I’m very pleased to announce that I got a scholarship to attend the Common Ground on the Hill’s Traditions Week July 6th to 10th at McDaniel college in Westminster MD. For the past 32 years Common Ground on the Hill has been hosting camps with workshops in traditional roots-based music, visual arts, and dance, as well as creative writing, film, discussion classes, yoga and more. Their mission to bridge communities through traditional art forms is one that resonates with me and by bringing together such a diverse group of artists and teachers from different disciplines they’ve created a one of a kind opportunity for folks looking for a creative summer getaway. And for those who can’t make it out to western MD they have a week of virtual sessions as well.
This will be my first time doing a camp like this and I couldn’t be more excited. They have an amazing faculty including pillars of the local traditional music community like Randy Barrett and Alice Gerrard, as well as highly respected rising stars Tatiana Hargreaves and Reed Stutz. I’m excited to learn more about Celtic guitar from Kevin Elam, and flat picking with Gabriel Furtado but I have to say that the class I’m most looking forward to is Mandolin with Tim O’Brien.
Yes that Tim O’Brien! Founding member of one of my all time favorite bluegrass groups Hot Rize, 2 time grammy award winner, 2 time IBMA male vocalist of the year, and all around inspiration Tim O’Brien will be teaching mandolin. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to study with one of the best in the business and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity.
McDaniel College is commutable from DC but I’m looking forward to staying in the dorms. Classes are mostly in the early part of the day and though there are plenty of evening activities staying on campus means that there’ll be lots of opportunities to meet with other artists and jam. Half the fun of attending something like this is the spontaneous fun you can have making music with complete strangers. If you are interested in learning more check out Common Ground on the Hill’s website for full details: https://www.commongroundonthehill.org/experience/programs-and-workshops/traditions-weeks/what-are-traditions-weeks
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Justin Heath 