We are really pleased to welcome Joe Collins for this online Mountain Dulcimer Workshop. Joe is a an experienced and popular tutor on the mountain dulcimer and has taught at many workshops and festivals throughout the USA.
His contributions to the dulcimer world include monthly free tabs available on his website for over twenty years, fifteen books of tablature, six CDs, hundreds of workshops, and a program for training dulcimer teachers. In addition to his teaching and performing, he has composed a good deal of original music for the dulcimer.
For more information about Joe, see: About Joe Collins.
The day offers a chance to take classes online with a tutor who is 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.
In addition there is a evening concert open to all, whether or not you attend the workshops. Entry is free but we hope you will send our performer a tip!
We hope to see you there!
Schedule of the day
All times are UK times (BST)
14:00 – 16:00 Workshop – Froggy Went A Chording! – (Advanced Beginner and above), Cost £20.
16:00 – 16:30 Break
16:30 – 18:30 Workshop – Driving Your Dulcimer Like You Mean It! (Lower Intermediate and above), Cost £20.
18:30 – 19:00 Break
19:00 – 19:30 Evening Concert with Joe Collins. Free, with tip jar.
Evening Concert
Our evening concert features our tutor Joe Collins. Everyone is welcome to come and listen, and there will be a tip-jar which directly goes to Joe. Joe will play a selection of non-copyright material.
19:00 – 19:30 Joe Collins – Free – with Tip Jar.
If you would just like to attend the concert, please note we will be sending out the concert link to ALL Nonsuch members, 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.
Workshop Descriptions
Joe Collins – Froggy Went a-Chording!
Time: 14:00 – 16:00 BST
A workshop to help you play chords effectively and efficiently. It covers both inverted and non-inverted chords and how to move from one to the other. Introduces plenty of exercises to help you be more consistent with chords. The workshop is a combination of two workshops Joe has been teaching for years: “Focusing on the Majors – aka “Untangling Those Fingers” and “Playing Upside Down.”.
All welcome, but this workshop is aimed at advanced beginner and above.
Joe Collins – Driving your Dulcimer Like You Mean It!
Time: 16:30 – 18:30 BST
The difference between good dulcimer players and great ones is usually found in what they do with the picking/strumming hand. The goal of this workshop is for you to develop skill and proficiency with that hand. We will try out patterns that you can begin incorporating into your playing immediately, but we will also work on exercises that you can continue doing long after the workshop is over.
All welcome, but this workshop is aimed at lower intermediate and above.
Both 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.