Quiet Corner Workshops
QCF has recently formed a committee to organize the workshops where we bring some fiddle teachers and fiddle players to a club
session to help us withour fiddling. We want to get some workshop leaders who can move us all forward with our fiddling,
so exactly who do we want? Do we want the fiddlers who are the flashiest, coolest players, or do we want people who can teach us
something? Do we want someone to demonstrate some specific style of fiddling, or do we want someone to teach us some technique,
or something to improve our violin skills?
Saul is the Chairman of the Workshop committee, so if you have any opinion about how this should work, convey that to
Saul ( sahola@earthlink.net ) or directly to Matt for posting here on this page (mmcconeghy@cox.net) .
We want to get workshop leaders who will teach us the things we want to learn! :)
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Suggestions for Future Workshops!
link to a recent workshop done by French Canadian fiddler Dan Boucher)
link to a recent workshop by Cathy Clasper-Torch
Below are some suggestions for future workshops, only in the order that someone suggested them to the webguy.... they all would be great!
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Suggestion #1: One of the pieces we play at QCF was annotated by David Pugh from the playing of the Rhode Island fiddler Sandol Astrausky.
Sandol is a wonderful fiddler who has at various times done Irish fiddling (she was the fiddler on the soundtrack of the movie
"The Secret of Roan Inish") and bluegrass, but what she likes to play for fun is the rags and breakdowns of old timey music.
In my opinion, the thing that makes Sandol a lot of fun to listen to and play with, is her ability to take a simple tune and make it come
alive... Her timing and phrasing are lively and clean, and she has a terrific lilt and groove to her playing that is missing from a
lot of fast, flashy players... with Sandol, it is not about speed, it is about the feeling in the heart of the tune...
A few days ago I was with Sandol and several friends sitting around in a barn sharing tunes and recorded these cuts on my
trusty $50 Olympus voice recorder. There are a few sqeeky spots where you can hear me and another fiddler working out
the tune as the group plays, but the strong, dominant sound is Sandol on fiddle... If this style and direction in fiddling
resonates with other QCF folks, then perhaps we should consider having Sandol come over for a workshop... Matt
Jenny, Won't you have some good old Cider?
Jenny ran away in the mud and the night
(Waiting for your comments!)
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Suggestion #2
Donna Hebert is a well known fiddler and teacher from Amherst Mass. While she
specializes in the French Canadian genre, she is also expert in and teaches all
traditional styles. Her recent book and CD of fiddle technique and theory
"Fiddling Demystified" has had excellent reviews. The first lesson in the book
for example pertains to style, ornamentation, bowing technique (including
slurring into the downbeat and reefing the bow) and backup cord chops for the
tune Swallowtail Jig. It’s possible we would not be able to afford her with our
$150 fee, but it would be worth calling her to find out. Alternatively we might
be able to attend a workshop she puts on elsewhere, using some of our treasury
to subsidize those who attend. You can check out her style on Youtube including
the lesson: "Reel de Remi taught by Donna Hebert 11 2009" (which is also one of
the lessons in her book/cd).
Donna and Max Cohen Donna plays a beautiful slow air that she wrote after the death of her father.
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Suggestion #3:
Jane Rothfield is a fine musician who switches comfortably from fiddle to banjo. (She is the banjo player
in Donna's group video'd above.. several more videos are available on You Tube.
She has family in the Willimantic area.We are considering whether we might be able to catch her
for a workshop during a visit...
Incidentally, the video below is a great example of the the kind of friendly, informal jams that go
on for hours and hours at all the fiddler's conventions and festivals all over the country...
Jane Rothfield paying her dues at the Black Creek Fiddler's Convention They play 'Cumberland Gap'
for a lot more than three times through... No point in leaving a tune before you have explored it a bit! :)
This video by Bill Spence, one of the hearts of the Upstate New York music community.
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Suggestion #4
Art Schatz -- Art is from the Lexington Mass area and has given workshops on
Bluegrass fiddling at Fiddle Hell where he taught a bluegrass tune by ear and
then passed out the music. Saul and others felt the workshop in 2009 was
excellent. He plays with the Boston based “Reunion Band” and you can
listen to a couple of selections on YouTube (eg. “Norumbega Waltz”,and the
fiddle solo on “Say you won’t be mine”).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5DKWveBlU8 Art plays some hot licks on 'Sugar in the Gourd'
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Suggestion #5
David Kaynor is a nationally known fiddle and dance teacher who often plays for contra dances as
well as teaches fiddle workshops. His home base is in Montague, Massachusetts, (hence a
tune which many have heard called "Montague Processional") - David has a series of fiddle
lessons online at the website 'Expert Village' via YouTUbe
...here is one of them Fiddle Intro by David Kaynor
His own website is at www.davidkaynor.com
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waiting for your suggestion!
Please talk to Saul at a QCF session, or email any suggestions for Workshop leaders or topics... we will post them here...
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