Recapping

It feels almost unusual to be home and settled for awhile.  Two of my travel-based aspects of the Lilly project are in the history book.  I thought it'd be useful to contrast the two festivals that I attended.   My original grant proposal was written with the intention to attend one of Richard's Gillacamps on Amelia Island, Fl.  The venue for that camp unexpectedly closed so alternate plans were formulated and my trip took me to the U. of Miami instead.  This was a longer trip so my husband was unable to attend.  Also my travel plans morphed into flying to Miami and Birmingham, renting cars and acquiring lodging.  As a solitary traveler this just made more sense, but it did have me hopping planes and limiting what I could bring with me, specifically the number of guitars(one).  It's useful to reflect on how I would have changed my approach to this trip.  I think I did pretty well but for one person I had too much to lug around.  My idea of shipping back my laundry and items that I no longer needed did work out beautifully and this was an excellent test run for Ireland.   Although shipping redundant items will not work for the up-coming Ireland trip. My Hiscox guitar case did a great job of protecting my instrument.  I actually observed the guitar being loaded onto airplanes twice and both times the airlines handled it respectfully.  Thanks Delta and American luggage handlers.  I noted that three of the classical guitar students at the MIGF also had Hiscox cases.
    Now in contrast the ODPC festival was an adventure shared with my husband and it served as a vacation break for him.  We drove to this four day event and with our Scion XB for transport we were able to pack it liberally.  In fact our clothing was packed into one medium sized case and everything else occupied the bulk of the space.  This included our cooler, two guitars, two mandolins, a banjo, a bodhran, video equipment, camera, and my trusty little Asus netbook.  We joked about how the proportion of clothing to "music stuff" was skewed in favor of the later.
    As would be expected the "expenses" of each trip were sharply contrasted.  My lone Florida adventure exceeded the fifteen hundred dollar mark to complete..  I am almost afraid to tally the whole cost.  There is no way I could have afforded this without the funds the fellowship provided..  My participation fees alone were around $350.  The fee for attending the ODPC funfest was a one time $5 fee for all four days.  One must keep in mind that the festival does run solely on volunteer efforts.  The only people making money were the vendors and those who were selling off their used instruments.  Of course we had hotel, travel and meal expenses.  ODPC was not free and it did reach into the $600 plus range. Again since our finances have been tight we could not have afforded this trip without my portion being aided by the Lilly grant.
    Now I want to contrast the "feel" of both events.  Here is what they had in common.  Participants who were dedicated and enthusiastic, teachers who worked very hard to engage and help their students learn, performers who were top-notch and well prepared for the performances they delivered, and venues that seemed perfect for the sort of event presented.
   MIGF and ODPC were quite different in flavor.  MGIF performances attracted both families and friends of the performers and folks from the community who would be characterized by middle class and above.  The audience was likely to be college educated(if they were old enough yet) and whose musical interests bent towards classical traditions.  The traditions of classical performances seem to revolve around maintaining a strict decorum of black clothing for the performers, specific ways to enter and exit the stage, little to no verbal communication with the audience(Mir Ali broke this commandment and it was quite refreshing) and a certain stiffness that comes from trying to accurately play a piece of music with respect for the composer.  This does not mean that personal expression was restricted, it just seemed to take a back seat to written music. Now I will admit that I was not familiar with much or any of the compositions presented so my analysis probably exposes that ignorance.  I was truly surprised that some of the performers had their music in front of them during the performance.  Now much of this seems to shatter when the Flamenco tradition creeps in and takes over the performers spirits.  Richard's participation in this series was definitely a mould breaker since his mastery of many traditions clearly results in his own interpretations of the pieces he has chosen for his extensive repertoire.   As he presented material to students who are nurtured in the classical tradition with material that expected them to experiment, they had definite difficulty.  Mir Ali, another master, who performs and teaches within this classical tradition did not fear bending the music to his own personality.  He has a special gift for arranging multiple performers, pushing them out of their comfort zones. 
    ODCP was definitely the "common" peoples event and families participated together often spanning generations.  The participants spanned the gamut of raw beginners to seasoned professionals.  Much emphasis is placed upon being able to develop the skills to jam together with other musicians.  Instead of inhabiting the hallowed grounds of academia this festival populated the local county fair grounds and had much of that atmosphere permeating it.  Great strides were made to make everyone feel welcome, young, old and all in-between.  It was a very fluid event with people and their carts of instruments, chairs(you had to bring your own) and accessories shuttling through aisle ways and in and out of barns with wonderful titles like "swine", "rabbit", "poultry" and "beef".  As one acquaintance described it, "looks like an exodus of refugees".   Neither bovine or bunny were in sight and the only birds spied were the occasional swallows and wrens that fluttered their ways in an out of the structures.  It is easy to feel comfortable in a situation such as this.  Certainly there is less stress about attempting new material and making the typical newbie mistakes.  Since there were so many people, most wouldn't even hear your clunkers.  The musical foundation for those who play chording instruments was learning the basic three chord progressions in the major keys and throwing in the occasional relative minor. The focus of this sort of event is trying to make it possible for the masses to participate in the joy of music.  Old Timey music dominated and Celtic traditions were an extremely strong focus as well.