LOCALadk Magazine

Bluegrass for the next Generation By Julie Canepa with photos by Laura Carbone Let the energetic sounds of Bluegrass ~ the banjo, the mandolin, the dobro, the voice, ~ lure you down the hallway to Room 112, Myers Fine Arts building, at SUNY Plattsburgh. You'll find yourself enjoying The Cardinal Pickers, the University's Bluegrass Club's student ensemble. A bluegrass jam session is officially in progress. Bluegrass was formalized as a music program at the SUNY Plattsburgh campus in the summer of 2011 through the generosity of an anonymous donor. The mission of Bluegrass for the Next Generation (BGNG) is to "encourage a lifelong interest in acoustic music, in general, and bluegrass music specifically". The program envisions introducing bluegrass to future generations so that the traditional elements of this unique brand of acoustic music are carried forward. It plans to accomplish this in area schools through scholarships, bluegrass history classes, traditional bluegrass instrument instruction, on-campus concerts, musical field trips and community outreach. The Scholarship The BGNG Project currently offers four $1,250 Kelley & Shannon Gibson Bluegrass Scholarships for four semesters of study. The scholarships are named after Shannon and the late Kelley Gib- son, the parents of Eric and Leigh Gibson. Eric and Leigh form the award-winning Gibson Brothers bluegrass duo. With Eric on banjo and Leigh on guitar, they have been playing professionally since the late 1980s . They were awarded Emerging Artist of the Year in 1998, and Entertainer of the Year in 2012 and 2013 by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). Both are graduates of SUNY Plattsburgh, and were bestowed honorary Doctorates in Fine Arts in May 2015. Each of the current grantees came to the program through dif- ferent paths. "I first heard about the BGNG scholarship through my high school music teacher at Willsboro," explains Emily Mero. "The program was there during my senior year, and I was able to begin learning the mandolin." Nicholas Schumacher, most recently from Macedon, New York spent his early years learning blues and rock n' roll songs on guitar. Schumacher said, "While I listened to musicians like Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs, the blues was my passion. It wasn't un- til I saw the Gibson Brothers perform at SUNY Plattsburgh that I decided I wanted to play mandolin. The scholarship requires each recipient to take an applied instrument class to further develop his skills, and I have been learning the mandolin from Skip Smith- son for two semesters." Faith Gaddis from Knox, New York and was raised on bluegrass, was thoroughly thrilled to hear about BGNG when she visit- ed SUNY Plattsburgh before enrolling. Gaddis explains "Since I was fourteen months, old my parents have been taking me to the Grey Fox Bluegrass Music Festival in Oak Hill, New York. It wasn't until I saw the dobro being played by Jerry Douglas that I realized I wanted to be more involved with the music and learn something other than guitar. I was so excited to hear there was a bluegrass club that I could join and better my skills."

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