Aug
15
Mon
The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.
Aug
14
Mon
The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.
Stewart will be exploring the music of the great Irish composer Turlough O’Carolan whose music is still heard in concert halls as well as played in pub sessions. His compositions embrace ideas from the baroque whilst remaining firmly rooted in Gaelic folk music. These workshops will introduce some of O’Carolan’s finest melodies and explore the effect of applying folk articulation and ornamentation to a form that is free of the constraints of regular folk dance structures. As is the tradition on HISS courses, he’ll be involved in a few collaborations – with Mary Tyers working with small folk ensembles which will use old English maggots as repertoire; with Jake Herringman on tunes constructed over a ground bass; and with Anne-Marie Chistensen-Brown looking at playing for “country dances,” comparing and contrasting material from England and Denmark. Material for other classes will include dance tunes used by Nathaniel Thompson in his 1680 publication, “180 Loyal Songs” and, under the banner of acquiring skills for learning by ear, he will also run a workshop looking at pattern recognition in music. Who could possibly resist? Book your place here.
Aug
12
Mon
The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.
Aug
22
Sat
Two days of live fiddle workshops, exclusive video tutorials, sessions, concerts and guided fiddle practice. Events will be aimed at all abilities of fiddle player from competent beginner through to advanced, led by guest tutors Kevin Lees, Sophy Ball, Grace Smith and Jim Boyle, alongside our regular tutors Melissa Whitehead and Stewart Hardy.
The weekend will be a mix of Live events on Zoom and exclusive Video Tutorials recorded for the Summer School, and each tutor will share their expertise with different ability levels. There will be suggested times over the weekend for several video tutorials, but you will have access to those purchased for 6 months with all supporting materials available to download.
There will be four ability levels (Competent Beginner, Lower Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced) with one live workshop and one video tutorial dedicated to each level, plus a wider selection of video tutorials focusing on Style led by each tutor. There will be time during the weekend to attend the events dedicated to your level and to one other, so you can try the workshops and videos for the next closest level as well. For example if you are a Lower Intermediate player, you could, in addition, challenge yourself to the Upper Intermediate tunes, or consolidate what you know by joining the Competent Beginners.
Jul
23
Fri
Join us again for another Virtual Summer School – fully online tuition on Zoom and in Video Tutorials.
There will be live fiddle workshops, exclusive video tutorials, sessions, concerts and guided fiddle practice. Events will be aimed at all abilities of fiddle player from competent beginner through to advanced, led by guest tutors Kevin Lees and Grace Smith, alongside our regular tutors Melissa Whitehead and Stewart Hardy.
The weekend will be a mix of Live events on Zoom and exclusive Video Tutorials recorded for the Summer School, and each tutor will share their expertise with different ability levels. There will be suggested times over the weekend for several video tutorials, but you will have access to those purchased for 6 months with all supporting materials available to download.
For full details, see the Virtual Summer School page
Standard Price £60
Pay More (£70), Pay Less (£50) and Sponsorship (£100) options available, with donations gratefully received.
Bookings now open!
Aug
16
Mon
The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.
This year it will be going ahead in-person with full Covid-secure measures in place.
This will be our delayed 10th anniversary year of enjoyable and spontaneous music making!
Apr
6
Sat
Apr 6 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
WILLIAM SHIELD: Northumbrian Fiddler and Piper??
Presentation by Dr Amélie Addison with Stewart Hardy (fiddle)
My friend, Dr Amélie Addison, will be giving a presentation at The Chantry Bagpipe Museum as part of the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering on 6th April. She is the leading authority on local composer William Shield, a man with close ties to the fiddling and piping traditions of the North East, and I am delighted to be illustrating her talk with some tunes on the fiddle.
Tickets £5 adult / £2 school-age
Oct
19
Sat
Oct 19 @ 2:15 pm
William Shield and his Folk Music Connection
Talk by Dr Amelie Addison with Stewart Hardy~
I’m really looking forward to this afternoon at The Lit and Phil Society in Newcastle with two great friends who I had the pleasure of working with at HISS for many years. In the first concert, I’ll be playing fiddle to Mary Tyer’s collection of recorders and flutes as well as backing some of her terrific renditions of traditional ballads. Mary is such a fine story teller in song! Straight after that, I’ll be providing musical examples on the fiddle for the wonderful Dr Amelie Addison during her fascinating talk on William Shield and his connections with folk music. It promises to be a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, so if you can make it, come along and say hello.
Recordings
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🎶 One of my favourite Scots (aka ‘Scotch’) measures is heading for The Tune Vault!I taught 'The Farther ben the Wilkemar' at the last JSArts Advanced Fiddle course to a lovely group of players. It’s an absolute cracker and significantly different from the currently better known Shetland version. Well worth a look, particularly for fans of Nathaniel Gow’s 'Lady Mary Hay’s Scotch Measure'.
The Farther ben the Wilkemar
The Farther ben the Wilkemar | The Tune Vault
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The Farther ben the Wilkemar (Further Been the Welcomer / Da Farder Ben da Wylcomer)- The Tune Vault by Stewart HardyI was first introduced to this tune by ...
Niles Krieger is joining us on Saturday for the North East Fiddle School Summer Workshop Weekend. He’s a great guy and an outstanding fiddler. One of his projects is playing with my old pal Jed Grimes, who was a musical partner and mentor of mine back in the 1990s. He taught me a great deal and shared some fabulous tunes, not least Carolan’s 'Baptist Johnston' which is heading for The Tune Vault 🎻🎧Baptist Johnston [Planxty Johnston] (Turlough O’Carolan)
A beautiful, lively tune written for the one-time High Sheriff of County Monaghan, who went on to be the MP for the borough of Monaghan. I learnt this version from Jed Grimes, who, in turn, had it from Mick Doonan, from his days playing with Hedgehog Pie and The Doonan Family Band.
Baptist Johnston [Planxty Johnston] (Turlough O’Carolan) | The Tune Vault
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Baptist Johnston [Planxty Johnston] (Turlough O’Carolan)- The Tune Vault by Stewart HardyA beautiful, lively tune written for the one-time High Sheriff of C...
☀️ Happy mid-summer weekend - it looks set to be a scorcher!Tyneside Fiddle Alliance, Phoenix Chamber Folk Ensemble, Hexham Village Band and The Redheughers are getting together on Sunday to share their music with each other. We are really looking forward to it. A big shout out to Robin Dunn who is stepping down as the leader of The Redheughers after what must be nigh on thirty years. He is one of the great servants of the North East folk music community and we are all lucky to have him. Cumberland Nellie is a tune I learnt from him and taught to TFA. We’ll be sure to play it on Sunday but in the meantime, here it is for The Tune Vault.
Cumberland Nellie | The Tune Vault
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Cumberland Nellie (Cumberland Nelly)- The Tune Vault by Stewart HardyHere’s a very old English tune dating back to at least the latter half of the seventeen...