Why We Gather (Swannie-style!)
It’s impossible to overstate how much the Swannanoa Gathering means to me… and I am not alone with that sentiment.
What is the Swannanoa Gathering? It’s a series of one-week folk arts workshops - primarily musical in scope but dance is also part of it - that takes place every summer on the scenic mountain campus of Warren Wilson College just outside of Asheville, NC. Each week focuses on a different subject - Celtic music, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, traditional song, and old time music and dance. The workshops that I have attended almost every year since 2014 are called Contemporary Folk and Guitar week (CF/G).
Oh, I could spout off the names of the all-star slate of instructors of CF/G week - Tom Paxton, Janis Ian, Kathy Mattea, Peppino D’Agostino, Ellis Paul, and SO many others - but I’d rather focus on the overall experience of community that the Gathering offers. Because community, my friends, is priceless.
I’m rather shy in most large gathering situations - not much of a mingler or witty conversationalist - but I somehow find my voice during CF/G week at the Gathering. No one minds if you are a newbie, if your instrument or songwriting skills are rudimentary, if your singing voice has yet to fully blossom - everyone is still on a learning journey, and everyone finds support here.
During the day, as the mid-summer sun filters along the shady campus walkways, you can hear music pouring from the windows of the school buildings, as students flex their musical muscles and build confidence in the company of their supportive instructors and fellow students. At breakfast, lunch and dinner in the large communal cafeteria, students compare notes and share the exciting breakthroughs they have had in their classes.
After classes end for the day, the campus really turns into a “gathering”. Spontaneous clusters of students sit under tents or along stone walls, sharing tunes they may have just written or a guitar piece they are mastering. Two of the evenings are devoted to open mic concerts where even those with the shakiest of knees can stand tall and be applauded for giving the most exciting performance of their lives. Our A-team instructors also join forces to give heart-stopping concert performances. There’s a beer tent. There’s a food truck. There’s something called the “Beatles Scream”. There are mosquitos. Oh… well, heck, it’s summer in the mountains!
Sadly, like so many things in the past year-and-a-half, the Gathering was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be virtual for 2021. And yes, while we’d all prefer to come together in person along the verdant footpaths in Swannanoa, we know that the virtual Gathering will be able to at least provide that connection - that community - we all desire while keeping us safe.
And now, here’s a word from two Swannanoa Gathering instructors, Nuala Kennedy and Janis Ian, singing an original song by Ms. Ian.
You’re welcome.