Stewart Hardy

Advanced Fiddle Technique

27th – 29th September 2019
Rydal Hall, Ambleside LA22 9LX

Join Stewart in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall in the Lake District, for a weekend of intensive fiddle tuition. This course is aimed at proficient players with good to high technical competence, who are comfortable with their instruments and their repertoire and who may have some of the following experience and skills:

• – Playing folk tunes at dance tempo
• – Comfortable in key signatures of up to 3 sharps and 1 flat
• – Familiarity with key signatures of up to 4 sharps and 3 flats
• – Attending folk music sessions and joining in with the tunes
• – Leading sets of tunes in sessions
• – Playing in ceilidh and/or concert bands
• – Teaching violin and/or fiddle

The workshop will typically take between 8 and 12 people from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. All tuition, resources, accommodation, food and daytime refreshments are included. Sheet music and mp3 files of the tunes covered are sent out in advance, and recordings of exercises from the course are sent on to you afterwards.

These courses are centred around the technical issues that come with playing fiddle music, with as much emphasis on the how as there is on the what. Focusing on left-hand and bowing technique, with stylistic interpretation of the music a key feature, these workshops delve deep into the tunes, extracting exercises to improve technique and allow its application to a wider repertoire. Tunes are carefully selected for their technical or stylistic content whilst also baring in mind practical considerations such as their usefulness in folk music sessions or as dance repertoire. The tunes are taught ‘as if by ear’, meaning they are taught phrase by phrase at a tempo and with sufficient repetition to enable learning without recourse to reading notation, but with notation available at any point should that be desired or necessary. This encourages the development of aural pattern recognition and general musicality, enhancing musicianship and the enjoyment of playing music in social settings.

Places on Advanced Fiddle Techniques courses are available on application. For further information or to express your interest in this course, please email Ali (jsarts@stewarthardy.co.uk)

Arrangement Techniques (Mixed Instruments)

25th – 27th October 2019
Ushaw College, Durham

Join Stewart in the beautiful surroundings of Ushaw College in Durham for a weekend workshop exploring arrangement techniques for mixed instrument ensemble. Courses are open to players of any instrument (including transposing instruments) and are aimed at a broad range of abilities from intermediate to advanced. Workshops focus on techniques for arranging tunes for the combination of instruments to hand, using tools such as tempo, texture, dynamics and harmonic structure to create a musical narrative. To enjoy the full benefits of these courses, participants should be able to read notation or confidently and quickly pick up tunes and musical ideas by ear. We will do our best to help create viable groups by monitoring the instrumentation as participants sign up for the course.

The workshops typically take between 8 and 12 people from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. The cost covers all food, tuition, daytime refreshments and overnight accommodation. Non-residential rates may be available – please enquire. Sheet music and mp3 files of the tunes covered are sent out in advance, and recordings of arrangements created during the course are sent on to you afterwards.

For further information or to book your place on this course, please email Ali (jsarts@stewarthardy.co.uk)

Fiddle Technique

8th – 10th November 2019
Rydal Hall, Ambleside LA22 9LX

Join Stewart in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall in the Lake District, for a weekend of intensive fiddle tuition. The workshop will typically take between 8 and 12 people from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.This course can accommodate a broad range of experience and ability, ranging from competent beginner to upper intermediate, but is not suitable for absolute or early beginners. All tuition, resources, accommodation, food and daytime refreshments are included. Sheet music and mp3 files of the tunes covered are sent out in advance, and recordings of exercises from the course are sent on to you afterwards.

These courses are centred around the technical issues that come with playing fiddle music, with as much emphasis on the how as there is on the what. Focusing on left-hand and bowing technique, with stylistic interpretation of the music a key feature, these workshops delve deep into the tunes, extracting exercises to improve technique and allow its application to a wider repertoire. Tunes are carefully selected for their technical or stylistic content whilst also baring in mind practical considerations such as their usefulness in folk music sessions or as dance repertoire. The tunes are taught ‘as if by ear’, meaning they are taught phrase by phrase at a tempo and with sufficient repetition to enable learning without recourse to reading notation, but with notation available at any point should that be desired or necessary. This encourages the development of aural pattern recognition and general musicality, enhancing musicianship and the enjoyment of playing music in social settings.

For further information or to express your interest in this course, please email Ali (jsarts@stewarthardy.co.uk)

• – playing simple dance tunes at steady to mid tempo (e.g. reels and jigs at 50-80 beats per minute)
• – able to clap in time to a tune
• – have basic control of the bow on the string
• – able to slur notes together
• – comfortable in the keys of G,D and A major and familiar with their note names
• – familiarity with C major
• – able to play basic scales without notation
• – able to play at least 2 tunes without notation

• – attend other fiddle workshops
• – play with a community folk music group
• – join in folk music sessions
• – receive tuition on the fiddle/violin