The 15th annual Coast Celtic Music Camp in Roberts Creek opened full strength this July with 145 students, many of them adults, 15 teachers and 10 core volunteers who would be playing traditional tunes and instruments from Scotland, Cape Breton and many parts of the world where the music flourishes.
“Some of the volunteers have been with us for all of the 15 years,” said Ann Law, one of the extraordinary organizers of this popular week-long summer school. And some of the students have been with them for as long, too, especially those who started their musical lives a few decades ago as youngsters in the Coast String Fiddlers. Four of the alumni have returned to lead classes themselves: James Law took time out from his Celtic band NUA and his other bands to be here. Graeme McGillivray is teaching guitar, Serena Eades is leading a fiddle class, and Emily Wood, recently graduated from McGill University, will assist with the little kids program, Fiddles and Skittles. All four are coming home to the Coast, where it all started.
It’s a good argument for why, when the school decided to take a hiatus one year, they still continued with a scaled-down version for the youth.
“If you stop, you lose them,” said Ann Law.
There are also plenty of new faces and activity this year. Bodhran class attracted about 12 students to the award-winning bodhran player Jacob McCauley to learn this hand-held, traditional drum, and they looked like they were having a good time. (Hint: you can practise at home on a pizza box – it’s part of the training.)
An instructor from Ontario who is a noted bagpiper, Patrick O’Gorman, is teaching flute and penny whistle. Mathieu Gallant, a native of the Magdalen Islands (yes, that’s in Canada), is also new to the camp; he teaches the traditional music of Quebec.
One of the most popular sessions, the Trad Big Band, continues to attract the more experienced students. On Tuesday the classroom was packed with teens and adults, playing mostly fiddle and also drums, harp, trumpet and keyboard under the direction of the ever smiling Iain Fraser, drummer James Law and one of Scotland’s finest, Hamish Napier. Learning by ear is important for all of the classes, but Trad Band adds a different element in that students contribute to the arrangements and learn as a group. The instructors blend traditional music with the sound of jazz, fusion and rock in a big band setting.
The public has an opportunity to hear the music several times this weekend. This Friday night is the annual gala concert at Rockwood Pavilion in Sechelt starting at 7 p.m. It’s a grand, not-to-be-missed show of what teachers and students can accomplish in an intense week of musical work. Tickets for $20 will help fund future music camps and can be bought at Laedeli in Gibsons and the Sechelt Visitor Centre. The energetic Big Band folks will be performing in Winegarden Waterfront Park in Gibsons on July 11 at 7 p.m. in a concert by donation. They pop up again in Madeira Park on July 12 at 1:30 p.m. in an outdoor concert, again by donation.
For more info about the Camp and the society that manages it, see www.coastcelticmusic.com
