What NESI is like


 NESI is something like a summer camp....with the newcomers wondering  what it'll be like, what they might do and having all kinds of expectations.  Since expectations can be very different from how  things are....and make for difficulties.....so here's some words from long-time participants about how they think of NESI:

 " ....the musicians who come to the weekend range from absolute beginners to professionals, and that workshops are often aimed at the full span of levels. People who are just getting started on a free-reed instrument can meet up with more advanced players who are ready to share what they know.  I don’t think there’s another music festival anywhere in which the emphasis is on sitting around and playing together for 48 hours. It’s not a music camp, and it’s not a concert festival. It’s a gathering."

 "The Northeast Squeeze-In is not a performance-oriented festival.  The festival is small and is composed mostly of players who gather gather to share our music with each other and play music together. There are no paid performers.  Volunteers hold such workshops as  morris music, French Canadian dance music, French Waltzes….    There is an evening concert but each player is limited to one tune, because many people want to share.
 Folks who have scheduled small concerts within the festival to show their stuff (as good as it is) are often disappointed, as people are more interested in playing than sitting and listening."

 To which I'll add:

 Every Squeeze-In is different: different people, different activities. A big part of the activities are the workshops.  They  aren't planned in advance and have no particular set form.  The way it works,  a blank (empty) schedule is put up with spaces for the time periods/venues, and people write in a workshop topic/activity and stick it in a slot in the schedule.  The activity may range from  a (somewhat) organized/led activity to a jam session for a specific kind of music to an oddball instrument demo to who knows what. People who want to learn something specific may post a workshop request.

 NESI is very egalitarian and generally a bit disorganized.  There are  plenty of world-class musicians (who generally make no fuss about it), and a lot of them are more interesting in trying new things and  other idioms than ripping off wicked hard show pieces.  There is  almost always an open-ended jam session going just where you step in  the door, and quite apart from the workshops, there are always jam  sessions forming everywhere. Musicians playing non-free-reed instruments, pianos, fiddles, harp, hurdy-gurdys, who knows what are always welcome to "fill out the sound".  If you are a newcomer or beginner, don't hesitate to ask for help.  Also there are always people form all levels, so look around.  

 The talent show show-cases everyone at all skill and musical interests: from a kid playing Clementine to Klezmer to a Telemann duet to self-composed rags to a Broadway show-tune from 1901 (would you believe that's where "Yoo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" comes from?) to  "Irish Eyes are Shining" to folk songs from the 1500s to a Hurdy Gurdy to a tangos to........ After the talent show, you usually have your choice of a contra dance or a pub sing.

Welcome all.  Were you there now, you would open the front door of Bucksteep and be enveloped in a sea of talk, music and good-fellowship.  NESI is a magical weekend created by us all.