We are really pleased to welcome three of our Annual Weekend tutors for these online workshops this Spring.
- Carmen Amrein – Hammered Dulcimer (Germany)
- Heidi Muller – Mountain Dulcimer (USA)
- Ruth Smith (USA) – Hammered Dulcimer (USA)
Our fourth main tutor, Kara Barnard (USA) is busy at this time but we hope to do something similar with her a bit later in the year.
The event offers a chance to take classes online with our tutors who are coming in person this October to our annual weekend. If you can’t attend in October or just want a sneak preview of his classes and his approach, this event gives you the perfect opportunity. And while the classes will provide a firm foundation to some of the things covered in October, they are not a pre-requisite and are designed to complement (not duplicate) our October weekend classes. The cost is £20 per workshop and there are two levels of workshop on offer from each tutor.
In addition there are two evening concerts open to all, whether or not you attend the workshops. Entry is free but we hope you will send our performers a tip!
We hope to see you there!
Schedule
Each workshop runs for approximately 2 hours with a short break about half-way through. The workshops run over two consecutive weekends.
Saturday 21st March with Ruth Smith on Hammered Dulcimer
Workshop 1: 14:00 – 16:00 GMT (9am – 11am EST) The Melody and More! – “Liberty” (Advanced Beginners), Cost £20.
A fun and popular fiddle tune to play, this is a “must know” tune because you’ll end up playing this in many sessions! Not only will you learn the melody, but we’ll focus on understanding the fundamentals of chords, how you can find and play them on your instrument, and how to play along with others when you don’t even know the tune!
16:00 – 16:30 GMT Break
Workshop 2: 16:30 – 18:30 GMT (11:30am-1:30pm EST) – Joyful “Jessie Mae” (Intermediate), Cost £20.
A tune that will make you glad you play the hammered dulcimer, this is such a happy tune and just plain fun to play! We’ll focus on getting your hands to better cooperate and coordinate with each, playing patterns, shapes and arpeggios. You’ll feel like you’re dancing on the strings while learning skills that will help you arrange other music. Listen here: https://steveandruth.com/a-good-life-cd-or-download, Track 10.
18:30 – 19:30 GMT Break
19:30 – 20:00 GMT Evening Concert with Ruth and Steve Smith. Free, with tip jar.
Our evening concert features our tutor Ruth Smith with her husband Steve. Everyone is welcome to come and listen, and there will be a tip-jar which directly goes to Ruth and Steve. Ruth and Steve will play a selection of non-copyright material.
Saturday 28th March with Heidi Muller on Mountain Dulcimer
Workshop 3: 15:00 – 17:00 GMT (8-10am PDT) – Fiddle Tunes with Easy Chords – (Advanced beginner to intermediate), Cost £20.
Come learn several popular jam tunes in chord-melody style in the key of D. We’ll see how easy backup chords fill out the sound and provide harmony by adding another finger to the fretboard, and in one case, branching out into barre chords. Learn how to trade off fingers on the melody as we explore smooth chord fingerings. Tunes will include “Hangman’s Reel,” “Mississippi Sawyer,” and more.
17:00 – 17:30 GMT Break
Workshop 4: 17:30 – 19:30 GMT (10.30-12.30 PDT) – Build speed and expression with hammers, pull offs and slides (Intermediate and above), Cost £20.
Let’s explore how to play fiddle tunes faster and make our slower tunes flow more gracefully with hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides. We’ll look at proper timing and form and see how they can help us play more smoothly on “Over the Waterfall,“ “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” “The Ash Grove,” and “Maiden Lane.”
Heidi will do a joint concert with Carmen Amrein on Sunday 29th March.
Sunday 29th March with Carmen Amrein on Hammered Dulcimer
Clocks go forward on Sunday morning, so now we are on British Summer Time (BST).
Workshop 5: 14:00 – 16:00 BST (3pm-5pm CST) – Arpeggios (rolls) and pizzicato and stunning baroque Minuets – (Advanced Beginner), Cost £20.
We’ll take a step back in time and explore arpeggios, the rolls of baroque music and the pizzicato technique. Mastering beautiful baroque Minuets from 18th Century Spain and Italy. The Minuets were composed for the original baroque Hammered Dulcimer called “Salterio”.
16:00 – 16:30 BST Break
Workshop 6: 16:30 – 18:30 BST (5:30-7:30 CST) – Mexican music fun and glissandi (Intermediate), Cost £20.
Let’s have our hammers ready to explore the inspiring tradition of Mexican music on the HD! Adapting “El Pájaro Chogüi”, the waltz “La Culebra” and get masters in playing glissandi with the (German) opening Theme of Warner Bros. Speedy Gonzales. „¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!“, as Speedy Gonzales (the fastest mouse in all Mexico) would say.
18:30 – 19:30 BST Break
19:30 – 20:30 BST Evening Concert with Carmen Amrein and and Heidi Muller. Free, with tip jars.
If you would just like to attend the concert, please note we will be sending out the concert links to ALL Nonsuch members as well as workshop attendees, in case they would like to attend. If you are not a member (and not booking for one or more of the workshops) you are still very welcome, so please email us for a link.
All workshop sessions will be recorded so that anyone who cannot attend in person can still sign up and enjoy the workshop at a time that suits them.
Practicalities & Booking
All those who register will be sent information about the Zoom links by email before the workshops, with Meeting ID, Password, and helpful tips about how to participate if you have not used Zoom before.
Please note that registration fees for these workshops are non-refundable. If you have made a booking error in the workshop that you have chosen and wish to correct it, please contact the event organisers as soon as possible.