Welcome to oorts4Hcamp 

"Engaging youth of all ages to reach their fullest musical potential"

This is where my students at H-camp 2009 can find class descriptions and study materials before the course (be prepared!) or after the course (if you lost your copies of the handouts).

I'll be teaching three classes this year:

1. The Social Orchestra class

• This is our picture from last year.
• In this class we take a variety of pieces and have parts written out for various levels of players, and have everyone play together under a "baton", somebody (moi) who keeps things organized, rather than a "jam" where anything goes.   Yet we strive to be "social," i.e. Inclusive, although a basic level of proficiency on the instrument and in reading notes or tablature is required.
• The name comes from Stephen Foster, who not only composed tunes, but he also arranged a lot of music to play with whatever musicians were available, of whatever level of musical accomplishment, for whatever social occasion.  His book of arrangements was published with the title "social orchestra."
• Here are the pieces I would like to try this year.  As you will see the theme is (loosely) Mexican or Latin:
  • Carlos Curti, La Tipica (ca. 1890).  I hear that every concert of Traditional Mexicican music starts with this one.  More info at http://archive.mandolinsessions.com/feb08/Oorts.html
  • España Cañi by Pascual Marquina Narro (ca. 1925)
  • El Condor Pasa (Trad. Bolivian, arranged by Nakano)
  • A la orilla de un Palmar.  Trad. Mexican, arranged by Paul Oorts, more info at http://archive.mandolinsessions.com/oct08/Oorts.html
  • Perenita, a Rumanian tune
  • Münsing Schottische,  a piece we picked up in Bavaria
  • What I'd like to try with the singers:  Hard Times by Stephen C Foster: here's the midi file of the whole arrangment, and here's the sheet music for the singers .  The all sing unison on the verse (or somebody could do that solo) and 4 parts on the chorus.  Instrumental parts will follow later.

2. The chord boot camp class

In this class we will start from the assumption that you already know the basic open position chords (G, C, D, Am, Dm, Em, F), and that you know where the notes are on your mandolin. You will learn to play EVERY major and minor chord in EVERY key, as well as all sorts of dominant, diminished, suspended, altered, extended, demented and augmented chord you may ever run in to (or not). 

After this class you will never need a chord picture encyclopedia again!

Full attendance is recommended as the class will build up all week!  Don't miss the beginning.

3. The celtic tunes class for plectrum instruments:

• The basic idea is to learn some basic repertoire together that will help build your technique on your plectrum instrument (mandolin, guitar, tenor banjo, bouzouki, octave mandolin).  I think beginning and intermediate players will feel at home in this class.
• Other  melody instruments (fiddle, hammered dulcimer, pennywhistle etc. ) are welcome, but the repertoire may not "sit" very well on instruments that are not typically played in the celtic tradition (5-string banjo, mountain dulcimer, sousaphone, theremin…).
• Tunes will be provided in standard notation with chords, guitar tab, and mandolin tab.
• We will focus primarily on learning melodies, and only secondarily on accompaniment  (I say this to warn guitar players they can't get away with only playing chords all the time)
• THE TUNES
  • JIGS
  • REELS
  • POLKAS
  • Miscellaneous

Post Scriptum

OK, it's over, a good time was had by all that I know of.  These are the comments that my students wrote on their evaluation forms, and I'm mighty proud of them:

-  a wealth of information presented in a very organized way with lots of good visuals and handouts – with time to play the instruments too.

- A good sense of humor.

-He teaches a whole lot of practical stuff.

- One of those incredible teachers that everyone should experience. I returned to take Pauls social Orchestra class.

- I look for three things in  an instructor- A. caring and personal generosity B Commando of the subject matter and C. structure and organization on the material – Paul is exceptionally fine in all three.

- Very organized, clear and understandable instruction.

- A pleasure to learn from. Great sense of humor.

- Combines humor, history, language and broad musical experience and expertise.

- A+ instructor.

- Very forgiving, better organized than previous years.

And next year we'll try to be better organized still!  Looking forward to seeing you all again!