SATURDAY, MAY 31st

12:00
Oldtime Fiddle with Jenny Monfore

Get your Bowing Groove On

 

Learn some ‘secret sauce’ bowing techniques to spice up your fiddling!  In this class we’ll learn several easy bowing tips that will help add groove and drive to your playing.  Then we’ll apply these new bowing tools to a simple jam tune, getting a feel for how to use them in real life to develop your own unique fiddling style.  

12:00
Oldtime Banjo with Tom Mackenzie
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Okay, you’ve learned the tunes, either from tablature or by listening over and over to your favorite players. Now it’s time to go beyond the mechanics and add some flavor to your playing. We will explore things like different chord shapes and when and where to put them, how to play nice with others, and even when not to play; working on a song or two will help with that. Bring your questions and insights you may want to share with us.

12:00
Mandolin with Henry Clark

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Mandolinstant Gratification,

Beginners Mandolin will go over the basics of holding the instrument, tuning, 'the chop' chord, and playing basic melodies. "The Girl I Left Behind Me" and "Farewell Trion" are two tunes we'll explore while talking.

1:30
Oldtime Fiddle with Ida Mae Specker

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​Join Ida Mae for a workshop and demonstration on traditional American fiddle music designed for folks with some violin experience. Ida Mae's clear, engaging teaching style emphasizes ear-training, chord progressions, rhythmic structure, and the history and theory of old-time music. John Specker will co-teach this workshop, demonstrating how clawhammer banjo traditionally accompanies the fiddle. Learn a simple tune or a few- depending on participants' experience level- and take home practical skills in old-time fingering, bowing, and stylistic adornments. 

 

1:30
Oldtime Guitar with Marc Edwards

​Marc's workshop will be a discussion on the harmony and melody of Old Time Guitar. This will entail scales used, typical progressions, rhythmic ideas, "crooked tunes", and a discussion of the differences between bluegrass and old time. He will also outline some of the history of Old time, and the differences between the style and bluegrass, as well as general improvisational concepts in roots music. This entails "soloing" as well as adding melodic variations on a theme. 

 

1:30
Bass for Oldtime Music with Mowgli Giannitti​​​

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Mowgli Giannitti will be exploring the basic lines of Oldtime Bass in terms of its rhythmic, harmonic, melodic, and historical components and context. Mowgli will discuss and demonstrate the Bass as a rhythmic component of Oldtime music, the architecture of a chord, when to play which chord tone (and why), and how to apply an understanding of keys and scales to learning and remembering Oldtime songs. 

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3:00
Fiddle for Dances with Jenny Monfore​​

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Have you been curious about playing for dances but too afraid to try?  Fear not!  In this class we’ll talk about the basics of playing old time tunes for contra and square dances.  We’ll cover tune structure and choices, communicating with the caller, differences playing for contra vs. square dances, setting tempo with potatoes, playing with confidence, and starting/ending tunes.  Then we’ll have some volunteer dancers join us and we’ll play an easy square dance in class!

 

3:00
Oldtime Banjo with Will Seeders

Breaking Out of the Box - Alternative Rhythm and Chord Techniques for Old-Time and Beyond​​

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Join Will Seeders in exploring ways to accompany yourself or fellow musicians with "outside the box" rhythm and chord choices. While there’s nothing more fun than locking into a perfect rhythm and melody with a fiddler or in a larger ensemble, there’s so much more to what a banjo can do. It bridges many aspects of music, from melody and percussion to rhythmic chord backup. Clawhammer banjo is also a perfect backup instrument for singer-songwriters. See how Will uses these tools and how he thinks about his approach to the banjo, whether playing solo, with large groups, or backing up a singer-songwriter.

 

3:00
Advanced Mandolin with Henry Clark

Mandolinguistic​

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 Advanced Mandolin will cover beneficial practice techniques, improvising using common melodies, theory, tremolo, using your ear and more. "Elzic's Farewell" and "Fisher's Hornpipe" are two tunes we'll use to share ideas.

 

4:30
Oldtime Stringband Workshop with New Lost Nation​

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In this workshop, participants will form duos, trios and quartets, and experiment with the roles that each instrument plays in creating a greater whole of the band. We'll deconstruct a couple of standard fiddle tunes and put them back together to see how the pieces support and compliment each other.

New Lost Nation is a recent invention featuring musicians culled from Cabot's old time session: 

Dana Robinson on fiddle, Grant Marolf on banjo, Susan Robinson on guitar, and Neal McNaughton on bass. 

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4:30
Harmony Singing with Ida Mae and Mowgli

Join Ida Mae and Mowgli for a harmony singing workshop. Break down a few traditional ballads and songs into 3-part harmony and enjoy the magic of singing in a group! In addition to learning harmony techniques through the practical application of traditional songs, participants will learn how to warm up their voices, gain some basic ear training techniques for singers, learn about sotrytelling through song, and explore the dynamics of harmony singing. This workshop is open to anyone - NO prior singing experience required! Beginners are encouraged- Ida Mae strongly believes that you don't have to have a "good voice" to be a "good" singer!

4:30

Cajun Fiddle Party with Karen Taylor

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Come get a taste of that ​​excitement and joy that is Cajun Fiddling. Cajun Fiddle Party will be

part workshop, part fiddle jam. We’ll learn a Cajun tune or two, and learn backup fiddle parts.

The workshop will focus on bowing, how to use our fiddle as a rhythm instrument, and style tips

to create that sweet Cajun sound. 

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