Apr
3
Wed
NEFS 2024 Block 2 – Online
Apr 3 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

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 16th March.

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. Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith will each be providing a 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, plus a play-along session on Weds 3rd April. 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
6
Sat
William Shield: Northumbrian Fiddler and Piper?? @ Chantry Bagpipe Museum, Morpeth
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

Apr
26
Fri
JSArts Advanced Fiddle Technique @ Rydal Hall
Apr 26 – Apr 28 all-day
JSArts Advanced Fiddle Technique @ Rydal Hall | Grantham | United Kingdom

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)