BMG Festival & Rally 2008

This Was An Enormous Success Thanks To The Superb Organisation of The Lanarkshire Guitar & Mandolin Association

Friday Evening Concert

A lone piper greeted guests at the door of the Murray Owen Centre and local group Cask kicked off the concert with Celtic music – a lovely welcome, especially for those who had travelled from south of the border.  They were followed by Bristol group Brejeiro playing Choro music with so much energy and enthusiasm in their performance, and although guitar and mandolins were great, the question on everybody’s lips was “How did percussionist Andy do that with a tambourine?”.

Review of Workshops

A total of 17 workshops were on offer and most were filled to capacity.

Frances Taylor’s Baroque Mandolin Duets looked at 2 duets by Emanuele Barbella, Neapolitan violinist and composer from 18^th century. The standard was high, but with expert guidance, we managed both movements and learnt how to approach unusual musical phrases.

In New Traditionals, Nigel Gatherer began by demystifying the traditional tune structure, explaining that it is normally split into 2 parts, each having 4 sections. His approach ensured all were involved and used various games while building the tune section by section.

In Latin Rhythms, Dave Griffiths concentrated on different chord rhythms for Tango and Bossa Nova and experimented with them to see which best suited each dance. He split the group into two; one half played chords, the other played melody, then swapped.

Alan Jones led Music, Song & Dance and Come & Try Ukulele. In the first, the group began by playing a clapping percussion game, then learned a ceilidh dance - Flying Scotsman and sang Three Craws and Coulter’s Candy all in less than an hour. Some parents joined in and all had a good time. In the Ukulele workshop Alan taught basic chords and the group ended by strumming Sloop John B, recognisable even if not in perfect time.

Danielle Saxon Reeves’ Come & Try Banjo used chord diagrams and tablature and soon had participants strumming and picking a couple of tunes.

In 5-String Banjo Styles, Rob Mairs gave an excellent demonstration of various styles of banjo playing and the group picked a simple tune at the end.

Graeme Scott led Classical Guitar and used a Bach piece in 3 parts. He also tutored Improvistion for Mixed instruments where participants could improvise a solo and be accompanied by the group.

Barbara Pommerenke Steel led Come & Try Guitar and very quickly had the group playing a few simple tunes and chords.

Calum Harbison led a Rock & Pop Guitar workshop which focussed on hammer-on and pull-off techniques and a Rock & Pop Ensemble workshop where he used a piece arranged for different parts in the style of Chuck Berry/Link Wray. 

In Mike Pryor’s Bluegrass workshop, participants first listened to bluegrass music then set about playing Pike County Breakdown and Dixie Hoedown, first very slowly, then at full speed - very fast.

Eddie Smith led Come & Try Mandolin and looked at right-hand and left-hand techniques then played through a simple tune.