ECMA news, day 3
April 17th, 2011 by Katherine Moller
I wrote this post on Saturday April 16, but did not get in on-line last night. That means that all of the “today, tomorrow and yesterday” statements are one day off. I am back in Harvey today and will be teaching very soon.
Kim and I did not end up going out last night. We had hoped to go to the Old Triangle to catch up with the Colin Grant Band again but I started nodding off around 11:30pm. I must be getting old!
Today was my last day at the ECMAs for 2011. We had to come home today as I will be returning to my private teaching tomorrow. We had a very relaxed morning of breakfast and checking out of the hotel.
Kim dropped me off at the Delta in the early afternoon so I could take in some workshops. I started off with a workshop on Social Media with Ariel Hyatt and Tom Jackson. I had actually debated whether or not to attend as I did a 9-week on-line course with Ariel last year. The course last year was very good and I figured I would go in to see if there was anything new. The workshop this year was also good, although it was hard for Ariel and Tom to fit much in since it was only an hour and a half long. I did pick up a couple of Ariel’s books so I can go over the material on my own time. There is a lot of information, and it is hard to absorb it all in a short amount of time.
Next on my agenda was a workshop on Factor funding. This workshop was not as useful for me at this point in time. I will be looking into their funding programs for marketing my 3rd CD though.
As I was coming out of the Factor workshop I heard a familiar fiddle tune. Mac Day was playing a track from my second CD on the EMCA live radio station in the lobby of the Delta. I stopped by to chat a bit. We met last year at Ariel Hyatt’s workshop. He had just started an internet radio station last year.
My last event at the ECMAs this year was on improving stage performance. This workshop was with Tom Jackson. I attended his workshop last year in Sidney, Cape Breton. It was fantastic, so I decided to see him in action again. Tom was working with a band called Slow Coaster. I was yet again impressed with the changes that Tom made. I understand the changes that he made, and why he made them, but I have yet to figure out how to apply these principals to my own performances.
All in all I had a good weekend at the EMCAs. I wish I could have stayed longer. Next year the ECMAs will be held in Moncton, NB in April.
