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Title edit
The Swannanoa Gathering Homepage
Description edit
Founded in 1991 by Warren Wilson College President Douglas M. Orr, Jr., The Swannanoa Gathering is a series of week-long workshops in various folk arts held in July and August on the campus of Warren Wilson College just east of Asheville in the heart of North Carolina's beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. With a limited enrollment and an 'open' format which allows each student to select their own curriculum from a variety of courses, we offer an intimate, supportive community experience for students of all abilities, featuring a staff of some of the finest performers and teachers in the world.
The workshops take place at various sites around the Warren Wilson campus and environs, including classrooms, Kittredge Theatre, our Bryson Gym dancehall, the campus pond, gardens and patios, an outdoor amphitheatre, and various jam session tents. Each year we offer over 150 classes. Students are free to create their own curriculum from any of the classes offered for each week. Students may select a class choice and an alternate for each of our scheduled class periods, but concentration on a few classes is strongly recommended, since taking too many may not leave enough opportunity and/or practice time to absorb all the material presented and class selections are required for registration. We ask that you be thoughtful in making your selections, since we will consider them to be binding choices for which we will reserve you space. After their first class meeting, students may switch into another open class if they find they have made an inappropriate choice, and are then expected to remain in those classes. Unless indicated in the class descriptions, classes have a maximum of 15 students, and when those limits are reached, classes will be closed. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission to the Performance Lab Week is by application. Some of our class descriptions define required skills in detail, but in general terms, Beginner refers to those with no experience at all, or those who play some but are not yet comfortable with the basics. Intermediate students should have mastered basic skills, and be able to tune their instruments, keep time, play the principal chords and scales cleanly, and know how to play a few tunes with confidence (dancers should know basic steps and figures, and how to lead and/or follow). Advanced or Experienced students should be very comfortable with their instruments and able to focus on style, arrangement and ornamentation. Roman numerals after a class title indicate a difference in focus or skill level of the same subject, while capital letters denote different sections of the same class. Many of our classes may include musical notation or tablature, though in general, we emphasize learning by ear.
Each week commences with supper, an orientation session, and jam sessions and socializing on the Sunday before classes begin. Most classes will meet for morning or afternoon sessions, Monday through Friday. Friday evening's activities will close the week. Some classes may meet in the evenings for performance critiques, rehearsals, or jam sessions. In addition to the scheduled classes and instructor staff, we will have various 'potluck sessions', guest instructors and adjunct staff to call dances and lead picking sessions and 'slow jams', or tune-learning sessions. Evening activities might include open mikes, dances, staff concerts, student showcases, jam sessions, song swaps and more. Please note that although there is no deadline for registrations, both class size and total enrollment are limited for each calendar week, so early registration is encouraged. Students enrolled for instrumental instruction should provide their own instruments, and most of our instructors encourage the use of small audio tape recorders as a classroom memory aid. Students wishing to videotape classes will be required to obtain the permission of the instructor prior to the first class meeting, and must sign a release form stating that no commercial use will be made of any recorded materials. The Swannanoa Gathering reserves the right to cancel, add, and/or substitute classes and personnel where necessary. Our program’s ‘open’ format, which encourages students to take several courses a day, allows a breadth of understanding of our folk traditions seldom found in workshops of this type. For example, a fiddler may take a class in her instrument in the morning, then, after lunch, a dance class that uses tunes from her fiddle class, and a folklore class in the afternoon describing the cultural context in which both tunes and dances developed. This may then contribute to a more complete grasp of the nuances of the style during her practice time, and a more authentic fiddle sound. We encourage all students to come to Swannanoa with an open mind and a willingness to try something new.
Contact edit
- The Swannanoa Gathering
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- Asheville NC
- United States 28815-9000
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- +1.9999999999
