Just to answer the second part of your question, at Augusta there are morning and afternoon sessions of musical instruction classes.

Jack Bond

Last year there was the opportunity to jump morning classes on a day-to-day basis. They let you seek your own level. I would imagine it is the same this year.

I hope to make it for a couple of days.

Janet

Augusta format is about 4 hours of class sessions per day split between morning and afternoon, with a culture session between lunch and afternoon class. You can also take a mini-class in the early evening. Individual instruction with any teacher is available and encouraged. There's usually a guest master artist whose teaching role is to provide one-on-one instruction. There are concerts, nightly dances and many jams, including scheduled slow and intermediate jams. The last couple of years have featured a zydeco jam with drums/bass/guitar. Wed night, there's an open mic during a zydeco gig at the campus tavern. A list of teachers and more information at link #3.

thanks, y'all;
sounds like what i'm wanting Russ. Wish Balfa would lean a bit more that way due to proximity and timing, but I can appreciate the different philosophical approaches of the 2 camps. I've been to Balfa and it was the best vacation i've ever had, but I'm looking for more of a working (instructional) vacation, and Augusta sounds like the place for those like me who don't score high on the self-teaching or self-learning card.