Friday November 2:
Arts in Ed Workshop at OCM BOCES, O & M Room
8:00 – 8:30 am: Welcome, registration, and introductions to Arts-in-Ed workshop
8:30 – 11:00 am: Artist-teacher workshop, led by Glenn McClure. Artists and teachers will collaboratively discuss
strategies for incorporating arts into Erie Canal curriculum; new gaps in local learning curriculum created by
changes in legislation and policies; share experiences, etc.
11:00– 11:45 pm: Lunch, and informal networking time
12:00 – 2:15: Mini-presentations/performances by artists to showcase to teachers and educators what they do in an
arts-in ed setting related to the canal. Rich Bala, Dave Ruch, Chris Holder, George Ward, Merlyn Fuller, Ruth
Henry, Sharon Leary.
2:15 – 3 pm: Pairing or small groups of artists-teachers to discuss possible future programs, collaborations, residencies,
etc.
3 – 3:15: Closing remarks
3:30 – 6:30: DINNER BREAK / FREE TIME
Evening events at Erie Canal Museum
7 pm – 7:45 pm: KEYNOTE PANEL DISCUSSION: “THE SONG WE KNOW AND LOVE”. A panel discussion moderated by
Steve Zeitlin about “Low Bridge Everybody Down” from a variety of perspectives. Panel discussants will include
Dan Ward, George Ward, Bill Hullfish, Dave Ruch, Rich Bala, and Rob Snyder.
8 pm: SHOWCASE SAMPLER CONCERT. $10. This will be a way to preview some of the topics, themes, etc. in the next
day, and also allows for more performance time. One or two songs in ten-minute slots by performers.
Saturday, November 3:
Public Symposium events at Erie Canal Museum
8:30 – 9am: Coffee/tea/doughnuts
9 – 9:50 am: THROUGH A COOK’S EYES: Panel including Aaron Walker, Merlyn Fuller and Gretchen Sepik. (Intro to
discussants and timekeeper: Lisa Overholser) All three presentations include an aspect of female cooks and that
life as portrayed through song. Aaron will talk about the Pearl S. Nye collection at the American Folklife Center,
and will lead the group in a participatory ballad found in the collection. Gretchen does a first-person
interpretation of “Erie Canal Sal”, a roguish female cook who works aboard a canal boat. She will sing one of her
own composed songs about “Crazy John”, and will also touch upon other aspects of life for a female cook
including Irish humor, poetry, and jokes. Merlyn Fuller and her group Merry Mischief will lead the group in songs
either heard on the canal in the canal heyday, or songs written about the canal, also from the perspective of a
cook on a canal boat. They may possibly come in period costuming.
10 – 11 am: RECREATING AND REVIVING: Moderated by Dan Ward. This panel will focus on a very important source of
Erie Canal songwriting—the use of archival and documentary sources to re-create and revive period songs.
Included in this discussion will be those who have done some of the most extensive research in this regard—Bill
Hullfish, George Ward, Dave Ruch and Rich Bala.
11:15 – 12:00 pm: SINGING, DANCING AND COMMUNITY: Panel including Nils Caspersson and Ted McGraw
(Introduction to discussants and timekeeper: Lisa Overholser) This panel will focus on both the idea of
community, and instrumental/dance music along the canal. Nils and his group Svenska Spelmän, a gammeldans
quartet from Jamestown, will discuss the movement of Swedes along the canal and the instruments they
brought with them (such as the psalmodikon) that possibly may have had some connection to the development
of the fretted dulcimer. They will play some fiddle and dance music from the later 1800s, and discuss presentday Swedish communities in canal communities like Fairport. Ted McGraw will discuss Irish songs & tunes
printed in the 19th century that may have been sung by Canalers, many of which are still sung today. These
published collections were disseminated along the Canal and helped to popularize these songs as much as the
traditional singer. Two collections by Alfred Moffat and “Ryan’s Mammoth Collection” will be mentioned as
important sources of tunes.
12:15 – 1:00 pm: KIDS/FAMILY CONCERT. Lunchtime kids and family concert with Dave Ruch and Rich Bala.
1:15 – 2:30 pm: THE BIRTH OF A SONG: Moderated by George Ward. This panel will include George Ward, Rick Heenan,
Dave Ruch and Dennis Lafontaine in a discussion of various types of songwriting and sources of inspiration. Rick
Heenan will discuss the Erie Canal Song Contest in Lockport, a song contest that draws from the generations of
canal families in the community. Dennis Lafontaine will present a slide show of personal/family slides that serve
as a source for many of his songs. Dave and George will discuss their own individual methods of songwriting and
the creative process. Each will likely sing a song or two to demonstrate points made in their discussions.
2:45 – 3:15 pm: “LIVE STEAM VOICES”, A LEGENDARY TRIBUTE TO THE EMPIRE STATE IN MUSIC AND STEAM: George
Ward will discuss the musical flotilla that travelled the Hudson River and Erie Canal in 1988 and the stops they
made along the way, including performances of a musical suite composed just for the occasion. He will have
some video clips and audio, and will discuss some of the interviews he’s conducted in doing his research about
this event.
3:30– 4:15 pm: MINSTRELSY ON THE CANAL: Panel including Jim Kimball, Rich Bala and Rob Snyder Moderated by Jim
Kimball. This panel will focus on the canal as an important conduit of the spread of minstrel shows and songs,
which in turn led to a distinctively American form of music. Rich Bala will sing well-known songs that we know
today, like “Camptown Races”, pointing out their origins in the minstrel show and discussing how the canal
functioned as a contemporary internet of the day to popularize these shows and songs. Jim Kimball has done
extensive local history research on minstrel shows and has quit a collection of old programs, songsters, and
sheet music. Rob Snyder, author of Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York, can discuss
the NYC connection of minstrel shows and will also discuss the canal as a mechanism that led to a distinctively
American music.
4:30 – 5:15 pm: THE MUSIC OF PLACE: Pamela Vittorio and Rick Heenan. Moderated by Dan Ward. These presentations
will focus on present-day canal communities and how the idea of “place” is conveyed through musical activities.
Rick Heenan will discuss the Lockport community through the Erie Canal Song Contest. Dan Ward will briefly
discuss the Syracuse community, and Pamela Vittorio will discuss the research she did in creating her original
musical about the canal from events, characters and stories in and around Chittenango.
5:30 – 7:30: DINNER BREAK / FREE TIME
7:30 pm: BILL HULLFISH AND THE GOLDEN EAGLE STRING BAND, “AN IMMIGRANT’S JOURNEY”. $10. This performance
will cap off the entire celebration, and takes a listener from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Great Lakes.