Youth Scholarship to Augusta Heritage Center
Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore hosts Songs of the Carter Family progam to benefit Scholarship
7 p.m, Saturday, January 21, 104 E. Munising Ave., Munising, Mich.; featuring the Watts Family of Marquette
In 1927, A.P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter drove a borrowed Model A Ford 23 miles over rough mountain roads from Mace Springs, Va., to Bristol, Tenn.
There they recorded six Appalachian traditional songs for Ralph Peer of the Victor Recording Company. Many consider this to be the "Big Bang" of a music style that developed into folk, country, and bluegrass. Many performers were schooled on Carter Family songs such as "Keep on the Sunny Side," "The Wandering Boy," "Gold Watch and Chain," and "Will the Circle be Unbroken."
The Watts Family's interactive workshop will focus on the history of the original Carter Family and their musical styles and harmony. The multi-media event will present slides, samples of early Carter Family recordings, and an opportunity to sing along on several of the original Carter Family songs. This will be an evening of fun for all ages. Donations will be accepted to support the Hiawatha Music Co-op Youth Scholarship which enables an area young person to attend a one-week summer music camp at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, W.Va.
Walter Krahn selected for Hiawatha Music Co-op
Augusta Heritage Center Youth/First-timer Scholarship
Walter Krahn, on the right in the photo above, has received the 2011 Hiawatha Music Co-op Scholarship to the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. He is shown with Hiawatha Music Co-op Board member and Scholarship co-founder Phil Watts.
Walter was also featured in a front-page article of the Marquette Mining Journal on September 25. It was a nice article about traditional music, the Hiawatha Music Co-op, and the Augusta Heritage Center. To view the full article and photos, please click here.
Now Hiawatha needs to replenish the Scholarship fund so we can send someone else to West Virginia in 2012. Donations are accepted at the Hiawatha-sponsored Acoustic/Slow Jams on (usually) the first Saturday of each month, and some workshops may be slated as well. If you have ideas, please email us at info@hiawathamusic.org. The full scholarship, tuition and room/board, runs around $850.
This endeavor definitely has a payback in our traditional-music community - one fiddle tune or song at a time!
The scholarship enables the recipient to be a resident at the Center for eight days in August. The recipient studies old-time fiddling with master artists and top performers. The intensive week of traditional music also involves historical workshops, concerts, dances and informal music jam sessions. The Augusta Heritage Center is internationally renown for activities relating to traditional folk-life and music of many cultures with an emphasis on the southern Appalachian region.
March 26, 2012, is the deadline to apply for the next award. The scholarship is open to Marquette-area young people, ages 12-20, and adults who have never attended an Augusta session, and who have an applied interest in traditional, American music.
Augusta Heritage Center
The Augusta Heritage Center is nationally and internationally renowned for activities relating to traditional folk-life and folk arts of many cultures with an emphasis on the Appalachian region.
The Hiawatha Scholarship session
The scholarship student will attend Week 5 of the Augusta summer schedule: August 7-14, 2011. The specific themes of Week 5 are Old-Time Music, Dance, and Vocal. The week also includes the Augusta Festival over the final weekend. The program offers a wide selection of classes taught by top musicians.
There will also be workshops with master artists and performers, extensive jamming, formal concerts, and dances.
Instrumental classes are available in fiddle, claw-hammer banjo, mandolin, and bass. Specialty guitar classes cover flatpicking, finger style, and back-up. More than 20 vocal topic classes ranging from early country harmony to African-American Gospel will also be available. Additional information is available on-line at Augusta Heritage Center.
The focus of Augusta classes and instructors is not to develop polished competitors or stage performers. Rather the major objective is to develop an appreciation and love for the music and the people through which it developed and evolved.
Scholarship fine print
The recipient will be reponsible for all transportation costs and arrangements to and from Augusta. Anyone under age 18 who attends the Augusta Heritage Center must have a chaperone. For a $100 fee, the chaperone can attend all group sessions, concerts, dances, jam sessions, and the Augusta Festival - anything except formal classes. The chaperone may also arrange room and board at Augusta for approximately $375. The Hiawatha Music Co-op reserves the right to reject any and all applications and to not award the Scholarship in any year where no applicant meets the selection criteria.
Sonja Prychitko of Marquette (center) won the first Hiawatha Music Co-op/Augusta Heritage Center Scholarship in 2007. She attended a week-long summer session at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia. It was Hiawatha's first year to sponsor the scholarship, which is open to Marquette-area youths ages 12-18. The award was partially funded by a "Songs of the Carter Family" workshop conducted by Augusta regulars Annette, Phil and Salem Watts of Marquette.
Sonja and her father, Dave Prychitko (left) returned to start a monthly "slow jam" in Marquette, sharing some of the tunes and techniques she learned at Augusta.
