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G'day,mate! Yes, the incredibly friendly Australians actually do say that, as Jeff and I discovered on our recent trip Down Under. We attended FAME (Federation of Australaisian Mandolin Ensembles) Mandolin Camp and were delighted and impressed with the entire experience. We arrived in the middle of the week-long camp, and though a bit jet-lagged, felt right at home as soon as we sat down in the orchestra rehearsal.

And boy, did these people rehearse! Several hours of rehearsals every day, all week. They only stopped for morning tea, afternoon tea, and meals. The orchestra was made up of musicians from mandolin ensembles in Sidney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and New Zealand. Jeff and I were the only ones from the USA, but The Netherlands, Germany and Canada were also represented.The conductor, Chen Yang had a professional but relaxed presence that kept everyone at ease.

All the rehearsing, the excellent conductor plus the high quality of musicianship paid off at the end of the week. The 400 seat performance hall was sold out, and the concert went very well. The music selection was varied and enjoyable to play. Some of the pieces were Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, Three Dances, written especially for this orchestra by Robert Schulz, Konrad Wolki's Die Grosse Stunde which included brass and woodwinds, and our own Neil Gladd's Three Rags. The only other performers on the concert were Kurt Jensen and Fred Witt, who amazed us all with their technique and interpretation.

Jeff was the entire mandocello section, and people seemed quite fascinated with him. The mandocello workshop he gave was very well attended (by nothing but non-mandocellists). One attendee was a violin-cellist, and he and Jeff cracked up the audience by trading instruments in an impromptu Bach performance.

The banquet was a Crazy Hat Gala Dinner. Though we were never able to find out if crazy hat dinners are common in Australia, we came prepared. A Bullwinkle hat sat jauntily on Jeff's head as we rode the elevator down from our top floor room. The doors opened in the lobby, and a lady loudly proclaimed, "Holy Cow, there's a moose on the lift!"

In fact, everyone we met seemed to have a good sense of humor. By the end of the week, we enjoyed hearing the Aussies try to imitate our accents, and vice versa. There was a great deal of laughter when we finally learned that a restroom is called "the loo" and after a lengthy explanation of a "long drop." The entire orchestra collapsed in hysterics when they heard the radio announcer describe a mandolin as "half a pumpkin." As luck would have it, the first course at the banquet the next day was pumpkin soup!

Making new friends is the best part of participating in an event like this one. But the festive atmosphere, the exciting Brisbane skyline with the South Bank Parklands on the river a few meters from our hotel and the fun of being in a hemisphere were the water drains in the opposite direction, all contributed to our enjoyment. Our dream vacation continued for another 12 days which we spent at the beach, The Great Barrier Reef and in the Rainforest. But our best memories are of the musicians we met those first four days in Brisbane.

The next FAME mandolin camp is scheduled for January 2002 in New Zealand. Let's all go!