The Fourth Annual Accent On Music Guitar Seminar is now history. What a great time we had! The music study was intense. The three instructors-- Pat Donohue, Peppino D'Agostino and Mark Hanson--provided more than enough material, direction, and insight for the attendees.

The evening activities were great fun. The Tuesday evening concert featured Doug Smith's great solo fingerpicking, along with a special guest appearance by Mark, previewing material from Doug's and Mark's new duo CD, Power of Two (release date is September, 2001). Wednesday's concert featured the sparkling interplay of the Acoustic Guitar Summit quartet (Mark and Doug, plus their cohorts Terry Robb and Paul Chasman).

There was much first-rate guitar playing and singing at the student recitals on Thursday and Friday evenings. Congratulations to all the students for having the fortitude to perform in front of their peers. Good work!

On Saturday morning the students enjoyed watching Seattle's Rick Ruskin demonstrate his approach to arranging fingerstyle solos of complex Steely Dan tunes.

The Saturday evening public concert in the Lewis & Clark chapel featured scintillating guitar solos and hilarious songs from Pat, Peppino, and Mark. The three joined forces for several ensemble tunes to top off the show.

The Lewis & Clark campus setting was beautiful, with a spectacular view of volcanic Mt. Hood in the distance. The food was excellent, the weather was spectacular, and the camaraderie was the best.

There was an unexpected additional delight at this year's seminar: Pat and Mark realized that they shared an after-hours passion for tabletop hockey. Mark and Pat played into the late evening every night, often with a high-voltage running commentary in Italian by Peppino. Mark brought his '60s-vintage game to the farewell party after the Saturday evening public concert. It was a great hit with everyone, with many people taking turns twirling the icemen. Takeshi Hayakawa and Peppino provided tri-lingual commentary: Japanese and Italian, with an occasional English "BORING, BORING, BORING" when the action was too slow! Great fun for all.

Check out this site for more information and photos on the most recent seminar and past seminars. Thanks to everyone involved!

Mark Hanson