New England Adult - Day Camp

August 11 -18, 2024

  • Leaders: Mary Cay Brass, Kathy Bullock, Igor Dimovski, Magda Sharff

  • Location: Westminster West Church - Westminster West, VT

  • Price: $700

Participating in a Village Harmony workshop feels like coming home – to a place that I didn’t even know about, but a place that I realize I have been trying to get to for a long, long time.
- Susan (adult camp participant)

A new offering this summer will be an adult day camp.
Sing all day together, share in the community with meals and social time and then get your solo sleep time.

The second of our New England adult camps will be led by long time and beloved VH teachers —Mary Cay Brass and Kathy Bullock. We’re excited to welcome Igor Dimovski to teach at his first USA VH camp after a fabulous camp last summer in Macedonia. VH alumni, Magda Sharff will round out the team with her beautiful musicianship as well as heading up the cooking for the week.

The camp repertoire will be wonderfully eclectic: Macedonian songs and dances, American gospel, shape-note music and more!

The framework of the week-long residency will be communal, with everyone taking turns to help prepare meals and clean under the supervision of a head cook. Our menu will be primarily vegetarian and responsive to the tastes, needs and culinary talents of our camp participants. Evening events will likely include a Georgian-style supra (feast) and a cabaret night.

VH adult weeks are relaxed and non-competitive, even as we emphasize authenticity and absorbing the spirit of each musical tradition. Written music will be provided for some songs, while other genres might best be taught by ear. Virtually everything will be taught by example.

NOTE: Proof of vaccination against COVID-19 will not be required to attend our 2024 camps. Covid-19 protocol will depend on the state of the continuing pandemic.

Meet our leaders:

  • Mary Cay Brass

    Mary Cay Brass of Athens, Vermont has been teaching Village Harmony camps since the earliest years. She directs two very popular community choirs in Vermont and Massachusetts and is the co-musical director of Hallowell Hospice Choir. Mary Cay is also a dynamic contra-dance keyboardist and accordion player who focuses on Scandinavian, French Canadian and Balkan traditions. She spent two and a half years in the former Yugoslavia on a Fulbright Scholarship in ethnomusicology researching regional vocal traditions in Croatia and Serbia. She has published two book/CD collections of music from that region, Village Harmony, Songs of the Balkans and Balkan Bridges. Mary Cay has also organized and led four Village Harmony trips in the Republic of North Macedonia, four in Bosnia and Hercegovina and one in Quebec.

    www.marycaybrass.com

  • Kathy Bullock

    Dr. Kathy Bullock is a Workshop Clinician, Performer, Choral Conductor, Arranger and Scholar in the field of African American music.

    A Professor Emerita of Music from Berea College, she, has recently served as visiting professor and artist in residence at various colleges and universities in the U.S..

    Dr. Bullock currently tours throughout the U.S., the U.K and West Africa “sharing the joy, “ of gospel, spirituals, freedom songs, and West African praise songs while completing research on various topics of Black Music and Black vocal styles.

    A native of Washington, D.C., she has earned the Ph.D. and M.A. in Music Theory from Washington University, MO, and a B.A. from Brandeis University, MA.

    Website: drkathybullock.com

  • Igor Dimovski

    Igor Dimovski, was born in 1987 in Dracevo, Macedonia and began playing music at 7 years of age. He graduated with a degree in music theory and pedagogy and is now known as one of the most sought after accordionists in Macedonia and beyond. He leads and arranges for his band, Pauza za Rakija, which has 3 Youtube long play videos - two of which have more than 1 million hits from all over the former Yugoslavia and diaspora. They are fully booked, traveling throughout their country and abroad for gigs, concerts and weddings. Igor also has his own recording studio where he produces videos of traditional Macedonian music. Igor will present a set of his own arrangements of traditional songs from his band’s repertoire.

Westminster West Church, Westminster West, VT

One of VH’s regular concert and day long workshop spaces in southern Vermont, the Congregational Church of Westminster West is a beautiful space to gather and share in music and food. An open and affirming church, they welcome people of all faiths, and of no faith to gather together in community.

The church is located seven miles north of the center of Putney and six miles south of the center of Saxtons River, in the middle of the quaint and quiet village of Westminster West.
The building has an open sanctuary space upstairs; a community hall, kitchen, and bathroom downstairs; and terraced seating outside, on the slope that runs down from the church to the heart of our tiny village. An elevator in the community hall provides access to the sanctuary.