Oct
3
Fri
Ensemble Playing for Mixed Instruments
3rd – 5th October 2025
Shepherds Dene, Riding Mill, Northumberland NE44 6AF
4.00 pm start and finish time.
Join Stewart in the beautiful retreat venue of Shepherds Dene, for a weekend of ensemble playing. This course are open to players of any instrument (including transposing instruments) and is aimed at a broad range of abilities from intermediate to advanced. Workshops focus on learning interesting tunes and harmonies to expand your repertoire, improve your skills in ensemble playing, and enjoy the delights of playing harmonies. Accompanying instruments are welcome and we will explore different way of accompanying the tunes using the instruments available on the course. The workshops will be taught “as if by ear”, with the phrases broken down into recognisable motifs, and with enough repetition for those learning by ear. Notation will be provided and can be used as a remider after the course, or at any point for reassurance.
All tuition, resources, accommodation, food and daytime refreshments are included in the course fee. Accommodation is single occupancy bedrooms, with some en suite rooms available. Sheet music and mp3 files of the tunes covered are sent out in advance, full worksheets of the tunes taught are provided, and any recordings from the course are sent on to you afterwards. The course will run from 4 pm on Friday until 4 pm on Sunday afternoon.
For further information or to express your interest in this course, please email Ali (music@stewarthardy.co.uk)
Recordings
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🎧 Tune Vault ✨Number 100 ✨ 😊Wow! This has come around so quickly… the 100th deposit into The Tune Vault. I am so pleased to make this 'The Road to the North' by Alistar Anderson (Alistair Anderson Music Page), a man who has had so much influence on my music making and my work… and there is a veritable host of us who could say the same thing. Many thanks, Alistair, for your generosity and your wonderful music.
The Road to the North (Alistair Anderson)
I first heard this tune on the LP Steel Skies, which was a suite of tunes composed and arranged by one of the great ambassadors for the musical traditions of the North East of England, the concertina virtuoso and Northumbrian piper, Alistair Anderson.
The Road to the North (Alistair Anderson) | The Tune Vault
youtu.be
The Road to the North (Alistair Anderson)- The Tune Vault by Stewart HardyI first heard this tune on the LP Steel Skies, which was a suite of tunes composed...
📌 Stop Press! A place has become available on our residential fiddle course this weekend: 3pm Friday to 3pm Sunday at Rydal Hall, Ambleside.Sadly, due to illness, someone has had to cancel. We have been fully booked since places went on sale in January, so if you were disappointed not to get a place, or now find yourself available, this is your chance!
🎻 This is an excellent opportunity to develop your fiddle playing - we spend time learning tunes, but also the techniques required to really bring them to life. We work on dexterity, intonation, tone and bowing, with exercises as well as real tune examples, which will improve your skills across all of your repertoire. The course is aimed at intermediate players, with tunes broken down into phrases and built back up, with lots of repetition and suggestions for bowing and ornaments. The evening sessions are also lots of fun, sharing tunes, with music provided.
It is a wonderful group of people whare are booked on, and a lovely venue. The price includes a single occupancy en suite bedroom, all meals and daytime refreshments, notation and audio files in advance, the teaching, follow up materials - and plenty of time for fiddle talk in the breaks!
Please send a message or an email if you are interested in coming along 😊
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