2008 Camps and Workshops
Teen Session: New England I
June 20-July 9, 2008
Stump Sprouts, West Hawley, Massachusetts
Led by Larry Gordon, Suzannah Park, Marytha Paffrath
Tuition: $1200
Three veteran Village Harmony leaders combine for a high energy session of singing, drumming and dancing.
Suzannah Park brings her infectious good humor and command of traditional Appalachian harmonies and ornamentation. Marytha Paffrath, a long-time member of the women’s ensemble Libana and an accomplished percussionist and student of world rhythms, will lead African drumming and Eastern European repertoire. Larry Gordon will lead traditional and contemporary shape-note songs, South African songs and dances, as well as other contemporary pieces.
There will also be lots of contra and country dancing, clogging and Balkan folkdancing.
This session will have its rehearsal week in Western Massachusetts, then
will travel throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Stump Sprouts Retreat Center
Situated in rural northwest Massachusetts, Stump Sprouts is a rustic, multi-season resort and retreat center. The center of the resort is our hand crafted guest lodge, converted dairy barn, and 200 year old farmhouse. The old dairy barn has been converted into a large multi-purpose space. In summer months, a unique moveable ceiling exposes the roof timbers thirty feet above the floor and two lofts, which are reached by a spiral staircase up through the old silo. The large windows allow for plenty of natural light. The floors are native hardwood and are great for dance. Surrounding the three buildings are several organic gardens which produce multitudes of flowers and vegetables for the kitchen. There is a wood-fired sauna and a solar shower a short distance from the lodge. A network of trails cover our 450 acres and are great for hiking and mountain biking.
Faculty
LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont
since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though
his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in
New England shape-note singing. Larry is an inspired organizer with an unerring
eye for good repertoire and a unique knack of pulling together interesting
combinations of singers and letting them shine. His patient and relaxed,
yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the
welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the
beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since
the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading
stunning periodic ad-hoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional
tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers. Larry
will teach traditional and contemporary shape-note music and lead dancing
at the Winter Workshop.
MARYTHA PAFFRATH, a singer, accomplished percussionist
and avid student of world rhythms and techniques, tours nationally and internationally
with the acclaimed world music ensemble Libana. She is the director
of the Instrumental Music and Dance Program at the Cambridge Friend’s
School in Cambridge, MA, where she brings her 27 years of teaching, and commitment
to multicultural arts to the development of faculty, programs and curriculum.
She infuses her lively teaching style into vocal workshops around the country,
focusing on international repertoire, rhythm and solid vocal technique. An
innovator, teacher, composer and writer, Marytha believes deeply in bringing
the simplicity of song to the complexity of the world. This will be
Marytha’s third year teaching with Village Harmony.
SUZANNAH PARK began participating in Village Harmony Camp
when she was twelve, but has been singing virtually from the moment she could
speak. She comes from a family of three generations of professional traditional
musicians and singers, and has performed and taught for the past 13 years.
Her intuitive teaching style, born of a lifetime of familiarity with American
folk music, makes her an extremely valuable teacher. She recently moved back
to North Carolina, the place of her birth, where she is making music, gardening
and clogging. This is Suzannah's seventh year teaching at Village Harmony.
For more information please visit: www.suzannahpark.com.