Earlville Shuffle Glossary:
Most of the capitalized words you see in the Earlville Shuffle web world have a specific meaning for the event, as shown below.
Distinguished Faculty: Highly experienced music makers hired by the Earlville Opera House to provide advice, coaching and inspiration to the Songwriter/Player participants during Earlville Shuffle. Each of our Distinguished Faculty has many years of experience writing and arranging songs; touring nationally and internationally -sometimes as a headliner and sometimes as supporting musicians; recording their own songs in renowned studios and producing or otherwise supporting other musicians with arranging and recording; and generally being awesome musical talents in diverse styles who are generous with their gifts!
Ephemeral Band: Each Song Development Session will have an Ephemeral Band, which is a collection of instrumentalists, singers, and songwriters (including some people who may be all three). The Ephemeral Band, which will include the Songwriter/Player whose Song is the subject of the Session, will provide ideas, play instruments and/or sing to help bring interest and impact to the Song.
Songwriter/Players will be assigned to specific Ephemeral Bands by the Shuffle Master prior to the weekend with the intent of providing a relevant mix of instruments and voices for the song. If key band elements, such as perhaps percussion or low end, aren’t available within the Songwriter/Player population, the Earlville Opera House may hire versatile Central New York musicians to fill out the sonic landscape.
The same Ephemeral Band that develops a particular Song on Saturday will rehearse and perform that same song on Sunday.
Peer: Your fellow Songwriter/Players who have come to Earlville Shuffle to develop their Songs and help you to develop your Song.
Period: A defined time interval on the Earlville Shuffle schedule during which either Song Development Sessions (Saturday) or Song Rehearsal Sessions (Sunday) occur. Multiple Sessions can occur during a particular Period.
Space: One of the places within the Earlville Opera House where activities will occur. The names of these spaces are used in the schedules shown in the “Details of Each Day”.
Arts Café: A second floor Space with chairs, tables and a kitchenette. The Arts Café will be where meals occur during Earlville Shuffle and will be open throughout the Shuffle for folks to rest, hang out and/or grab a beverage or a snack. When not in use for the Shuffle, the Arts Café occasionally serves as a venue for more intimate shows, usually by emerging artists.
Historic 1892 Landmark Theater: A three hundred (300) seat Theater, constructed in 1892, located on the second (2nd) floor of the Earlville Opera House. With the exception of chairs rescued from other historic venues, the Theater today is almost entirely as constructed in 1892, and it retains a live acoustic response that is friendly to unamplified voices and acoustic instruments. Originally hosting vaudeville acts, three-penny operas, and travelling medicine shows, the Theater was re-opened in the 1970’s and has since welcomed attentive and enthusiastic audiences to a stunning array of musical and theatrical artists, performing from its Main Stage.
Main Stage: As the performance platform within the Historic 1892 Landmark Theater, its old softwood floorboards show the scars of the amazing performers who have worked their magic while framed by its ornate proscenium arch. Performers as diverse and distinguished as Arlo Guthrie, Bo Diddley, Solas, Gaelic Storm, Mose Allison, the Ruthie Foster Band, Odetta, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, Trombone Shorty, Hot Club of Cowtown, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Eliza Gilkyson, Dar Williams, Leo Kottke, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Joe Crookston, Marcia Ball, and Richard Thompson; to name only a few. On the Main Stage during Earlville Shuffle will be Faculty and Songwriter/Player introductions on Friday evening; Song Development Sessions on Saturday; Song Rehearsal Sessions on Sunday; and the culminating Song Reveal Party on Sunday afternoon.
Green Room: Accessed from the west side of the Theater, this Space was once the main lobby of the Earlville Opera House. Typically used as a hang-out space for Main Stage performers before shows and between sets, the Green Room offers a relatively intimate and acoustically tame Space for Song Development and Song Rehearsal Sessions during the Shuffle.
Workshop: Located on the first floor, behind the West Gallery and Artisan Gift Shop, is the Workshop. This utilitarian Space was designed for flexible use, such as for art classes. Nicely isolated from other Opera House activities; consider this a Space where quiet passages can be heard, but a righteous racket won’t disturb.
Session: A gathering of Songwriter/Player participants, configured as an Ephemeral Band, in a specific Space during a specific Period for the purpose of either Song Development or Song Rehearsal.
Shuffle Master: The person who came up with the idea for the Earlville Shuffle who will a) participate in the Songwriter/Player selection process, b) assign Songwriter/Players to Ephemeral Bands, c) schedule Sessions, d) act as Master of Ceremonies throughout the weekend. Unless prevented by illness or unforeseen circumstances, that person is Steve Blais.
Shuffle Time: A fifteen (15) minute interval between Sessions: just enough time to pick up your instrument and notes and make it to your next Session. Passing through the Arts Café might get you a beverage and a bite, and you might even find a few minutes of calm or conversation.
Song: A musical structure that includes at least the minimum elements of some lyrics and a melody to which the lyrics are to be sung. Songs brought to Earlville Shuffle by participant Songwriter/Players will be those composed by those Songwriter/Players.
Song Development: The process of adding to or modifying a song to better fulfill the artistic vision or desires of the songwriter or performer. Typical goals of the Song Development process may be to make the song more memorable or compelling, but many goals are possible. Typical tools or elements of Song Development may include riffs, hooks, harmonies, bass lines, percussion grooves, melodic leads, tempo changes, dynamics, bridges, refrains, turnarounds or transitions; all of which may be relevant or irrelevant to the artistic vision or desires of the songwriter or performer.
Songwriter/Player: Someone who has developed, or is developing, the skill of creating original Songs at the sketch level; who plays a musical instrument at a level sufficient to accompany the Song or Songs they have created; and – ideally for the purposes of the Earlville Shuffle and the creation of Ephemeral Bands – has some level of ability on at least one instrument in addition to the one they use for Song composition. Songwriter/Players are the intended participants at the Earlville Shuffle.
