Apr
24
Wed
North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person that will be held this block on Saturday 11th May.
Technique and tunes are taught through Video Tutorials which are added to weekly and can be accessed indefinitely after that so you can work at your own pace. Kevin Lees and Stewart will each be providing a new Video Tutorial for this block.
For those who enjoy the live engagement, there are weekly Fiddle Practice sessions and tunes taught live on Zoom each Wednesday evening for the five weeks of the block. These are great fun, and a good way to keep up with playing your fiddle regularly, whilst improving your technique and learning some core repertoire tunes. Join Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith for the Fiddle Practice and Live Teaching Zoom calls.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and you can book via the NEFS Shop: http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
Apr
26
Fri
Advanced Fiddle Technique
26th – 28th April 2024
Rydal Hall, Ambleside LA22 9LX
3.00 pm start and finish time.
Join Stewart in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall in the Lake District for a weekend of intensive advanced fiddle tuition. The workshop will typically take between 10 and 15 people from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. The residential weekend fee of £398 covers all food, tuition, daytime refreshments and two nights single occupancy accommodation, almost all of which is en suite. Sheet music and mp3 files of the tunes covered are sent out in advance, detailed worksheets are provided, and recordings of exercises from the course are sent on to you afterwards.
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 confidently joining in with the tunes
- – Leading sets of tunes in sessions
- – Playing in ceilidh and/or concert bands
- – Teaching violin and/or fiddle
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 by ear, 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. There will also be two evening sessions, allowing participants to play common repertoire together and to exchange tunes, picking new ones up by ear.
Places on Advanced Fiddle Techniques courses are available on application. For further information or to express your interest in this course, please email Ali (music@stewarthardy.co.uk)
May
1
Wed
North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person that will be held this block on Saturday 11th May.
Technique and tunes are taught through Video Tutorials which are added to weekly and can be accessed indefinitely after that so you can work at your own pace. Kevin Lees and Stewart will each be providing a new Video Tutorial for this block.
For those who enjoy the live engagement, there are weekly Fiddle Practice sessions and tunes taught live on Zoom each Wednesday evening for the five weeks of the block. These are great fun, and a good way to keep up with playing your fiddle regularly, whilst improving your technique and learning some core repertoire tunes. Join Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith for the Fiddle Practice and Live Teaching Zoom calls.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and you can book via the NEFS Shop: http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
May
8
Wed
North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person that will be held this block on Saturday 11th May.
Technique and tunes are taught through Video Tutorials which are added to weekly and can be accessed indefinitely after that so you can work at your own pace. Kevin Lees and Stewart will each be providing a new Video Tutorial for this block.
For those who enjoy the live engagement, there are weekly Fiddle Practice sessions and tunes taught live on Zoom each Wednesday evening for the five weeks of the block. These are great fun, and a good way to keep up with playing your fiddle regularly, whilst improving your technique and learning some core repertoire tunes. Join Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith for the Fiddle Practice and Live Teaching Zoom calls.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and you can book via the NEFS Shop: http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
May
11
Sat
This full-day workshop forms a part of the North East Fiddle School’s 2024 Block 3 offering, along with video tutorials and Zoom calls, but can be booked separately there is no requirement to attend the Online course.
The in-person Workshop Day on Saturday 11th May will run from 10:00 until 17:00 at Wylam Methodist Church. There will be three workshops looking at fiddle technique and tunes, with a session to finish the afternoon.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and book your place now. A discount is available if you book both the Online option and Saturday workshop
http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
May
15
Wed
North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person that will be held this block on Saturday 11th May.
Technique and tunes are taught through Video Tutorials which are added to weekly and can be accessed indefinitely after that so you can work at your own pace. Kevin Lees and Stewart will each be providing a new Video Tutorial for this block.
For those who enjoy the live engagement, there are weekly Fiddle Practice sessions and tunes taught live on Zoom each Wednesday evening for the five weeks of the block. These are great fun, and a good way to keep up with playing your fiddle regularly, whilst improving your technique and learning some core repertoire tunes. Join Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith for the Fiddle Practice and Live Teaching Zoom calls.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and you can book via the NEFS Shop: http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
May
22
Wed
North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person that will be held this block on Saturday 11th May.
Technique and tunes are taught through Video Tutorials which are added to weekly and can be accessed indefinitely after that so you can work at your own pace. Kevin Lees and Stewart will each be providing a new Video Tutorial for this block.
For those who enjoy the live engagement, there are weekly Fiddle Practice sessions and tunes taught live on Zoom each Wednesday evening for the five weeks of the block. These are great fun, and a good way to keep up with playing your fiddle regularly, whilst improving your technique and learning some core repertoire tunes. Join Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith for the Fiddle Practice and Live Teaching Zoom calls.
Check out the NEFS website for full details and you can book via the NEFS Shop: http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/
Recordings
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🎧🎻🎹 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!)
It was lovely to play this tune again with Grace Smith Music. Thanks for the invitation to be a part of this fabulous project!