a pocket
instruments workshop, mastering a Pennywhistle – an intermediate
workshop and playing a dulcimer in a jam.
Singing workshops include “a tapestry of voice and strings” – a
workshop that helps students learn to interweave a voice with an
instrument to create an arrangement, a songwriting workshop, gospel
singing, and songs of New York State/New England.
A “Dance Like a Dream” dance workshop will also be held.
Those workshops listed above are just a few of the offerings for
the event, others are listed on the HOTA festival Web site.
Presentations offered at the festival are for anyone interested
in watching. They include, “Jitters are for the Jitterbugs:
Understanding and Conquering Stage Anxiety,” “A Tribute to Mark
Hamilton – a square dance caller from Black Creek, N.Y.” and
“Anatomy of a Classical Guitar.”
Additionally, there will be vendors who can new guitars, fiddles
or hammered dulcimers or fix a broken one. There will also be sales
of music for those who want to take a version of hammered dulcimer
or fiddle music home with them.
For those looking for physical relief, there will be a
myofascial release therapy booth handy.
