Nov
22
Thu
TFA Annual Concert
Hear music rooted in the Northumbrian tradition in this acoustically beautiful setting. The programme by the Tyneside Fiddle Alliance will include a variety of traditional music. We are delighted to be welcoming Special Guests Chris Meredith, Shona Mooney and Jim Boyle from FiddleTutor. Three fantastic musicians and teachers who are sure to inspire. There will also be spots from our very own talented members – including Northumbrian Pipers, and a fiddle duet. Join us for a fabulous evening of traditional music.
Tickets £5.
Doors open 6.45 pm
Feb
20
Wed
George is a North East institution known for hilarious stories, driving tunes on guitar and moving songs in a fine baritone voice. The quintessential folk club entertainer, George will once again be performing in Cramlington (on Weds 20th Feb) and in Stockton (on Mon 25th Feb) and I am delighted to be joining him – come along and join in the fun!
Feb
25
Mon
George is a North East institution known for hilarious stories, driving tunes on guitar and moving songs in a fine baritone voice. The quintessential folk club entertainer, George will once again be performing in Cramlington (on Weds 20th Feb) and in Stockton (on Mon 25th Feb) and I am delighted to be joining him – come along and join in the fun!
Sep
15
Sun
George is a North East institution known for hilarious stories, driving tunes on guitar and moving songs in a fine baritone voice. The quintessential folk club entertainer, George will once again be performing at South Shields Folk Club and I am delighted to be joining him – come along and join in the fun!
Sep
27
Fri
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)
Nov
2
Sat
Geordie Music Night 2019
Saturday 2nd November
Seaton Sluice Community Centre NE26 4QX
7.30 pm (Doors 7.00 pm)
Featuring Jim Mageean, Stu Luckley, Stewart Hardy, George Welch, Barry & Ingrid Temple and Laura Connolly
£10 Adults. Please book tickets in advance.
Tickets available online via the shop
Tickets are also available to reserve by phone on 0191 298 0323 or 0191 237 1136.
Funds raised will support restoration of the Village Bell.
Jan
6
Mon
Jan 6 @ 7:30 pm
George is a North East institution known for hilarious stories, driving tunes on guitar and moving songs in a fine baritone voice – the quintessential folk club entertainer! I am delighted to be joining him again, this time on board a floating Lightship! Join us at the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club Music Night in the South Harbour, Blyth.
Feb
1
Sat
George is a North East institution known for hilarious stories, driving tunes on guitar and moving songs in a fine baritone voice – the quintessential folk club entertainer! I am delighted to be joining him again as we return to the fantastic Davy Lamp Folk Club at Washington Arts Centre. See you there!
Feb
19
Wed
George and I will be returning to the fabulous Cramlington Folk Club again this year, on Weds 19th Feb. Join us for some more of George’s moving songs and hilarious stories. I’ll be doing my best to keep up!
Once you have heard George perform his songs, accompanied by his guitar playing with Stewart’s fiddle, there is no doubt that the success of this highly entertaining duo is built on solid musical foundations
Mar
14
Sat
Mar 14 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tyneside Fiddle Alliance will be in St George’s Church, Jesmond on Saturday 14th March for a celebration of traditional music from Northumberland and beyond. They are delighted to be sharing the concert with The Northumbrian Ranters, a fantastic group of young musicians who meet regularly to rehearse in Morpeth. The evening promises to be full of energy with a variety of traditional tunes from both groups.
All tickets £5. Doors open 6.30 pm.
Tickets will be available on the door, or in advance online.
Reservations can be made via the Contact Form, email or the TFA Facebook page.
Recordings
Facebook Feed
NEFS Block 3 starts this week!Sign up now 🎻We have a new block starting on Zoom this week!
Join us for our five weekly Wednesday evening Zoom sessions starting on 24th April with video tutorials on demand, and/or our in-person workshop in Wylam on Saturday 11th May. Bookings now open!
www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/shop/
More details are available on the Classes page of the NEFS website. Get in touch with Ali if you have any questions 😊
🎶 This block we have two more fabulous video tutorials, both English jigs collected in the middle of the nineteenth century from “Wheelwright Robinson” of Abbots Bromley, Flaxley Green Dance from Stewart Hardy Music and, of course, The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, this one from Kevin Lees - Music. Grace Smith Music will be teaching alongside Stewart on our Zoom calls, and will be introducing a lovely Shetland jig as our new live tune.
We are also delighted to announce that Chris Meredith will be teaching with Stewart on our Saturday Workshop in Wylam on 11th May. Chris is a wonderful player and teacher, and was the force behind FiddleTutor.com with some wonderful online tutorials.
📣 Sign up now!
🎧🎻🎹 Our next set of Zoom workshops is this weekend, on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th April. Each workshop can be booked individually, and all will be available on-demand after the weekend. Book now on the website!There will be lots of favourite tunes with harmonies and chords provided for the Friday evening play-along session. All instruments are welcome, and alternate clefs or keys for transposing instruments can be provided on request. Then on Saturday in the fiddle workshops, we'll be looking at a fabulous north east tune by Geroge Mitchell of the Cheviot Ranters, call Geordie's Rant, in the morning. In the afternoon, it will be the turn of Shrewsbury Lasses, one of the classic country dance tunes of the English repertoire. Full resources including audio files and a worksheet are provided.
Visit the website for more info and bookings 😃
There will be lots of fascinating facts and insights into the life and times of William Shield, presented by Dr Amélie Addison on Saturday afternoon, illustrated with a few fiddle tunes! We'll be at the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum at 4pm.Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering
(Disclaimer: more recent photos are available!)