WORKSHOPS
Click here for a schedule. Descriptions below.
Fiddle: Fiddling with Other Fiddlers (Intermediate to Advanced)
How do you play with another fiddler? What do you do in a jam when a fiddler is leading a tune you don’t know? We will cover some basic rhythmic bowing patterns, chording and harmony, matching styles, and picking up a tune on the fly.
Led by Jennifer Wilkin and Becca Wintle
Jennifer Wilkin is a NYC-based fiddler and harmony singer. She leads biweekly old time jams in NYC, as well as teaches workshops and private fiddle lessons online and in person. She performs regularly with Red Aces, a NYC-based band.
Becca Wintle is a musician and music therapist. She plays fiddle, guitar, and sings, and has played with bands such as The Farwells and a UK-based string-band The Waggonhoppers. She has taught at music camps and privately for over 7 years and gained a reputation for her patient and clear teaching style and her emphasis on old-time bowing technique.
Banjo: Flexible and Fancy (Advanced Beginner / Intermediate)
Learn to insert hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides and more into a clawhammer tune for endless variations on the fly. The tune we learn will be Ida Red. This workshop is helpful for improving jamming skills and loosening up.
Led by Maggie Shar, clawhammer banjo player, performer, and teacher. Maggie has been playing clawhammer banjo for nearly two decades. Her unique syncopated, expressive style has earned her 1st place in the 2018 Northeast Fiddler’s Convention Banjo Contest, 1st place at the 2018 Oldtone Roots Festival Banjo Contest, and 3rd place in the 2022 Online Old-time banjo contest. She performs regularly with The Ephemeral Stringband and The Moon Shells. She is also co-founder of Little Roots, a popular early childhood music program and band. Maggie teaches private and group banjo lessons in person, at camps, and online to banjo players of all ages around the world.
Guitar: The workshop will cover I-IV-V chord progressions, some bass runs, and playing a few tunes with fiddle and bass!
Led by Vicky Boulay: Vicky caught the old time bug in the ’90s and still enjoys playing old time music.
Flatfooting: A crash course on flatfooting fundamentals, and how to build on them!
Led by Sophie Wellington: Sophie Wellington is a Boston-based multi-instrumentalist and percussive dancer. Her work is influenced by an upbringing in traditional music communities, along with her education in vocal jazz performance from Berklee College of Music. She loves to share her unique dancing style, and is inspired to help others develop their sound through curated and thoughtful guidance.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION AND JAM
“Some Real American Music” – The Gribble, Lusk & York Black String Band of Warren County, TN
Led by Linda Henry and friends
Gribble, Lusk, and York, a rural Black string band from Tennessee, was part of the American cultural fabric in the Appalachian Cumberland Plateau throughout the first half of the 20th century. As part of her Master’s project from UMass Boston, old-time fiddler Linda L. Henry maps out the local culture surrounding these musicians, a culture that moved from slavery, to sharecropping and tenant farming, and to street performing, a culture that necessarily included the politics of survival. Please join us following the presentation for a group jam of Gribble, Lusk & York tunes!
COMMUNITY JAMS
Slow Jam – Tunes in G: Laura Murawski
Tunes in D: TBA
Tunes in C: Marge Sume and Tony Sume
Tunes in A: Jenny Monfore and Chris Hollis
“Hidden Gems of Mississippi” fiddle tunes: Harry Bolick and Jacques DiCroce
In addition to well known tunes from Mississippi, Harry will share jam friendly but lesser or unknown tunes from his years of research into tunes from Mississippi. Open to all levels and instruments.
SWING JAM: Lloyd Graves and friends
SUNDAY SING: A’yen Tran and friends
Community open sing-along for all. You’ll hear traditional, country, gospel, and secular, accompanied and unaccompanied songs. Bring a song that a group can sing along to – voices and instruments welcome. All faiths or no faith welcome!