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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)
Frank and I will be building a short tour for later in the year around a booking on Friday 20th September at the Swallow Theatre in Dumfries & Galloway. Their 2024 programme is now available to browse online. We are both delighted to be playing at this lovely venue again and tickets are now on sale. If you are in the area, or fancy taking a break in a beautiful part of the world, it would be great to see you there.
Friday 20th September, Swallow Theatre, Moss Park, Ravenstone, Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway DG8 8DR
Fiddle virtuoso Stewart Hardy and superb Scottish guitarist Frank McLaughlin are a critically acclaimed duo who possess a rare musical kinship as they explore music rooted in the traditions of Scotland, the Borders and Northumberland while incorporating sensibilities from the worlds of classical, blues, klezmer and jazz.
As a duo they perform traditional and contemporary tunes stripped back to the bare essentials of fiddle and guitar.
With their long-term collaboration, they have achieved a deep and instinctive understanding of each other’s musical interpretations.
The unique and versatile approach Stewart and Frank bring to their music, combined with their ability to draw on a wide variety of styles, produces an uplifting and joyous performance.
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3 days ago
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!2 weeks ago
🎧🎻🎹 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 😃 ... See MoreSee Less3 weeks ago
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!) ... See MoreSee LessTags
30 Years Collection Bill Elliot Bottle Bank Band CD Launch Community Strings Fiddle Day Frank McLaughlin George Welch Graham Dixon Halsway Manor HISS Holly & Ivy James Hill Jimmy's Fiddle JSArts Maddison's Thread Mick West Trio Minstrelsy Morpeth Gathering North East Fiddle School Northumbrian Shop Solo TFA The Tune Vault Tyneside Fiddle Alliance