A Berklee foursome brings string magic to Finland.

By Danielle Dreilinger
Berklee.edu Correspondent
December 14, 2007

Traditionally, the banjo and mandolin are as Finnish as long, sunny days in December. When it comes to string folk instruments, Finland's musical tradition revolves around the kantele. But this November Berklee brought bluegrass to the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory—and won raves.

	Berklee fiddler Nate Leath played at a workshop with John McGann, associate professor of strings.
	Photo by Dave Hollender
	"We had all these people show up with mandolins and fiddles and guitars. But everybody there was really reserved—and bluegrass is not a reserved music!" —Eric Robertson, first-semester mandolin principal

The conservatory is a member of the Berklee International Network. "Berklee has been working with its BIN partners to maximize the quality of our annual visits," said Jason Camelio, associate director for international auditions. "Pop & Jazz holds a special concert week during the fall. This fall the week was dedicated to world music. Pop & Jazz wanted something unique from Berklee, and I suggested featuring talents from our acoustic strings program." 

The program has flourished over the last few years, sending a number of alumni to Nashville and adding an acoustic string principal for banjo and mandolin players. Ensemble Department professor Dave Hollender and String Department associate professor John McGann chose students Nate Leath (fiddle) and Eric Robertson (mandolin) for the trip.

"We just went with the best players who had the best skills to put together something very quickly," Hollender said. "Nate plays at the highest level. He's an absolutely top fiddle player."

Leath, in his last semester, performs with the eclectic string band Old School Freight Train.

A mandolinist and singer, Robertson had only just started at Berklee when he got the nod. "I was just super excited," he said.

When Hollender said "quickly," he wasn't kidding. The foursome rehearsed for only a single day, with a Pop & Jazz Conservatory bass player who had no experience in bluegrass. They performed that very night.

"We taught him a little bit. It's not hard in terms of notes—it's when you play them," Hollender said.

"It's all about locking in and having that groove," said Robertson. "It worked out great."

The group could pull this off not only because they had mad chops but because "bluegrass is a very social music and the repertoire is very communal," Robertson explained. Their classic choices included songs by Jimmy Martin ("Hold Whatcha Got"), Bill Monroe ("Blue Moon of Kentucky"), and Flatt & Scruggs ("Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms").

Despite sticking largely to the canon, "We tried to give them a taste of some different combinations of instruments and different fiddle styles," Hollender said.

Much of the audience seemed brand-new to bluegrass but responded enthusiastically, Hollender said.

Later that week, Robertson and Leath's public workshop on the anatomy of the bluegrass band drew a more informed audience. The musicians were just like those in the United States. Well, almost.

Robertson said, "We had all these people show up with mandolins and fiddles and guitars. But everybody there was really reserved—and bluegrass is not a reserved music!"

He and Leath drew attendees out by practicing three-part "lonesome" harmonies with the audience. Afterwards, they stuck around and jammed.

"It was just cool to see they have their own little community worked out of pickers," Robertson noted. The city bluegrass crew has a weekly get-together.

In addition, Hollender led a workshop on the history of the banjo and McGann one on bluegrass guitar. The admissions office put the foursome to work auditioning prospective students for a day, with the faculty listening to performers and the students orienting them to the process and telling them about Berklee.

During their downtime, the Berklee group saw the sights and ate reindeer ("kind of like bacon but a little more smoky," Robertson reported). Their primary activity, though, they brought from home.

"Nate and I, we played a lot of music," Robertson said. They spent so much time playing all day that they'd "get out and it was already dark outside."

Related links

• Movie from Robertson and Leath's Helsinki workshop, with McGann on guitar
• Pop & Jazz Conservatory
• Old School Freight Train

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Danielle Dreilinger is a writer/editor in Berklee's Office of Communications.