Stewart Hardy

Fiddle Technique

9th – 11th July 2021
Rydal Hall, Ambleside LA22 9LX

**Covid-19 Update

This course is scheduled to run in person, but is subject to the Steps out of Lockdown proceeding as planned and any further mitigations that are placed upon groups meeting together indoors or by the venue. Those people who have signed up for a previous course that has been cancelled have had their bookings rolled forwards to this course, and will have first offer of the available places. Further bookings are not currently being taken, but an Interest List is being kept in case of spaces being available. Once the course is confirmed as going ahead, this list will be contacted in order and offered places. Please email Ali if you would like to be added to the Interest List for this course.

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Join Stewart in the beautiful setting 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 evening until Sunday afternoon.This course can accommodate a broad range of experience and ability, ranging 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.

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.

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