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This post is a contribution from David Hollender, Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dave has been a member of the ensemble department for several years, and teaching upright bass, but now also teaches banjo for students following the Acoustic String Principal, where banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar or fiddle players can pursue [...]
John McGann is one of acoustic string music's more prolific instrumentalists and educators. He is the 1985 national mandolin champion, and has performed and recorded with a who's who of bluegrass, newgrass, celtic and folk artists. He operates his own custom transcription service, and has five books published by Mel Bay. John is a popular [...]
Our friend Richard Hawkins over at The Bluegrass Ireland Blog is reporting that Crooked Still, the innovative Boston-based string band, is heading back to Ireland for a follow-up tour later this month. They made quite an impact when they visited last year, and have ten dates set for this tour between September 22 and October [...]
Episode #39 continues on the heels of last week's discussion with Chris Pandolfi. This time, we are talking with dobroist/vocalist Andy Hall, also of The Infamous Stringdusters, and a fellow graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Andy talks a bit about the band, and how his Berklee degree in recording and audio [...]
Voila!! After much consternation, trial and error, and long distance coaching, it appears that I have successfully uploaded what should have been last week's edition of The GrassCast. My apology for the delay. Hopefully this week's episode will be uploaded on time. Episode #38 features my discussion with young banjo terror Chris Pandolfi of The [...]
This week we continue our talk with August Watters, who in addition to being an accomplished mandolinist, guitarist and banjo pickers, is also an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. This week August describes his involvement with the Boston Bluegrass Union and their effort to present bluegrass instructional opportunities to [...]
Continuing with our education focus, we talk this week with August Watters, who in addition to being an accomplished mandolinist, guitarist and banjo pickers, is also an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. August describes how Berklee has come to embrace using traditional string instruments (like banjo and mandolin) as [...]
We just got a note from our friend David Hollender, who has been keeping us abreast of the activities of the students at Berklee College of Music with an interest in bluegrass music. We have posted many times about Berklee, and their recent decision to allow the use of traditional string instruments as the principal [...]
Darol Anger's second project for Compass Records featuring his Republic Of Strings ensemble has been released. The group includes Anger on violin and Scott Nygaard on guitar, plus a number of exceptional young string musicians and vocalists. Entitled Generation Nation to highlight the multi-generational aspect of the group, the CD offers a mix of musical [...]
We have posted many times in the past six months about the prestigious Berklee College Of Music's recent decision to allow banjo and mandolin players to attend the school. More accurately, the new policy allows banjo/mandolin players - who have always been able to enroll - to use banjo or mandolin as their principal instrument [...]
