IAASRM May 2011 Case Statement

ADVANCING

SCOTTISH ROOTS MUSIC Through musical collaborations and exchanges among

music schools of North America and Europe

The International Alliance for Advancing Scottish Roots Music and

The Transatlantic Seaway Music Collaboration

A Call for Funding of the INTER NATIO NAL ALLI ANCE FOR ADV ANCI NG SCO TTISH ROOT S MU SI C

November 201 0; re vised May 2 01 1

SETTING Scotland and North America have a closely shared history, in terms of philosophy, politics, and culture. The Diaspora has witnessed thousands of families leave the shores of Scotland for new life in the “New World'” from the late 18th century until after the Second World War. With these people traveled their music, and that music integrated and merged with other music of many other peoples to create a unique American sound. In recent years interactions and discussions among music educators teaching Scottish Traditional music and genres that have their roots in that music such as Bluegrass, Old Time, and Appalachian have shone an analytical light onto the shared origins and traits which are still present in these genres. This exciting revelation has generated the impetus for the creation of a forum to advance this music and education in this music.

Many of these styles, genres, and educational modalities have developed independently and the teachers and students are often unaware of the connections and roots of their music.

Recent innovative collaborations - such as trans-Atlantic sessions between musicians in North America and Scotland - have created the platform for amazing discovery, creativity and shared understanding. Musicians have come face to face with both their musical descendants and ancestors and the power of this realization has exposed the drive for a common community of Scottish-rooted folk musicians sharing their music and passing this understanding on to their audiences.

This is just a beginning: there is much to be learned and shared while advancing Scottish folk music and its offspring.

ADVANCEMENT The aim is to establish a forum; a global alliance of educators, musicians and students of “Scottish Roots Music” designed to bring together those concerned to share and exchange knowledge, experience, reflections, creativity, and music. The heart of the alliance will be in collaborative music projects where students, faculty, and other musicians will learn by doing and where professional practice is fostered to promote shared art and trade.

FIRST STEPS In September 2009, after years of exploratory discussion between Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in Glasgow contacted Berklee to explore potential collaboration. This was a tipping point and these three music academies agreed to collaborate on a music project that would combine students, faculty, and alums of the three schools. In addition the Glasgow UNESCO City of Music company agreed to contribute administrative and strategic support.

The team set three goals: 1) to perform at the New Hampshire Highland Games in September 2010 (40,000 attendees); 2) based on that performance, to be invited to perform at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow for January 2011 (140,000 attendees), and; 3) based on the success of the Celtic Connections effort, be invited to perform at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient for August 2011 (800,000 attendees).



SEPTEMBER 2010 THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HIGHLAND GAMES LOON MOUNTAIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA

Twenty musicians from different braches of Scottish Roots Music were drawn from the three schools to form one ensemble. Scottish Traditional music students and faculty from Glasgow -pipes, fiddles, clarsach, accordion, vocal (peurt a buel), keys, guitar, whistles - were joined with Bluegrass/Old Time students from Boston - banjo, mandolin, fiddles, cello, cajón, and voice. The ensemble was called the TransAtlantic Seaway Collaboration (TAS).

The Glasgow musicians traveled to Boston in September 2010. The goal was to rehearse for two days and then be a featured band at the 2010 New Hampshire Highland Games. The Games are the largest Scottish cultural event in the northeast of the United States with more than 30,000 attendees over 3 days. The experiment was an unqualified success, measured by the energy and creativity of the performances and the standing ovations from the audience as the musicians provided the magical musical tour from Scotland to America and back home again. Seven performances in three days yielded massive YouTube exposure from dozens of audience members who videotaped the performances, and there were numerous declarations all over the Internet and in person at the games affirming that the project had hit a cultural nerve. People could hear the Scottish roots of American folk music, and audiences watched and listened as the musical DNA moved back and forth across the stage.

This cultural collaboration and performance wrought deeper understanding for performers and audiences in a practical, artistic manner – far better than any reading of a research paper or verbal description could ever achieve. It is clear that the IAASRM must advance this concept and practice. There are musicians, students, educators, and schools around the world yearning for this experience. The IAASRM will provide the vehicle.

JANUARY 2011 CELTIC CONNECTIONS FESTIVAL

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

TAS was invited to perform with the same ensemble at the 2011 Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow in January 2011. (At the Celtic Connections Festival we were known as Atlantic Seaway, so as not to be confused with the Festival’s Transatlantic Sessions.) This festival took place over three weeks at over 15 venues attracting more than 120,000 attendees. TAS was videoed at a BBC-Alba TV show filmed live at the Glasgow Art Club during the festival. Several radio interviews were also recorded. TAS also performed at several pubs and informal sessions during the 5-day tour.

At the conclusion of our last concert at the Festival, the director of the Festival Interceltique de Lorient met with the leaders of TAS and invited the band to perform several concerts at the August 2011 festival in France.



JANUARY 2011 INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR THE

ADVANCEMENT OF SCOTTISH ROOTS MUSIC GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

A summit was held in Glasgow at the Celtic Connections Festival drawing together educational, cultural leaders from Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Galicia, Asturias, Cape Breton, British Columbia, and the United States to advance the formation of the forum. This meeting was chaired by Larry Bethune (Vice President at Berklee College of Music) and coordinated by Mark Sheridan (Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde). Also leading the effort were the other leading collaborators, Josh Dickson (Head of Scottish Music for the RSAMD) and Louise Mitchell (Director of Glasgow UNESCO City of Music).

At the summit, the group planned future performances and collaborations in Scotland, Europe, Canada, and the USA.

AUGUST 2011 THE FESTIVAL INTERCELTIQUE DE LORIENT

LORIENT, BRITTANY, FRANCE

At the time of this writing, TAS and the IAASRM are planning for three concerts at the festival.

FINANCES

! CELTIC CONNECTIONS TOUR Glasgow, January 2011– $14,000: Most of this cost is in travel and accommodations for the American team; we are assuming no costs for the Glasgow team. We will negotiate with both the Festival and UNESCO to try to get a part of this cost covered by them. For ten (10) participants:

o $7,500 Airfare - approx. $750pp

o $2,500 Accommodations (5 double rooms @ approx $100 night)

o $3,000 Meals @ $60pp per diem

o $1,000 Miscellaneous - taxis, snacks/water, trains, etc.

! IAASRM FIRST INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT – Glasgow, January 2011: The costs for the summit are relatively minimal. The attendees arrange their own travel and accommodations as we take advantage of their attendance as part of the Celtic Connections Festival.

! SIX IAASRM TOURS – $10 8,000: The more costly effort will be the desire of the alliance to form ad hoc ensembles by combining musicians of the different schools and having them perform at festivals, schools, and other venues to advance the concept and music. Where possible, and to save costs, we will craft collaborations among schools already traveling to a festival or area.

Currently, we have this TransAtlantic Seaway Collaboration. We would like to have the group tour over the next two years visiting:



! August 2011 – Festival InterCeltique de Lorient in Brittany, France

! July 2012 or 2013– Interceltic Festival Avilés in Asturias, España

! September 2012 or 2013 – Scottish Highland Games in San Francisco, CA, USA

! July 2012 or 2013 – Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, Canada

! October 2012 or 2013 – Stone Mountain Games in Georgia, USA

! October 2012 or 2013 – Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

The same group may not do all these events. However, we do want to have at least three schools combined for each event, though some may be all North American or all European. For example, RSAMD and two other European Schools could collaborate or Berklee and two other North American schools could join together. The focus is on collaboration and combining different styles having Scottish roots.

Assumptions per each tour:

! A tour would be 6 days (5 nights) to allow for 3 performance days and 2 days for travel and 1 day for on-site rehearsal

! 12 participants: 3 musicians + 1 musician/administrator from each of 3 schools form a band

! Each 12-person team is made up of 4 continental travelers and 8 intercontinental travelers

! $8,000 Airfare – approx. $800pp for 8 intercontinental & 400pp for 4 continental

! $3,000 Accommodations – 6 double rooms for 5 nights @ approx $100 night

! $4,320 Meals – $60pp per diem

! $1,180 Miscellaneous – $16pp/day for taxis, snacks/water, trains, etc.

! This equals $1,425 per intercontinental traveler and $1,025 per continental traveler.

Events in close proximity to a collaborating school would drastically cut costs. For our NH Highland Games trip, visiting students stayed with host students in their apartments.

Therefore, each tour would cost approximately $16,500. We would like to do fund three tours per year involving nine schools and thirty-six people. The need would be about $54,000/year and $108,000 for two years.

Member institutions would assume the costs of IAASRM planning summits.

Your contribution to funding this endeavor will foster an amazing cultural exchange among Scottish-rooted music cultures and peoples. You can advance the appreciation for Scottish-roots music and its impact and influence on folk music of Europe and North America.

The 22 members of the Transatlantic Seaway Music Collaboration after a

successful concert at the New Hampshire Highland Games 2010.

Berklee shows off its strength in Scottish music gone Appalachian. From

left: Trent Freeman, Eric Robertson, Lukas Pool, Courtney Hartman

Berklee alumnus Giancarlo de Trizio and Glasgow-based piper Finlay

MacDonald join accordionist John Carmichael as his impromptu backing

band.

Berklee musicians perform a song popularized by Bluegrasser Alison

Krauss. From left: Maureen McMullan '10, Eric Robertson, Lukas Pool,

Courtney Hartman, and Monica de Vitry

Ainsley Hamill of the Royal Academy shifts from traditional

“mouth music” to a jazzy ballad.

The collaboration in action: (left to right) pipers Finlay MacDonald and James MacKenzie from the Royal Scottish

Academy of Music and Drama with fiddlers Trent Freeman and

Duncan Wickel of Berklee.

Larry Bethune, Berklee vice president for student affairs/dean of

students and a longstanding presence in the Scottish music

community, introduces the group.

Singer Maureen McMullan '10 already was a transatlantic musical

partnership—she studied at both Berklee and the University of

Strathclyde.

CONTACT:

Lawrence E. Bethune

Vice President Berklee College of Music 617-747-2231 [email protected]

To learn more about the

Transatlantic Seaway Music Collaboration, visit these links:

TAS Facebook page

Or cut and paste this into your web browser:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144021302281336

Videos of TAS at the New Hampshire Highland games 2010

Or cut and paste this into your web browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXS90eydQm4&NR=1

Photographs of TAS at the New Hampshire Highland games 2010


http://bigdawg.smugmug.com/Scottish-Events/NH-Scot-2010/Transatlantic-Seaway

Berklee article on TAS at the NH Highland games Or cut and paste this into your web browser:

http://www.berklee.edu/news/2407/over-the-isles-to-america

Another Berklee article on TAS at the NHHG


http://www.berklee-blogs.com/2010/09/berklee-meets-scotland-at-the-new-hampshire-

highland-games/

TAS on the New Hampshire Highland Games Site

Or cut and paste this into your web browser: http://www.nhscot.org/index.php?id=8&tpl=performers#TransAtlantic%A0Seaway%A0C

ollaboration

Video site (owner unknown) of home videos

Or cut and paste this into your web browser: http://www.youtube.com/user/TransatlanticSeaway#p/a/u/1/cfh5hNTqAS8

Documents

IAASRM May 2011 Case Statement