Stewart Hardy

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

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.

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.

There is a full day’s workshop on Saturday 18th June which is taught in person at Wylam Methodist Church and can be booked separately – a discount is applied if you book both.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

North East Fiddle School returns with a new block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

The in-person Workshop Day on Saturday 18th June will run from 10:00 until 17:00 at Wylam Methodist Church. There will be three workshops run by Stewart and Melissa, with a session to finish the afternoon.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

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.

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.

There is a full day’s workshop on Saturday 18th June which is taught in person at Wylam Methodist Church and can be booked separately – a discount is applied if you book both.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

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.

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.

There is a full day’s workshop on Saturday 18th June which is taught in person at Wylam Methodist Church and can be booked separately – a discount is applied if you book both.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

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.

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.

There is a full day’s workshop on Saturday 18th June which is taught in person at Wylam Methodist Church and can be booked separately – a discount is applied if you book both.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

Fiddle Foundations

8th – 18th July 2022
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 fiddle tuition. The workshop will typically take between 10 and 15 people from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. The residential weekend fee of £348 covers all food, tuition, daytime refreshments and two nights single occupancy accommodation, most of which is en suite.

The Fiddle Foundations workshop is a standard level technique course and is being run as an opportunity for fiddle players to look at, in some detail, the fundamental building blocks that Stewart uses to create stylistic interpretations of tunes. He will be teaching some of the basic bowing patterns that help to bring out the distinctive flavour of the most common tune forms. For the left hand, he’ll be concentrating on hand frames and melodic motifs (those note patterns that occur again and again in folk tunes), as well as an approach to ornamentation which is designed to help players access ornaments in a way that is both natural for them and appropriate for the tunes.

This course can accommodate a broad range of experience and ability, 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.

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

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

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.

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.

There is a full day’s workshop on Saturday 18th June which is taught in person at Wylam Methodist Church and can be booked separately – a discount is applied if you book both.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, see which tunes are being taught this block by myself and Melissa Whitehead, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

North East Fiddle School returns with another block of fully online materials, plus a single day workshop in-person.

To round off Block 4, there will be a social evening on Zoom in which we will play through the video tutorial tunes taught this block, as well as many of our favourites from our Live Tunes repertoire. The event is included in the price of the Online Block or the In-person Workshop, and will be a lovely way to finish up the block.

Check out the NEFS website for full details, and you can book online through the website:  http://www.northeastfiddleschool.org.uk/

July Workshops 2022
Play-along Session in Harmony for Mixed Instruments

This will be a Zoom call open to intermediate players (and above) of any instrument. Notation will be provided in advance for all the tunes, together with suggestions for basic chords and a harmony line, but feel free to join in by ear! You can play the tune along with Stewart, play an accompaniment with a bass line, chords or a harmony (your own or follow the suggestions) or enjoy playing the tune whilst Stewart plays a harmony. If you wish to join in on an instrument with a different range from the fiddle, or with specfic key requirements, please get in touch before booking.

Zoom Workshop
Friday 22nd July, 19:00 – 21:00

A single workshop is £20, attend two for £35 or all three for £50.

For more information, please visit the July Workshops 2022 information page.

If you haven’t attended a music workshop on Zoom before, here is a page of Zoom Workshop Tips to get the most out of your experience. A strong and reliable internet connection, plus headphones or an external speaker are recommended. A recording of the live call will be available for those who experience technical difficulties, or who find themselves unable to attend the live Zoom call.