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| Written by Paul Race for East Of Enon? |
East of Enon(tm) - Joining Up
East of Enon? is an acoustic music collaboration patterned after the Almanac Singers - the grandaddy of all mid-20th century Folk groups. That means that:
- Our membership rotates depending on who is available for the next several rehearsals and performances, and
- We look for folks who have experience in Folk-style ensembles or who have a track record of working hard to learn.
If you are interested in joining up or at least being put on our "reserve" list, please read this page and use the form to get in touch.
If you're interested in keeping in touch, but DON'T want to join up with our ensemble, at least at this time, please use the Community Signup page to fill in your contact information and related details.
In neither case will we try to sell you anything or share your contact information with anyone else.
Why We Have This Page - Occasionally our "base" thins out, due to people having other opportunities, going off to solo careers, etc. In those instances, we like to collect a "pool" of candidates to fill out our numbers (and our sound) again. If you think you'd be interested, and you might be at least partially qualified, please read the rest of this page and use the form below to get in touch.
Benefits of Membership - I hope you're not looking for substantial financial rewards. Paul speaking: I sing and play music for people because I enjoy it. It's even more fun if several folks who feel the same way sing and play music together.
The fact is that the sheer joy of sharing the music I love with people who appreciate it is its own reward. It doesn't have to pay the bills, but I avoid "opportunities" that will cost me actual cash-out-of-pocket. If you feel the same way, we can offer that, plus:
- The ability to hang with, jam with, and network with likeminded people, including other acts we cross paths with.
- Practice performing in situations you might not be able to perform in on your own.
- Sing at least some of your own stuff with the rest of us accompanying you.
- Hawk your own material and merchandise, if you have any.
- Learn a broader variety of material than you'd probably pursue on your own.
- Acquiring skills that will benefit you no matter what you do musically in the future.
- Becoming the kind of musician that other folks want in their groups. You're not marrying us, you know.
- Other benefits that are even cooler, that we don't have lined up quite yet.
We also offer the option of occasionally skipping practices and performances when they conflict with important things in your life, like anniversaries, kids' birthdays, and even solo gigs the same night.
Within reason, of course. "My team made the playoffs and I have to watch them real-time on my friend's 85" TV" is not in the same category.
Who Can Join Up? - We're always on the lookout for folks with the following characteristics and skills. If you can't check all the boxes but are willing to work hard and learn, that counts, too.
- Close enough to Enon, Ohio to easily commute for practices or travel to regional performances.
- Able to play at least one folk-friendly instrument (guitar, banjo, autoharp, dulcimer, upright bass, fiddle, etc.) reasonably well.
- Familiar enough with the typical structure of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-chord folk-style songs to be able to join in on the first hearing without sheet music or a chord sheet.
- Also able to transpose any typical 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-chord folk-style song "on the fly."
- Able to extemporize up to three harmony parts to any typical folk-style song on the first hearing.
- Willing to practice material on your own, so you aren't learning the songs during practice sessions.
- Willing to follow the direction of whoever is leading a particular song, in regard to tempo, volume, "feel," etc., even if it's not the way you would do it if you were leading.
- Willing to take the lead occasionally.
- Able to take an occasional gig in a church or church camp setting.
- Willing to learn about music, performance, booking, and anything else that might be useful in your next band or solo career.
- Willing to help promote the group.
- Excited as anything for the opportunity to "sing out" with a bunch of like-minded people wherever they'll have us.
This list may seem to be pretty demanding, but back in the Folk Revival era, this was the baseline for anyone wanting to join a "Folk group," even in high school. That said, if you meet the last qualification and are willing to work toward meeting the others, we may be able to find room for you.
Who We're NOT Looking For
- People who are allergic to practicing on their own
- People who can't - or won't - make it to most practices
- People who show up for group practices unprepared, not knowing the material, etc.
- People with substandard skills (see above) who make no effort to improve them
- People who won't do their share of promotion
- People who don't keep their instruments or their "chops" in good condition
- Drug users
- Alcoholics
- Smokers or vapers
- People addicted to ANY substance
- People addicted to profanity
- People with excessive attitude
If you fall into any of the categories above, I apologize, but after some 47 years of doing this, I have been there, done that, wrote the soundtrack.
When and Where Will We Practice? - Practices are generally about once a week, on days when most people can come without seriously reorganizing their lives. If we're working out something that requires real woodsheding for a small subset of members, we might get together at a different time to do that as well.
In the meantime, everyone will have material to practice on their own, which include learning the song by rote, learning the part they expect to play on their instrument by rote, and even coming up with ideas for making the performance better.
Some candidates really will be "good enough" to show up and basically "hold their own" without bothering to practice or learn the material "offline." For example, I can follow just about any guitar player through any song just by watching his or her left hand. That's not "good enough." I need to be able to perform as well in an empty room by myself - without music or chord sheets or a clear view of the other person's left hand - as I hope to onstage.
How do I Apply? - Our Joining Up page has a form you can used to describe your interests and strengths. If we don't have room for you at the moment, we will still get back to you to let you know we got your information, and we'll keep it for at least a few months in case something opens up.
Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."
And please stay in touch!
- Paul Race
All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted ? 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
Creek Dont' Rise(tm), EastofEnon.com, and our sister sites listed above are participants in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
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