Youth Outreach 2000

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Folk Guild, and in continuation of the Guild's commit-ment to promote folk music through performance, an exciting new project was launched to encourage young singers and songwriters of the folk genre in the Hudson Valley region.The project was called Youth Outreach 2000 and was kicked off last Spring. Partially funded by a grant from the Dutchess County Arts Council, the project's focus was to provide these young folks with the opportunity to perform as well as compete for prize money or pre-paid professional recording time, whichever they preferred.

The competition aspect of this project completed in August and at that time the following three performers received the top awards: Katherine Moore from Hyde Park, Jordan Finley from Pine Plains, and Dani Broome from Rhinebeck. Additionally, three more young folks were given an honorarium in recognition of the performance samples they submitted. They were: Sasha Piastro of Rhinebeck, Rebecca Johnson of Pine Plains and Christine Gavin of Poughkeepsie.

Youth Outreach 2000 will culminate on Saturday, November 25th, 8pm at the Hyde Park Methodist Church with an inter- generational concert featuring some of our Youth Outreach 2000 winners along with other performing members of the Guild, some older and some even younger than our winners!!

At press time, Jordan Finley, Dani Broome, Rebecca Johnson, and Sasha Piastro are slated to perform along with some of the Folk Guild regulars such as Denise Jordan Finley and Joe Murray, Kevin and Carol Becker with Rich Keyes, Linda Breithaupt and others including some very gifted youngsters, Steven Murray on tin whistle and John Becker, singing.

You won't want to miss this performance!! The talent component is obvious! The song selections will be a mixture of traditional and contemporary. And the intergenerational nature of the performance will delight young and old, as we all make and enjoy music together!

Tickets to the concert will be $7.00 at the door or $6.00 for Guild members and senior citizens. Advance tickets are available for $5.00, but your check must be received by Wednesday, November 22nd. Please use the coupon in this issue when ordering advanced tickets. PLEASE NOTE, THERE WILL BE NO TICKETS RESERVED BY PHONE FOR THIS CONCERT.

Another way to support this concert, and all the work we do in the Guild, is to become a concert sponsor for $10. Concert sponsors will be acknowledged in the program. Again, please use the coupon inside and return by Tuesday, November 21st.

We hope to see you on Saturday, November 25th as we showcase our Youth Outreach 2000 winners and share an evening of music with songs old and new! BE There!!

Debunking Some of the Myths

by Bruce Morrison

This issue I'd like to expose some of my pet peeve guitar myths.

MYTH #1: "My action is too high. So's my saddle. I'm going to cure the action problem by lowering the saddle."

REALITY: The guitars which sound and play the best have a correct neck angle. Because of that, they also have low action and high saddles. If the saddle is lowered when the real problem is an incorrect neck angle, one of the most important factors in producing good sound, the bridging, has been compromised. So, in this situation, lowering the saddle not only ignores the real problem, but creates an additional one, doubling your trouble.

MYTH #2: "Those uncut string tails hanging from my tuner posts look so cool. They make my guitar sound better, too."

REALITY: Not only are they likely to give somebody an unwanted body piercing, but they contribute nothing to the sound of an instrument. For safety's sake, cut them.

MYTH #3: "All of that old built-up dirt on my guitar sure makes it sound better."

REALITY: Actually, that dirt impedes the guitar's ability to vibrate, thus limiting its pontential to produce sound. A clean guitar sounds and looks better.

MYTH #4: "I'll sound so much better playing a higher quality, more expensive guitar."

REALITY: An ordinary guitar will sound far better in the hands of a great player than a great guitar will sound in the hands of an ordinary player. As a novice player you'll receive far more value spending your money on learning better playing technique than on a pricey instrument. Once you can get that great sound out of an ordinary guitar, then it's time to move up to the better instrument which will benefit from your improved technique.

MYTH #5: A Martin D-18 owner once told me that they wanted "a completely different sound". Therefore, they were considering getting a Martin D-35.

REALITY: Someone's been reading that Martin propaganda again. While the differences in soundboard and body woods will make subtle tonal changes, a dreadnought is a dreadnought is a dreadnought. The sound envelope of all dreadnought guitars falls within a certain range. If you truly want "a completely different sound", go play a Gibson J-200, a Collings OM, a 12-fret Martin single 0, or a Santa Cruz Model F archtop. To get "a completely different sound", you have to play a completely different guitar.

MYTH #6: Guitars with scalloped bracing always sound better than guitars with standard bracing.

REALITY: Somebody else has been reading that Martin propaganda. It all depends on the character of the individual piece of wood used for the soundboard. If it is very stiff with the grain and across the grain, scalloped bracing may indeed make it sound better than it would have with standard bracing, but then again in this particular case it might not. If a soundboard lacks that high degree of stiffness, standard non- scalloped bracing may be more likely to produce a better sound, but then again in this particular case, maybe not. While these are broad generalizations, one must understand that soundboards which have been cut consecutively from the same log each have different properties. To achieve the best result, the bracing must be matched to those properties.