The Evening Sessions
Winfield, and Carp Camp is people, fun and music. In any order...we enjoy sharing music and goofiness! There is a very extensive ritual process to joining: bring an instrument, or not; bring a chair, or not; play, learn and enjoy, contribute what you can. That said, there are some unwritten rules or secret practices...
Those of us who live there bring extra chairs, so you don't always need to bring one...we will sometimes set up a chair for ourselves that might have extra padding for extended hours of play. Some bring a chair to leave at camp, some forget to pick them up on Sunday, Leon....when we close up for the night, we try to keep them all out of the rain.
Where do we sit? That is a tricky question...We like the center circle to have strong rhythm and melody, so the entire group has single pulse...a good goal, often achieved. Those who are learning, or checking things out would be towards the back. In the middle are those in the middle...after a day of chaos and eating, just before the beginning of the evening jam, we usually do some housekeeping. set up some chairs around our little stage, making sure we have a path to the center for those daring to enter. We usually move all the extra stands and stuff left on the stage out of the way. We never know who might be coming on a particular evening, and we try to reserve a seat or two for special guests. The next part is interesting and you may want to come early to observe this; people start to sort out where they might sit that evening...some instruments may group together, others with friends they have not seen for a long time. Sometimes there is some stress, because everyone cannot sit in the front. Somehow it has gotten sorted out every evening!
Music Stands - In the evenings, we usually have a pretty large group of musicians. Space is usually at a premium, so those who are tied to the music usually share a stand among two or more people.
Sheet Music - Each year, The Carpmeister puts together sheet music of suggested tunes for the year. We also try to collect mp3s or videos the tunes for those who don't learn tunes from music. They don't always match...the music is a guideline, and how it evolves is up to us. It is our hope that folks will use the music to learn tunes. However, we know that everyone does not have the time or inclination to learn every tune (not sure why...) so use a stand if you have to...and share, and think about playing by ear...
Multiple Instruments - When the jam gets crowded, think about bringing just your favourite instrument, unless you can wear the second instrument as a hat!
The Middle - We have the small stage in the middle, if there is no one there, feel free to sit in there for a tune and enjoy... it is a good place to sing from...if you have a small group that wishes to do something goofy, please do. While we can play tunes continuously for hours, it is nice to have some variety!
The Daytime - We often play old time tunes in the "morning", and there are various other smaller jams, or hunts for "bootsucking mud". People will work on new tunes or argue about what the real chords for a tune should be...
So there it is. We hope you feel welcome to come and join us. and do whatever you feel like doing....George Knappenberger joined our camp many years ago, because we didn't have rules...we just had fun.
