My Guild Experience Part Two: Orientation and first classes...

My Guild Experience Post Two: Sunday and Monday...

"It looks like a bloomin' castle!"

Did I mention that Mohonk is absolutely gorgeous? Because it really is. This place is entirely unbelievable. Not only are the grounds themselves quite impressive indeed, but the interior of the mountain house is so awesome. Arriving here and then walking all around and exploring the place made me feel very much like one of the children from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe who get sent off to the country to live in the house of one Professor Digory Kirke. Maybe it's because the mountain house frowns on all running, speaking noisily, and touching of artifacts that are expensive and breakable...

Thunder and lightning did end up keeping me inside for a short while on the day of my arrival, but it ended fairly quickly.

Sunday evening was when the teaching began. Mr. Hamby is an incredibly gifted speaker. He speaks from his heart, and his heart is moved by God. His insights are quite Biblical and his teaching is very informative. He's also got a great sense of humor. The guy knows how to be really humorous, but he knows when it's appropriate and when it isn't, and I've really appreciated his thoughtfulness and seriousness.

All the teachers are incredibly kind and easy to speak with. They're all very Godly people who yearn for righteousness and obedience to Jesus Christ. Every one of them is gifted by God and their talents are very much evident. 

    Todd Busteed is absolutely hilarious. The guy has so much raw energy, his sessions were very energetic and a whole lot of fun. He focused mainly on sound-design and a bit of voice-acting. He's a really fun guy to learn from.

 

      Phillip Telfer and John-Clay Burnett hosted an elective talk on documentary film making. It was a very informative talk, and I really appreciated both of their insights. Also, Phillip Telfer is an incredibly accomplished musician. You can check out his stuff at his personal site:  www.philliptelfer.com Seriously, the guy is incredible - and it's because he's driven fully by God.

      Cathy Sarah taught the acting class. It focused the most on imagination and boldness. She has a great way of cheering up the rooms she enters and is absolutely brilliant when it comes to encouragement. She also has the most lovely English accent.

      Curt Morse and Allen Hurley are the primary sound guys. They were doing voice-over coaching and video making/ video sound editing. Curt Morse has the perfect radio DJ's voice, and he's a great sound-booth engineer. Both these men have been a lot of fun to learn under.

       John Campbell is the genius teaching the music composition classes. The man has tallent out the ears. We gave him three random chords, and from those he added whatever came to mind and crafted a beautiful piece. I wish I could spend even more time around him and seeing him composing.

      Sorry these pictures might be blurry. The master-teachers here have trouble standing still. That and I was so busy laughing, it was impossible to get a nice picture. Also - I guess I forgot to get a picture of Cathy Buchanan. But they were all amazing. She was the script-writing teacher and also incredibly insightful. Monday we listened in for an hour to each speaker. They all only tempted our palettes with their amazing skill and know-how.

     

 I know it's a short post, but with everything going on, I just haven't had time to write up anything cool. I have so much more to write about, but that will have to be in my next post.