Jubilee of Acoustic Music festival review

On May 18th and 19th I attended the third year of the Jubilee of Acoustic Music, a workshop focused festival in southern Kansas City. The focus of the festival is on teaching, and to that end they bring in some very qualified teachers and performers, many of whom perform double duty in both roles. There is an emphasis on the hammered and mountain dulcimer as the festival grew out of a local dulcimer club. Fiddle, mandolin, finger style guitar, autoharp and harmonica are also covered. This festival is a great opportunity to try new instruments. I'll have a harmonica in hand and an autoharp in tow for the 2008 Jubilee as these are both instruments I own but don't really know how to play.

The festival spans two days, a Friday and a Saturday. Why not a Saturday and a Sunday? The answer is simple and practical: these are the only two days when the college that hosts the festival is available.

The daily schedule consists of workshops from 9am until 4pm and shows on the main stage from mid-morning until around 5pm, then a break for dinner, and a final evening show. After the evening show is a jam session at a local coffee shop that is open to anybody.

I spent my Saturday morning learning about ornamentation in Irish music from a very patient and talented fiddle teacher (who I later learned was Juliard trained). The cost of admission was covered by this alone.

There is an independent (as in not officially connected to the Jubilee) campground less than a mile from the festival where I spent just a little bit of time sleeping.

Overall this was a great weekend. Because of the way the facilities are laid out it was hard to identify a physical 'core' to the festival - it felt spread out and disjoint. This was not a problem when you knew where you wanted to be. Where I wish there had been a little more activity was in the pick-up jam sessions that are pervasive at some festivals. I think two things contributed to the near absence of unscheduled jams, one was the layout of the space and that missing 'core' where people will find each other in unscheduled moments, and the second may simply be that the festival attracts folks who want to learn to play in groups rather than those who already have the confidence to lead a tune or two. The group that organizes the festival knows this and is taking steps that they hope will help for 2008.

It's worth the trip - where else can you get almost one-on-one assistance from such well known and skilled players?

(In the interest of disclosure folkjam.org was one of the sponsors for the 2007 Jubilee of Acoustic Music and we've signed on for 2008. That said, this is my unbiased take on a weekend that I really enjoyed)