In this class we’ll learn iconic duets in the southern rural tradition, and at the same time create duets with songs that haven’t been traditionally harmonized. In the process we’ll examine what goes into making a good duet and what to focus on to take a good duet into “great” territory. We’ll pair up with different classmates to try out what we’re working on in real life. Expect to take home a handful of songs to add to your repertory.
Instructor Bio
Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, known for helping singers achieve that close, buzzy harmony that is a pillar of American old-time and early-country harmony. She also addresses such indefinables as tone (that high lonesome sound), ornamentation, blend and more. She is a veteran staff member at the Augusta Heritage Center’s various weeks and in addition has taught at numerous music camps across the U.S. and abroad, including: the Ashokan Center (Southern Week and the Old-Time Rollick), Centrum (Voice Works and Fiddle Tunes), Allegheny Echoes and, in the U.K., Sore Fingers. She is a founding member of the California-based Any Old Time string band (check out the band’s compilation album, I Bid You Goodnight on Smithsonian Folkways), and has two CDs with daughter and old-time country musician Emily Miller (In the Valley and Close to Home). Val is also the author of So You Want to Sing Folk Music, part of the “So You Want to Sing” series for Rowman & Littlefield and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She lives in Elkins, West Virginia.
Annalee Koehn is a Chicago-based singer and musician. She is a founding member of the trio Blackest Crow, Sweet Fern, and her current string-band project, Ship of Fools. She can be heard on recordings by The Old Town School of Folk Music, Blackest Crow, Mark Dvorak, Blue State Cowboys, Sweeter Gift, and Urban Djin, and she is working on a solo recording project. She concurrently maintains an independent art and design practice and teaches at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is very happy to be back at Augusta this summer.