This page is about the August 1998 camp. Read my original fiddle camp page for some background on the camp and day-to-day life there.

The staff included:

• Crystal Plohman, Buddy Spicher, Claude Williams, Rachel Barton, and Mark were all there again. Read about them on my other fiddle camp pages.
• Mark Wood is an inventor, innovator, and butt-kicking heavy-metal violinist. He has devised an instrument which is played like a violin but has the range of a guitar (and then some). He has a strong technical background in classical playing but isn't afraid to break new ground.
• Matt "give me a topic" Glaser is no stranger to fiddlers everywhere. He's been at this camp many times but not when I've been there. He is the head of the string program at Berklee College of Music and has taught, performed, and recorded all over the place.
• Martin "but I'm a nice guy" Hayes is from County Clare, currently residing in Seattle. He's an All-Ireland champion (more than once) and a terrific player.
• Dale Morris, Jr. comes from a family of respected fiddlers in Texas. He has won some of the big contests including the Open Division at Weiser and the Grand Masters in Nashville. His musical interests are diverse, though, and he can play just about anything.
• Hans Holzen, is the son of the camp's resident plastic surgeon Dr. Tom and Helen, the camp's organizational wizard. Hans is a genuine pro. He's been to camp many times and this year he taught a guitar class and tirelessly provided top-notch accompaniment to anyone and everyone who needed it.

It just keeps getting better and better. I don't know why that surprises me. I came to camp this year with a slightly different agenda. Rather than trying to cram even more new stuff into my skull I was going to take it easy, relax, play more and see what I can do with what I already have. Relax, he says. Just play & hang out, he says.
That was before I got there. Camp started out in the usual fashion. The first night jam session was fun. Just about everyone took part in it. It was kind of low key, though, and before long people started wandering away. When there were just a few of us left Buddy Spicher came in. Some of us, myself included, had already decided to leave (I was literally halfway out of my chair) when Buddy said "Hey, I'll go get my fiddle." That settled that. Buddy joined us and we played for quite a while. Needles to say we were all blown away by Buddy. What a great way to start off the week!

You know the drill, two days of "Fiddler's Shuffle." This was the best group I've ever been in for that. It coalesced in a way those groups generally haven't. This group (F-Troop, as we came to call ourselves) developed a pleasant camraderie (maybe having our own theme song helped). It made the "shuffle" days much more tolerable. I find myself hating that "shuffle" business less every year, by the way.

I came to camp thinking I would mostly hang out with Matt & Claude (they generally led classes together) and Buddy. I was so blown away by Martin Hayes, though, that I had to rethink my strategy. Martin's session on the first "shuffle" day was stimulating. He proved to be insightful and articulate and I knew he was a guy you can learn something from. His concert set (that same night) was also quite stunning. He played unaccompanied and strung together long medleys of reels which were fascinating to hear. I mean, everyone does that, but his medleys were spectacular. Where most people just take off and blast through a series of tunes, his medleys went somewhere. Each tune took you in a different direction, it seemed, and by the end of the set you felt like you'd really been somewhere. And as if that's not enough, he's a really nice guy!

Dale Morris, Jr. is quite a player. His sessions on the shuffle days were fun. He led us through a couple of tunes and variations, and talked about (as well as demonstrated) ways to dress up a tune. Guys like Dale never cease to amaze me how they can take a tune you've heard a million times and keep it sounding new, but without getting away from the essence of the tune.

This camp has gotten a reputation as a place where lots of "kids" come. There have always been some in the fall sessions that I've been going to but this time there were quite a few teen-aged players, many of whom already have impressive track records on the contest circuit. Some of these players were amazingly good (and not just "... for kids that age"). This one group of kids had fun jam sessions, usually late at night. One of them would play while the rest chased each other around (as kids will do) then the player would stop and holler at one of the others "Why don't you come play !" The hollered-at kid would come over, pick up a fiddle, and play. It was like a three-ring circus (and I mean that in a good way). [And of course any of you kids who happen to read this, you know who you are, don't take offense at the word "kids." After all, I'm old enough to be your, er, um, uncle.]

The Matt & Claude Shows were worth the trip. Claude Williams is such a treasure. The way their class sessions evolved Matt would demonstrate things he's learned from Claude, stopping to allow Claude to clarify or amplify. Matt taught us a couple of Claude's soloes (especially on "You Got to See Your Mama") which gave a lot of insight to how Claude approaches chord changes and things like that. Matt is a terrific teacher and is very good at making efficient use of the limited time at a camp like this. I've been to several camps with Matt and I always get something new out of his workshops. He really knows how to push students to make them get past the barriers we're all facing, but without making anyone feel uncomfortable (and I'm speaking as a frequent pushee).

Evening concerts by Matt & Claude, Buddy and his band, Martin, Dale, Crystal, Rachel, & Mark (Matt referred to the evening when Mark & Rachel played as "Chops Ahoy") were all spectacular. On the last night they all "inaugurated" the camp fiddle that Jon Cooper had made. Claude's performance that night of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was particularly moving, the best 3 minutes of the whole week for me.

I heard a lot of twin fiddling this year, don't know if there was more than usual or if I just noticed it more. Matt & Martin did some nice duets with Matt supplying accompaniment-type stuff (as opposed to playing a harmony part). Fred Carpenter & Matt did a whole bunch of those classic Kenny Baker tunes which are so good on two fiddles. There were a couple of campers (variously thought to be sisters, twins, or mother-and-daughter but none of the above as it turned out, just teacher-and-student) who did a lot of nice twin fiddling, too.

Check out theQuotes of the Week, from the last couple of years.
Add your own comments to my camp scrapbook.

Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp
P.O. Box 110573
Nashville TN 37222-0573 USA
or telephone 615-377-6064
or check out Mark's own home page.

Last updated:Wednesday, 19-Jun-2002 10:02:35 EDT