Hi Gang,
Thanks to everybody who spent time sequestered with us last weekend. I hope getting reintroduced to your previous world (maybe planet is a better term) is not being too traumatic. I sent an email to everybody asking for any photos or short videos to be put in my Dropbox for further distribution.
I would really appreciate it if everybody could write up a bit about their experience and post it here, along with any suggestions going forward. If you'd rather keep it more confidential please email it to me. We may try to put together a more formal survey later but sharing you thoughts and experiences here would be great.
Thanks,
Nail (or whoever this is inhabiting my previous space, things are still a bit fuzzy)
IGC 2014 - Reports & Suggestions?
Last year I asked for more performance opportunities - you nailed it! So let's push that envelope with more performance challenges:
- Book us on the Saturday night to perform in town at the local bar (optional to perform). And dare I suggest it gets live streamed to the TG community for their critique & feedback. (I know the internet limitations we have)
- Challenge us to play at least one original song during the open mics.
- Challenge us to do "mini" sets inside the Orchard lodge ... maybe three/four song sets - everyone gets assigned 10-12 minute period during the day to perform in-between the other events & during meals. [/ul]
I can't really say there's anything I wish were better this year; it exceeded all my expectations. Like I said, I really wanted to pick Dave Nachmanoff's brain on performing - check that one off the list big time! I will, however, be greatly disappointed if we don't get pros to live with us next year like we had this year - that's a key confidence builder.
What I liked:
- I really liked the two people to a room this year much better than three to a room last year.
- Food was much better this year (IMHO)
- Redwood Lodge seemed to be a perfect size for our events
- Those little extras that Nani (and the Hogans) threw in for us (cookies, snakes, etc) didn't go unnoticed!
- Master Classes & One on one time.
- Performance Critiques (this was my number one favorite). Maybe next year shoot a quick video of us and give the feedback while we're watching it so we can see what the feedback is referring to.
- ... and everything else I'm leaving out!
Those top three challenges will make me run away from home and live at the QC (but they will have to tune the piano)!
Great Job!
Bob #3 of the Bob, Bob, Bob, & Robb super Group!
- Book us on the Saturday night to perform in town at the local bar (optional to perform). And dare I suggest it gets live streamed to the TG community for their critique & feedback. (I know the internet limitations we have)
- Challenge us to play at least one original song during the open mics.
- Challenge us to do "mini" sets inside the Orchard lodge ... maybe three/four song sets - everyone gets assigned 10-12 minute period during the day to perform in-between the other events & during meals. [/ul]
I can't really say there's anything I wish were better this year; it exceeded all my expectations. Like I said, I really wanted to pick Dave Nachmanoff's brain on performing - check that one off the list big time! I will, however, be greatly disappointed if we don't get pros to live with us next year like we had this year - that's a key confidence builder.
What I liked:
- I really liked the two people to a room this year much better than three to a room last year.
- Food was much better this year (IMHO)
- Redwood Lodge seemed to be a perfect size for our events
- Those little extras that Nani (and the Hogans) threw in for us (cookies, snakes, etc) didn't go unnoticed!
- Master Classes & One on one time.
- Performance Critiques (this was my number one favorite). Maybe next year shoot a quick video of us and give the feedback while we're watching it so we can see what the feedback is referring to.
- ... and everything else I'm leaving out!
Those top three challenges will make me run away from home and live at the QC (but they will have to tune the piano)!
Great Job!
Bob #3 of the Bob, Bob, Bob, & Robb super Group!
schembre wrote:
I asked Nani to leave the snakes at home but she must have sneaked them into the car when I wasn't looking!
Neal (getting closer)
Bob,Last year I asked for more performance...
- Those little extras that Nani (and the Hogans) threw in for us (cookies, snakes, etc) didn't go unnoticed!...
Bob #3 of the Bob, Bob, Bob, & Robb super Group!
I asked Nani to leave the snakes at home but she must have sneaked them into the car when I wasn't looking!
Neal (getting closer)
As good as IGC 2013 was, and it was outstanding, it didn't compare to IGC 2014. Last year I spent a whole lot of time really listening to great guitarists play songs I couldn't play in a dream. Last year was great entertainment and I enjoyed the camaraderie we generated.
This year was way different. When people arrived on Wednesday they were polite handshakes all around. "Nice to see you again..." On Sunday I didn't see a single handshake. It was all hugs. Everywhere. Everyone. Strangers from all over this country and the UK too, who were no longer strangers but friends united by these silly wooden boxes we hold so dear. We were truly sad to say goodbye to the people we had worked with and listened to. And they us. We were literally invested in each other.
Personally, you could not have selected two more different yet wonderful guys as Doung Young and Dave Nachmanoff. I learned so much from them and from Neil too. My brain wants to explode. Dave in particular literally lived with us for a couple of days and Doug was at every event. How many camps have alternative tunings specialists like Doug? What a treat. And Dave, someone I've known for many years, was a lot more fun than I ever expected. Dave was literally part of the group.
And of course, Neil was much more accessible and less stressed out than last year. And I think Neil enjoyed the open mic sessions much more than last year. And the level of performance was much better this year too. I really appreciate Neil stopping and showing me something I was doing wrong. For those of us who only get Neil on line it was a real treat. If I lived in the Santa Cruz area I would be a weekly student of Neils.
This IGC was an enormous learning opportunity. And because of the format if you messed up a song you had another chance later. Really cool. And there was total enthusiastic support for each other. Plus we had all those marvelous people starting with Nani and Ness and Corina and Rebecca and Ann and many more who put so much into this thing. There contributions to the success of IGC 14 defy words.
Things I'd change. The food was great, better than last year (not so much weird stuff). The facility is nice and works for us. A nice balance between rustic and high end. I'm used to the Quaker Center now. And if we go higher end it will cost more. So this works fine. Maybe the only thing I'd change is I really liked all the cold bottled water the first year. It was hard to keep the big coolers cold. Man, is that a minor nit or what! And the hills get tiring after awhile. Thank goodness Neil acted as shuttle driver.
This year set the "Gold Standard" for what IGC should be. I love the people, the music, the the hopes and fears. Neil has a very tough job to top this year. Much harder than last year. We don't need high end, fancy performers to be happy. For those willing to invest the time and money we want a participatory event and this year we got it. But I gotta go. I've got too much music to improve on.
Thanks to all of you who made this event so special. There are other camps out there but I challenge anyone to find one with more friendships and great instruction. I've still got a stupid grin on my face!!
Cheers!
This year was way different. When people arrived on Wednesday they were polite handshakes all around. "Nice to see you again..." On Sunday I didn't see a single handshake. It was all hugs. Everywhere. Everyone. Strangers from all over this country and the UK too, who were no longer strangers but friends united by these silly wooden boxes we hold so dear. We were truly sad to say goodbye to the people we had worked with and listened to. And they us. We were literally invested in each other.
Personally, you could not have selected two more different yet wonderful guys as Doung Young and Dave Nachmanoff. I learned so much from them and from Neil too. My brain wants to explode. Dave in particular literally lived with us for a couple of days and Doug was at every event. How many camps have alternative tunings specialists like Doug? What a treat. And Dave, someone I've known for many years, was a lot more fun than I ever expected. Dave was literally part of the group.
And of course, Neil was much more accessible and less stressed out than last year. And I think Neil enjoyed the open mic sessions much more than last year. And the level of performance was much better this year too. I really appreciate Neil stopping and showing me something I was doing wrong. For those of us who only get Neil on line it was a real treat. If I lived in the Santa Cruz area I would be a weekly student of Neils.
This IGC was an enormous learning opportunity. And because of the format if you messed up a song you had another chance later. Really cool. And there was total enthusiastic support for each other. Plus we had all those marvelous people starting with Nani and Ness and Corina and Rebecca and Ann and many more who put so much into this thing. There contributions to the success of IGC 14 defy words.
Things I'd change. The food was great, better than last year (not so much weird stuff). The facility is nice and works for us. A nice balance between rustic and high end. I'm used to the Quaker Center now. And if we go higher end it will cost more. So this works fine. Maybe the only thing I'd change is I really liked all the cold bottled water the first year. It was hard to keep the big coolers cold. Man, is that a minor nit or what! And the hills get tiring after awhile. Thank goodness Neil acted as shuttle driver.
This year set the "Gold Standard" for what IGC should be. I love the people, the music, the the hopes and fears. Neil has a very tough job to top this year. Much harder than last year. We don't need high end, fancy performers to be happy. For those willing to invest the time and money we want a participatory event and this year we got it. But I gotta go. I've got too much music to improve on.
Thanks to all of you who made this event so special. There are other camps out there but I challenge anyone to find one with more friendships and great instruction. I've still got a stupid grin on my face!!
Cheers!
i'll agree w superbob #3; the one-on-ones were great. one goal I've had from both year's camps was to get technically better, smoother, more articulate. so the mini-lessons were definitely a help. performance helps, if only to expose the weaknesses that need work. for me, that was one reason to choose the songs I went with on open mic's...a bit on the edge of skill (or perhaps more accurately, way over the edge) but wanting to hear how to improve. with that in mind, perhaps more performance critiques would help, as bob suggests (not meant to embarrass, but to improve...perhaps by even giving "mulligans" of performance-critique-performance).
dave's workshops were great. and to again agree w the supergroup leader, having the opportunity to say "I played with dave nachmanoff" really was a highlight...what an absolute joy that was...am still talking about it to anyone who'll listen. what a gracious person to accommodate us rookies and keep smiling thru it.
but I can't say enough about doug's workshops. I probably took more practical knowledge away from those. cliché by now, but he really did demystify a lot of stuff, particularly the alternate tunings; at least it seemed to stick more this year. I suspect one thing i'll attempt over the year is to try to arrange some simple song in an alternate tuning for next year's performances (but again, I'd love follow-on performance critiques on style, technique, and composition)
food: great, as we are now becoming accustomed
location: flatten the hills or the elevation
is there a qc on the beach?
topics: musical composition or (dare I say it) theory...circle of 5ths sort of stuff, how to go beyond I-IV-V and even beyond I-vi-ii-V etc, chord substitution/augmentation, chord melody arranging; I'd love to see something like that happen real-time, along the lines of dave's writing workshop--identify a common, simple song and then totally re-arrange it into an extended version and see how it comes out.
robb (holdin' down the groove for the bob's with the talent)
dave's workshops were great. and to again agree w the supergroup leader, having the opportunity to say "I played with dave nachmanoff" really was a highlight...what an absolute joy that was...am still talking about it to anyone who'll listen. what a gracious person to accommodate us rookies and keep smiling thru it.
but I can't say enough about doug's workshops. I probably took more practical knowledge away from those. cliché by now, but he really did demystify a lot of stuff, particularly the alternate tunings; at least it seemed to stick more this year. I suspect one thing i'll attempt over the year is to try to arrange some simple song in an alternate tuning for next year's performances (but again, I'd love follow-on performance critiques on style, technique, and composition)
food: great, as we are now becoming accustomed
location: flatten the hills or the elevation
is there a qc on the beach?topics: musical composition or (dare I say it) theory...circle of 5ths sort of stuff, how to go beyond I-IV-V and even beyond I-vi-ii-V etc, chord substitution/augmentation, chord melody arranging; I'd love to see something like that happen real-time, along the lines of dave's writing workshop--identify a common, simple song and then totally re-arrange it into an extended version and see how it comes out.
robb (holdin' down the groove for the bob's with the talent)
I could not agree more with what has been said in the previous postings.
As a person who has attended both years of camp, this year was truely amazing and blew away any expectations I had on how great and personally fulfilling it could be.
Neil, my suggestion would be to try and keep the same format. Do "classroom" work during the day and allow participants to perform at night. I think we all long to be able to play in front of others, but either do not have opportunities or are to uncomfortable to do it. Playing an open mike each night made us all better players. I could see a transformation in everyone from the first to last night, everyones improvement was amazing.
I would also try and keep the attendee size to the 24 in the future as compared to the 1st camp. Two to a room was much better and I think more people would make the evening open mikes to long in time.
Also this year by having some downtime built into the schedule allowed everyone time to get to know each other better and just noodle around on the guitar with others. I enjoyed spending time with others who love to play guitar as much as I. It was fun to share experiences and share ideas. So keep that in the plan.
Neil, many thanks to you, Nani, Vannesa, Dave, Doug and all my fellow campers for making IGC2 something I will never forget.
As a person who has attended both years of camp, this year was truely amazing and blew away any expectations I had on how great and personally fulfilling it could be.
Neil, my suggestion would be to try and keep the same format. Do "classroom" work during the day and allow participants to perform at night. I think we all long to be able to play in front of others, but either do not have opportunities or are to uncomfortable to do it. Playing an open mike each night made us all better players. I could see a transformation in everyone from the first to last night, everyones improvement was amazing.
I would also try and keep the attendee size to the 24 in the future as compared to the 1st camp. Two to a room was much better and I think more people would make the evening open mikes to long in time.
Also this year by having some downtime built into the schedule allowed everyone time to get to know each other better and just noodle around on the guitar with others. I enjoyed spending time with others who love to play guitar as much as I. It was fun to share experiences and share ideas. So keep that in the plan.
Neil, many thanks to you, Nani, Vannesa, Dave, Doug and all my fellow campers for making IGC2 something I will never forget.
The camp is over and it is now Tuesday for me but I couldn't stop talking at work today about the great experience I will never forget.
Being my first time I was not sure what to expect. Living it made me say WOW this is fantastic. Everybody I met and now consider a friend
were so nice. It would seem impossible in any other setting that 24 + people would get along so well. The format that was setup from the morning through the evening
was well done in my opinion. Having the time to spend with each and every teacher was so nice. Also the fact that the schedule was kind of set but still fluid was good.
I really liked the open mic's because it got me out of my comfort zone. I just wished I had taken Dave up on the critique session. Hopefully next year. Doug's classes were also great not only the alternate tuning but the recording sessions. I have already tried to do two cameras ( well they were my iphone and Ipad).
If I were to change anything it would be HMMMM not walking up hill
Thanks Neil, Vannesa, Dave, and Doug, and of course Nani, Rebecca, Corina, Larry and all the campers.
Bob
PS the Jam sessions were Great!! :woohoo:
Being my first time I was not sure what to expect. Living it made me say WOW this is fantastic. Everybody I met and now consider a friend
were so nice. It would seem impossible in any other setting that 24 + people would get along so well. The format that was setup from the morning through the evening
was well done in my opinion. Having the time to spend with each and every teacher was so nice. Also the fact that the schedule was kind of set but still fluid was good.
I really liked the open mic's because it got me out of my comfort zone. I just wished I had taken Dave up on the critique session. Hopefully next year. Doug's classes were also great not only the alternate tuning but the recording sessions. I have already tried to do two cameras ( well they were my iphone and Ipad).
If I were to change anything it would be HMMMM not walking up hill
Thanks Neil, Vannesa, Dave, and Doug, and of course Nani, Rebecca, Corina, Larry and all the campers.
Bob
PS the Jam sessions were Great!! :woohoo:
-
benfield113
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- Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:45 am
- Status: Offline
Hi All,
I finally got back from camp on Wednesday, 10 weeks after leaving home for it. Those memories will take a lot longer than that to fade.
Everything was better this year, the food, the accommodation, the practice sessions, the open mike performances, and we all improved technique and confidence during the camp.
So ... for next year's reunion. Don't change a thing. Most importantly, make sure we get Dave back - that guy is just the tops. The memories I have of playing Ralph Mctell songs with him at 4 in the morning will stay forever. If he can't do September 2015, book him for October (or you'll have to clone him!).
Airfares are a lot cheaper later in the year, but hey, Wendy's already started planning for next year's trip, so I'll probably be out beforehand anyway.
Hope to see you all then.
Andy
I finally got back from camp on Wednesday, 10 weeks after leaving home for it. Those memories will take a lot longer than that to fade.
Everything was better this year, the food, the accommodation, the practice sessions, the open mike performances, and we all improved technique and confidence during the camp.
So ... for next year's reunion. Don't change a thing. Most importantly, make sure we get Dave back - that guy is just the tops. The memories I have of playing Ralph Mctell songs with him at 4 in the morning will stay forever. If he can't do September 2015, book him for October (or you'll have to clone him!).
Airfares are a lot cheaper later in the year, but hey, Wendy's already started planning for next year's trip, so I'll probably be out beforehand anyway.
Hope to see you all then.
Andy