GREAT GROOVE BANDS

String wizard Darol Anger in his foreword to A Practical Guide for String Players:

"Donna gets it all right. I suspect that the general level of fiddle knowledge and playing will take a major uptick soon after [Fiddling Demystified] is published, just as other great music books such as Earl Scruggs’ original banjo book, O’Neill‘s great Irish fiddling reference and the infamous jazz Real Book influenced the course of musicians’ lives and work."

A Practical Guide for String Players

Table of Contents & Lesson List Sample lesson: Swallowtail Jig

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The Beaudoin family sadly lost Julie Beaudoin on April 8. (Click on her name for the full obituary). She was 87. Julie passed away while visiting the Grand Canyon with family members. We feel her loss keenly and are grateful for her presence in the band for the past year, where she was "Memère" and adopted us into the Beaudoin clan. The widow of reknowned fiddler Louis Beaudoin, Julie Lacourse Beaudoin carried the song traditions of ballads and chansons a répondre for her family, passing it down to her daughters Carmen and Nina, who sing her songs in Beaudoin Legacy performances. On March 29, we played a double-bill concert with sister Franco-American group Chanterelle in Cumberland, Rhode Island at the Blackstone River Theatre. This was Mémère's last performance with us before she passed away April 8. We are very grateful to have not only an audio, but a good film recording of that concert (click here for the finale on YouTube), along with hundreds of professionally shot photos of the day's events. We'll have a CD of the March 29 concert available this summer, and hope to have a DVD of the concert available in time for Christmas. The group has also applied for funding to produce a documentary film about the Beaudoin family's music and influence.

Julie Lacourse Beaudoin, 1921-2008 Melissa Kosswig photo March 29, 2008

Beginning this fall, the Beaudoin Legacy is teaching school programs in Vermont - contact Donna Hebert for details. Carmen Bombardier, Donna Hébert and the group lead classroom workshops, assemblies, residencies and teacher-training for foreign language, music, history and social studies classes. Focusing on Franco-American history & culture, the group works with grades 4-12, with programs available for college foreign language and music departments. The group is also booking college and community concert series. Vermont presenters can contact the VT Council on the Arts to receive matching funds for our performances through the NEA's American Masterpiece Roster.

Fiddle & Strings and Fiddling Demystified Camps at Old Songs in Voorheesville NY Download a PDF of the camp brochure

Donna is directing three fiddle day camp weeks in July 2008 - one for children, a second for novice-intermediate adults and a third for teachers and string players of intermediate and advanced skills.

All three weeks of camp are held 9-4 Mon-Fri. at the air-conditioned Old Songs Community Center in the village of Voorheesville NY, about 20 minutes west of Albany.

WEEK 1: July 7-11 - Fiddle & Strings Camp for ages 6-18 with Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield, George Wilson and Max Cohen. Fiddle, banjo, guitar, bass, theory, keyboards, arranging.

WEEK 2: July 14-18 - Fiddle & Strings Camp for novice/intermediate adults with Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield, George Wilson and Max Cohen. Fiddle, banjo, guitar, bass, theory, keyboards, arranging.

WEEK 3: July 28-Aug. 1 - Fiddling Demystified for Strings Camp for teachers, string players, fiddlers - intermediate to advanced with fiddler Donna Hébert, Alternative Styles cellist Renata Bratt and guitarist Max Cohen. Fiddle, cello, guitar, theory, arranging, transposing for strings, lesson plans.

LIMIT 30 CAMPERS EACH WEEK • DEADLINE 6/15/08

Contact Old Songs to check on available space for for all three weeks of camp

 Renata Bratt (left) and Donna Hébert at Mark O'Connor 2006 San Diego Strings Conference. 2007 Chair of ASTA's Alternative Styles Steering Committee with instructional materials on Mel Bay, Renata has also edited Donna's cello edition of Fiddling Demystified for Strings.