Minor Music sounds off this weekend

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Like all musical events, organizers are hoping the second annual Minor Music conference, which goes June 5 and 6, will be bigger and better than the first. By adding a second day, they’ve already ensured it will be longer.

Part of that added day, says Kim Anderson, one of the organizers of the event, is thanks to a donation from Th’YARC. They are offering up their stage to host the songwriters circle portion of the event. The songwriters circle, which is Friday night and hosted by Dwight d’Eon and Ryan Cook, features Connie Saulnier, Marc Durkee, Gary Wilson, the duo of Matt Wilkenson and Cameron Nickerson and Crystal Porter.

The event moves to the convention centre at the Grand Hotel on Saturday for the second day. Like last year, the day will feature clinics by the likes of Dave Skinner (drums), George Barkhouse (bass), Brad Conrad (guitar) and Duke Greene (finger-style guitar), seminars about marketing and industry, gear representatives on hand and live performances.

One of the new additions Anderson is excited about this year is the songwriters master class. D’Eon and Cook will work through the day on Saturday with four area musicians as they develop songs and perform them later in the evening. “Each participant brings a song that they’ve got to the table,” said Anderson. “They’re going to talk about songwriting and the foundation of songwriting and what inspires (people) to write songs.”

Another addition to the event is a youth stage, which will feature collaborations between various musicians at the Saturday event. “The stage is dedicated to mentors and their youth students,” said Anderson. Local musicians such as Jamie McDonnell, Sandy Ackles and Gary Greene will all take to the stage with some of their students.

As was the case last year, the event will close with a performance by the hardest working blues band in Yarmouth County, The Chunk of Funk.

Anderson said the goal of the event is to inspire and motivate people to get more involved in music, be it by supporting area artists or by picking up an instrument themselves. “We want it to be an annual conference that focuses on the aspiring musicians in a community format,” she said. “It’s the type of thing that develops as it goes.”

Tickets for the event are on sale now and available at Th’YARC’s box office. Price is $20 for an event pass that covers the entire weekend or $12 for just the songwriters circle.