Diddley bos are the precursor to the slide guitar and arguably the first blues instrument. We had intended to make these instruments only during Blues summer camp session but the kids loved them so much we made them every week! Not only that, we incorporated them into the music making of each week – quite a satisfying experience!
Click the picture below to view larger gallery of pics and video.
July 21 – 25, 9 am – 4 pm (extended care available)
Have a song you want to sing? A story you want to tell? Through a series of writing workshops and the study of different elements of music, aspiring songwriters and singers put their ideas to music. In a fun and practical way, campers are introduced to aspects of songwriting – like hooks, riffs, harmony, and rhythmic accompaniment, chorus-verse format, basic chord progressions, intros and outros, rhyming and storytelling. By the end of the week campers will have written and/or collaborated on the creation of original songs and arrangements. Kids who already have basic guitar chording are encouraged to bring their guitars. The week ends with a world premiere performances of our songwriter’s compositions!
Click the picture above to view our Flickr gallery of the Composition and Song camp from the summer of 2013. The pictures are of:
It’s that time of year and MusiCamp is sorting out the summer schedule. We’re planning to keep our three themes from last year –
But we’re juggling some other possible weekly themes, like:
Let us know what you think or if you got any other ideas. Anything is still possible!
For reference, below are the descriptions from last years themes…
Anna Melnikoff is a gifted teacher and perpetually grateful student of traditional Mande music from West Africa who has been performing and teaching in the GTA for 15 years. She has studied with many master drummers and visits West Africa as often as possible. Currently she teaches djembe at York University, and is also the founder of an all-female performing ensemble, Moussoufolila. She is also a certified teacher of transformational healing and meditation with the Training in Power Academy.
AnnA with fellow djembefola Salimata Diabate
Surprisingly, I got the pics of the DIDDLEY BOs up earlier than I thought. Enjoy! By the way, exploring the acoustic properties of these instruments, we played with different resonators (a bottle for the instructor versus different size tins for campers), using a wooden block as a bridge or not, as well as the placement of the resonator. As you can see, campers were spectacularly creative in how they painted their diddley bos as well!
We have added an additional West African Drumming Week for Aug 12-16, 9 am – 4 pm with extended care available for your music-loving, creative 8-12 year olds.
THE WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING WEEK is co-hosted by special guest artist AnnA Melnikoff and her orchestra of drums – so NO DRUM NEEDED – a drum will be made available to every camper! Campers will have a chance to play the polyrhythmic accompaniment on 3 bass drums (known as dunun) and develop riffs and patterns on djembes. Focusing on rhythms that accompany rights of passage, participants will have the chance to build masks and also explore the meaning of the drums and the rhythms from the very ancient Mande tradition. (To learn more about Mande music and what we’ll learn click here.)
.
The video below (click the picture) demonstrates a MusiCamp homemade diddley bo, which is the precursor to the slide guitar and arguably the first blues instrument.
In a few days (or maybe a few weeks ; ) ), I’ll post the whole lot of diddley bos campers made at MusiCamp in its inaugural Blues Week!
click on the picture to hear what a didley bo sounds like
MusiCamp 