Mandolin | Mike Compton | Intermediate/Advanced | Period 1 | Week 2 (July 14-19, 2024)
This class is designed for the “stylistically omnivorous” player in mind. Students will be exposed to a variety of music that reflects an intertwining of styles and cultures in the South and Appalachian regions and begin to get somewhat familiar how one style influenced the other in our never-ending folk process. Students should be technically proficient and be able to play most reasonable tempos and keys comfortably, have basic improvisational skills, be able to jam with other players, be able to use both downstrokes and alternating strokes in at least medium tempos. Music reading skills are not required, but advised, as some material will be shared in handouts of standard notation and tablature. It is advisable to bring some sort of recording device for recording audio/video sample you wish to save. Phones are permissible for this purpose but are restricted to this purpose during class.
About the Instructor
Befriended and mentored by Bill Monroe, the acknowledged Father of Bluegrass Music, Mike Compton is one of today’s foremost interpreters of Monroe’s genre-creating mandolin style. Mandolin students from around the world make the pilgrimage to his annual Monroe Mandolin Camp in Nashville, TN, where Compton and a select handful of other experts teach everything from the basics of bluegrass mandolin to the most intimate details of Monroe’s endlessly inspiring mandolin style.
Mike Compton’s decades of touring and recording with musical luminaries ranging from rockstars Sting, Gregg Allman and Elvis Costello, to straight-from-the-still acoustic legends like John Hartford, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, Ralph Stanley, and David Grisman, have established Compton as a true master of the modern American mandolin and a premier interpreter of roots and Americana musical styles.
Compton’s mastery of mandolin is at once effortless and exceptional. A compelling entertainer either alone or with a group, his skills as a singer, arranger, instrumentalist, composer and accompanist also make him in-demand as a band member and ensemble player at festivals, clubs and concert halls, recording sessions, music workshops and as a private instructor. With more than 140 albums in his discography, including work with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Patty Loveless, Compton has helped keep mandolin a cool, relevant sound as the modern musical styles ebb and evolve to reach an ever broadening audience.