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2006 Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp

Located in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, the 2006 Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp (held March 7th through 12th) was an opportunity to spend five days with a variety of talented Irish musicians playing a broad range of instruments.  I didn't do a formal count but I would judge that there were about 70 students present, plus a teaching staff that included well known and respected musicians from both the United States and Ireland.

This years teaching staff included:

With regard to the students, there seemed to be an abundance of fiddler players, but as noted in the staff list above, classes addressed a variety of instruments and so a good mix was present.  Other instruments that were not included on the formal class list also found their way to the island and while there might not have been day classes for them, they came out for the evening sessions.

Spontaneous sessions were held in several locations at the camp each evening, and scheduled camp events included an evening ceili (held in town), two sets of formal sessions in town and a last evening concert performance by the teaching staff, the latter held at the local theatre and open to the general public (with a paid admission).

I found the 2006 camp quite fun and entertaining.  This was my second trip (I also attended the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp in 2004) so this time I knew just what to expect and packed appropriately (including two concertinas).  The bulk of the camp attendees either stayed in dorm rooms as I did this year (see a photo here) or in "huts" (photo here).  I was in one of the latter on my last trip and found that having one's own cabin offered quite a lot of privacy, especially when it came to practicing.  Three meals a day were served cafeteria style in the dining hall and all were quite satisfactory.

The camp schedule offered one the opportunity to attend classes on multiple topics/instruments.  There were three 90-minute class periods each day and so long as the classes you were interested in didn't conflict, in most cases one could attend classes on at least two different instruments if they had the interest (fiddle classes seemed to have the most restricted enrollment).  Some folks did class drop-ins (at the discretion of the instructor) for one or two segments to sample the instruction on other instruments in an effort to decide if they might wish to take that instrument up at some point in the future. There were also evening lectures on topics such as the basics of the Irish language and insights for the non-Irish that have adopted the music.

John Williams taught the Anglo concertina classes in 2004 (as well as button box classes), and Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin has since taught the concertina classes these last two years.  There were about a dozen people in the concertina classes and they came from Washington, California, New Mexico, Calgary and other locations so clearly it was a group with diverse geographical roots.  Skill levels ranged from new players to those that had several years of experience and they shared their perspectives and insights to the benefit of all.

Gearóid held informal classes in a relaxed setting with an easy pace and people had a chance to learn the history of various tunes, regional styles of play, basic fingering and suggested ornamentation.  Tunes were revisited in subsequent classes to refocus attention on their essential character and pointers were offered for any individual difficulties encountered.  I left the camp a day early so I don't have a class photo to offer but I can assure you that we were a handsome and attractive group.  (Update:  Bob Midden has placed a class photo on his site.)

The weather was mixed this year with some hours of sun, but we also saw rain and both snow and hail.  Rising one morning to a light layer of hail/snow mix on the ground put a fresh look on things and generated several comments at breakfast.  The grounds are heavily wooded in places so one has a feel of being in something of a forest camp, which I really liked.  Classes were held in various locations around the grounds, but it was no more than just a few minutes walk between any two locations used by the music crowd.  A warm jacket was in order for walking about outside, but it was comfortably warm in all the buildings.

The area wildlife is apparently quite confident of its protected status and showed little concern for the presence of the Irish music crowd.  Deer often wandered between the buildings, at least one fox (I never saw more than one at a time) seemed quite comfortable with being close to people and the raccoons were not at all shy about being seen.  The photo at right was taken from just a short distance of perhaps 20 feet and in general the deer seemed little interested in the people moving about the grounds.

The Friday Harbor site is easily reached.  From Seattle it's about a 90-minute drive north to the Anacortes ferry landing and then a comfortable water-borne commute of a little over an hour to the island.  Once on the island it is perhaps a mile to the University of Washington facility where the Irish Music Camp is held.  From the facility there is a nice view of the heart of town and ferry landing.  A free shuttle was provided for transportation to events held in town, so one didn't need a car to participate.

I learned that one needed to factor more than simple schedule into their ferry planning.  Noting that there was a 5:15 PM ferry departure to the island that fit well with my plans, I arrived just before 5 PM and felt pleased that I'd made it with time to spare.  However when I paid the ferry-toll, I was told that the ferry was full and I'd be "number nine on overload if they could fit us on."  Hearing that I could be certain of being first on the next vehicle ferry (about three hours later) did little to console me at that point.  I was delighted when they managed to fit me on the boat, but clearly the lesson here is to arrive early to improve your chances of making the ferry you are targeting.

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