Greg Adams - Posted - 06/17/2014:  04:22:52

Dear Friends,

Come one...come all!

2014 Antietam Early Banjo Gathering (AEBG-VII)

At the National Museum of Civil War Medicine’s

Pry House Field Hospital Museum

On Antietam National Battlefield

In Partnership with

The Baltimore Museum of Industry

June 20-22, 2014

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) is proud to present the Seventh Antietam Early Banjo Gathering (AEBG-VII) on June 20-22, 2014. For this year’s event, the NMCWM is partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) to present programming that will take place at two locations. On Friday, June 20, the BMI will host the first day of events in Baltimore (from 10AM-4PM) to showcase its latest exhibit Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond, located at 1415 Key Highway, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. On Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22, the event will resume at its traditional location at the Pry House Field Hospital and Museum, located at 18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756.

FRIDAY AT THE BMI: Free and open to the public for the first 80 people to RSVP with BMI

The BMI’s special exhibit, Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond, showcases the banjo as a Maryland tradition since at least the late 1740s and how Baltimore became the setting for the instrument’s earliest mass production in the 1840s. Through the cultural convergences slavery, blackface minstrelsy, and industry, this exhibit reveals the Chesapeake region’s multicultural impact on the foundations of American popular culture. Thus, the BMI became a perfect partner for the annual Antietam Early Banjo Gathering.

To RSVP for the BMI programming, please contact Kelley Edelmann at kedelmann@thebmi.org.

For more information on the Baltimore Museum of Industry and its special exhibit, “Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond,” please visit thebmi.org.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT ANTIETAM: Registration $70 ($60 for current NMCWM members)

On Friday evening, AEBG attendees will return to the event’s traditional location at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on the Antietam National Battlefield in Keedysville, MD. The conference, a premier event for scholars and enthusiasts of 19th-century banjo traditions, raises awareness of the early banjo’s significance in the development of American popular music and culture. The conference also underscores the importance of music in the lives of Civil War soldiers. Each year, the conference brings together dozens of people—researchers, collectors, musicians, and instrument builders—from across North America to participate in workshops, mentoring and jam sessions, and scholarly lectures. The gathering takes place in and around an 1840s threshing barn, lending an appropriate setting and atmosphere that is both scholarly and casual.

The cost of registration for the Seventh Antietam Early Banjo Gathering is $70 ($60 for current NMCWM members). Registration includes Saturday and Sunday continental breakfast and lunches, lectures, overnight camping accommodations for those who wish to camp on the Pry House property (Note: registrants must provide their own period or modern tent), and admission to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Pry House Field Hospital Museum. Hotel accommodations are available in nearby Hagerstown, MD at a discounted rate for gathering participants.

To register for the Antietam portions of the weekend programming, 1) register online by visitingcivilwarmed.org/calendar and click on the Antietam Early Banjo Gathering, or 2) to register by phone or learn more about lodging options, contact Kyle Wichtendahl of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine at 301-695-1864 ex 1013 or kyle.wichtendahl@civilwarmed.org.

For more information about the schedule of events, please visit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine website:civilwarmed.org/calendar.

Please Note: Registering for the AEBG at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Saturday and Sunday does not automatically register you for activities at the BMI on Friday. You must register for both events separately.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE (as of 6/11/14, which is subject to change)

Thursday, June 19: Pry House Field Hospital Museum (18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756)

• 3:00 p.m. Registration/Check-in opens


• 4:00 p.m.-? Camping set-up, social time, jamming

FRIDAY, June 20 Baltimore Museum of Industry (1415 Key Highway, Baltimore, Maryland 21230)

• 10:00-11:00 a.m. Registration/Visit the Exhibit/Socializing


• 11:00-11:45 a.m.: PRESENTATION 1: Banjo Exhibit Backstory: Bob Winans, Pete Ross, and Greg Adams: Guest Co-curators for the Baltimore Museum of Industry exhibitMaking Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond


• 12:00-1:00 p.m.: LUNCH


• 1:00-1:45 p.m.: PRESENTATION 2: Christopher J. Smith: Professor & Chair of Musicology; Texas Tech School of Music, Lubbock, TX Author: The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy (UIP)


• 2:00-2:45 p.m.: PRESENTATION 3: Tony Thomas: Scholar of African American Banjo Playing


• 3:00-3:45 p.m.: PRESENTATION 4: Henry Sapoznik: Banjo Scholar and Director, Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture, University of Wisconsin, Madison


• 4:00-9:00 p.m.: Dinner on your own/Travel back to Pry House Field Hospital Museum (18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756)


• 9:00-?: Jam sessions, social time (Pry House Field Hospital Museum)

SATURDAY, June 21 Pry House Field Hospital Museum (18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756)

• 8:30 a.m.: Check-in, coffee, continental breakfast (provided for registered participants only)


• 9:00-9:45 a.m.: PRESENTATION 5: Skeffington Flynn: Board Member, Rhythm Bones Society


• 10:30-11:15 a.m.: PRESENTATION 6: Mentoring Breakout Session #1: Joel Hooks (“banjo tricks” basics), Tim Twiss (Kerr’s “Merry Melodies” for the banjo), and Mark Weems (Repertoire from The Music of Old Joe Sweeny)


• 12:00-1:00 p.m.: Lunch (provided for registered participants)


• 1:30-2:15 p.m.: PRESENTATION 7:  Junious Brickhouse: Executive Director, Founder, Urban Artistry Inc.


• 3:00-3:45 p.m.: PRESENTATION 8:  Panel Discussion: Reflections on the BMI Exhibit Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore & Beyond (a recap of what occurred on Friday June 20—for those who could not attend—and an open discussion about some of the critical issues that shape what we do)


• 5:15 p.m.: PUBLIC CONCERT at Pry House Field Hospital and Museum


• 6:30 p.m.: Dinner on your own


• 6:30 p.m.-?: Jam sessions, social time

SUNDAY, June 22 Pry House Field Hospital Museum (18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756)

• 8:30 a.m.: Check-in, coffee, continental breakfast (provided for registered participants only)


• 9:00-9:30 a.m.: Large group meeting about AEBG 2014, logistics for Sunday afternoon concert


• 9:30-10:15 a.m.: PRESENTATION 9:  Clarke Buehling: Banjo Virtuoso, Music Collector, Educator, Take a Step Back in Time


• 10:30-11:15 a.m.: PRESENTATION 10: Mentoring Breakout Session #2 (to be announced)


• 11:30-12:30 p.m.: Lunch (provided for registered participants only)


• 12:30-2:00 p.m.: Concert preparation


• 2:00 p.m.: PUBLIC CONCERT in Dunker Church


• 3:00 p.m.: good-byes