Gina Davis – songwriting & voice

Melody & Freedom (All Levels) 

We’ll explore a lyric writing prompt on freedom and discover how knowing “the rules” of melody can set our melodic writing free! We’ll explore 8 aspects of melody, do some writing prompts, and look at whimsical ways to select lines and create melodies for them! Let’s see how fun and spontaneity in our approach can lead to great places!

Group singing warm-ups & harmonization (All Levels) 

Using body awareness, breathing exercises, and a playful approach, we’ll focus on relaxing and being fully present while we sing. We’ll vocalize, listen, layer our voices, and harmonize as a group. Anne will also be available for individual vocal instruction.

Dave Firestine – mandolin

Dave pulls out the “take no prisoners” style of playing at every dance – bringing the tunes to their full potential and beyond. He is a tune-meister and music jams are super fun when he is in the driver’s seat.

Originally a drummer, his strong sense of rhythm and syncopation is the foundation of his playing and tune writing, and truthfully he is never happier than when he gets to pull out the laptop drum kit to back swing and honky tonk tunes. Don’t worry, he can access his sensitive side when playing waltzes and beautiful melodies.

Dave is a music vagrant retiree now, but before that, he was Senior Gyzmologist building lightning detection systems. He is currently playing with the dance bands STEAM! (www.dancetosteam.com) and The Privy Tippers.

Anne Luna – Bass

Beginner Bass Class 1 (Level 1-2) 

Let’s get the basics down and get to playing! This class is for you if you’ve never played bass or if you have played some but still want to improve your intonation, articulation, stamina, and confidence. We will look at basic ergonomics for ease and longevity of playing (and a happier body!), gaining a better understanding of the fingerboard, basic shapes and patterns that apply to most songs, and even basic walking lines. We’ll look at jam survival (and “thrival!”), hearing chord changes, and some ideas of what to play in folk, bluegrass, country, swing and pop tunes.

Bass Class 2 (Level 2-3) 

Ok, so you have the basics down, and maybe are even out gigging, but you want to add something to your bass lines and go beyond the root and fifth. This class is for you! We will dive into more transitions between chords, variations on walking lines, rhythmic tools such as ghost notes, slides, and hammer-on’s, soloing and ideas of what to play on less traditional tunes (i.e. original tunes and songs in which root-five doesn’t work as well). As always, we will emphasize healthy ergonomics for ease of playing. If the class is interested, we will look at bowing basics (French and German style).

Tony Marcus – Swing band, Swing chord

Swing Rhythm Guitar (Level 2-3) 

Using a handful of closed four note chord shapes (easier to make than barre chords!) we’ll explore some swing standards – songs like Undecided, All Of Me, and Bye Bye Blackbird, while working on getting the propulsive rhythmic feel of this style.

Swing & Honky Tonk Band Lab (All Levels) 

It’s great fun to just sit around and jam, but an actual band involves figuring out parts, working on harmonies, getting a solid consistent rhythm, and figuring out an intro and outro. While we’ll be playing country and western swing songs, these skills are useful for performing all styles of music. All instruments (and vocalists) are welcome!

Tim May – flatpick guitar

Intro to Swing Guitar Lead (Level 2) 

In this class we will look at how to get started played swing/jazz leads using chord tones and scales. We’ll look at the basics of improvisation and some simple blues. We’ll look at simple approaches and take the mystery out of the sometimes overwhelming chord progressions. Lots of playing time

Bluegrass Guitar (Level 3-4) 

In this class we will explore what it takes to be a complete bluegrass player. We’ll look at ways to make your rhythm more interesting (dynamics, bass lines, alternating bass) and the tools to create solos. Flatpicking includes some scale work as well as elements of Maybelle Carter style and the banjo-like approach called crosspicking.

Ken Perlman – Banjo

Clawhammer Banjo (Level 1) 

Improve your clawhammer technique – or learn it from scratch – and learn some great banjo tunes. We’ll make sure your basic mechanics and “bumm-diddy” strum are on track, integrate fretting-hand techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, & slides, learn how to play in a few different banjo tunings, and discuss strategies for getting around the neck. If the class moves along quickly enough, we’ll also explore drop-thumbing & double-thumbing (using the thumb on both long strings and drone string). At each session, you’ll learn old-time fiddle tunes & song melodies that illustrate the skills just taught. Instruction will be via demonstration, ear, and tablature.

Clawhammer Banjo (Level 2) 

Learn and perfect the skills you’ll need to further explore both “traditional” & melodic clawhammer. We’ll start with a thorough exploration of drop-thumbing & double-thumbing; develop the ability to drop your thumb to any string at any time, use your picking finger and thumb to play any combination of strings in any order, and to use double-thumbing both for rhythmic accents and for creating runs of melody notes. We’ll also explore fretting-hand fingering strategies and ergonomics, hammer-ons and pull-offs involving all fretted notes, “alternate-string” pull-offs (where you pluck one string and then pull-off another string), and basic strategies for playing melody and achieving syncopated rhythms. At each session, you’ll learn old-time fiddle tunes & song melodies that illustrate the skills just taught. Instruction will be via demonstration, ear, and tablature.

• Note: Students with at least some clawhammer experience are encouraged to take both classes.
• Note to repeat students re the Level 2 Class: Ken promises to offer different tunes this time around, as much as possible.

There will be jam classes and a lot of spontaneous jamming during the camp, so join in as they are big fun. If you’re a newbie and experiencing the (unfounded) “Jam Fear” that everyone does, don’t be intimidated. Everyone experiences Jam Fear when they start, if they have any sense. At first it may be a little scary, but it’ll soon turn into a lot of fun. Some reasons you might hesitate:

• “They’re going to hear me mess up.” No, they’re all busy trying to do their own thing. Very rarely in the average jam does anyone even hear the stuff you’re doing, since they’re worried about their own.
• “I’ll make mistakes.” Yes, you will, as everyone does, and if you’re not beating the daylights out of your instrument, you’re the only one who will hear them.
• “I’ll be put on the spot.”  No, in a jam, you can always choose to hang back. If anyone calls on you to take a solo, a shake of your head is a perfectly legitimate response.
• “I can’t keep up.”  Maybe so, maybe not. If you can’t, you can still play the chords or notes that sound OK to you as the music passes by.

The fact is that just like that cold water, it’s sometimes a bit scary to jump in the first time, but once you’re used to it, you’re telling everyone that they should jump in; what a bunch of weenies! Please, give the jams a try which may include: Swing Jams, Slow Jams, Bluegrass Jams, Acapella Jams, Honkey Tonk Jams or Old Time Jams.

Cosy Sheridan, Co-Director

Cosy Sheridan has been called “one of the era’s finest and most thoughtful singer-songwriters.” She first caught the attention of national folk audiences in 1992 when she won both the Kerrville Folk Festival’s NewFolk Award and The Telluride Bluegrass Festival Troubadour Contest, then released her critically-acclaimed debut CD Quietly Led on Waterbug Records. She has released nine CDs, her music is featured in the Robert Fulghum multi-media novel The Third Wish and she tours consistently throughout the US. Her concerts are wide-ranging explorations of modern mythology (meet Hades the Biker), love songs for adults, contemporary philosophy for the thoughtfully-minded and her signature parody on aging and women. Throughout this journey, her lyrical dexterity is backed by her distinctive, percussive bluesy-gospel guitar style. A guitar student of instrumental luminaries such as Guy Van Duser and Eric Schoenberg and a voice student at The Berklee School of Music, she brings a depth of experience to her craft. For the past 18 years, she has taught classes in songwriting, performance and guitar at workshops and adult music camps across the country including The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and The Swannanoa Gathering. In 2008 she co-founded The Moab Folk Camp.

Dave Firestine, Co-Director

Dave pulls out the “take no prisoners” style of playing at every dance – bringing the tunes to their full potential and beyond. He is a tune-meister and music jams are super fun when he is in the driver’s seat.

Originally a drummer, his strong sense of rhythm and syncopation is the foundation of his playing and tune writing, and truthfully he is never happier than when he gets to pull out the laptop drum kit to back swing and honky tonk tunes. Don’t worry, he can access his sensitive side when playing waltzes and beautiful melodies.

Dave is a music vagrant retiree now, but before that, he was Senior Gyzmologist building lightning detection systems. He is currently playing with the dance bands STEAM! (www.dancetosteam.com) and The Privy Tippers.

Charlie Hall, Founder

After earning a bachelor’s degree in Music Education with emphasis in French horn, Charlie Hall started out as a member of the 6th US Army Band in San Francisco.  When real life reared its ugly head, he found he needed a day job, which he found in computers from 1983 to 2003.  From 2003 to his retirement in 2017, he was a full-time guitar, mandolin and bass teacher.  He’s taught high school band as well as classes in beginning guitar, fingerpicking, bluegrass guitar, music theory and jamming. Charlie was a founder and driving force of the Black Rose Acoustic Society in Colorado Springs, a favorite destination for roots musicians and roots music fans.  He performed for ten years with the popular folk/bluegrass band Black Rose, was a finalist in the 2000 National Fingerpicking Championship and was nominated Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year in 1996 by the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. With his wife Marianne Danehy, Charlie was creator & co-director of the Colorado Roots Music Camp from 2006-2017.  He and Marianne are thrilled to hand off management of the Roots Camp to the folks at the Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp as well as Cosy Sheridan and Raul Reynoso.

December 11, 2018, we said goodby to Charlie who passed away after a valiant battle with brain cancer. He leaves behind a large legacy of music and education and those who knew him are better for it.  May we all carry on his legacy of life, love and life-long music!

Marianne Danehy, Founder

Marianne Danehy discovered “her people” around 2002; that is, those who played roots music.  From 2005 to 2014, she taught violin and fiddling in Colorado Springs, and is a registered instructor with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.  Undaunted by two degrees and a former life in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, she’s the mother of two nearly-grown kids, William and Anna. Marianne is an excellent teacher and an expert at getting folks started both on violin and fiddle styles.  From 2006-2017, along with her husband Charlie Hall, she was co-director of the Colorado Roots Music Camp.

Colorado Roots Music Camp has enjoyed wonderful and talented instructors over the years since its beginnings in 2006. Our thanks to them for thier part of the rich legacy and music community created each week.