My primary goal is to demystify the fiddle for you. While bluegrass fiddle can seem incredibly difficult, fast, and daunting, there are many viable methods you can follow to make your learning process logical, streamlined, fun, and creative.
We won’t try to define bluegrass fiddle – It’s not possible or necessary. Instead, we will examine some of the most influential sounds and players. We will explore the merging of traditional bluegrass fiddlers (Howdy Forrester, Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, Benny Martin etc.) with modern sounds (Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan and YOU!) and in the process, help you merge your original voice with stylistically informed playing and creative improvisation techniques.
I love double stops! In this class we will workshop movable double stop intervals through chord progressions in several keys and apply this amazing sound to your playing both as a soloist and accompanist.
Speaking of accompaniment, though we looove to be the center of attention, the fiddle is uniquely suited to be an accompanying instrument. This has become my favorite part of playing the fiddle. We’ll develop various techniques and concepts that apply to your fiddling and elevate your contribution to any group. This is as important as any element of bluegrass and the best players play the best backup! You’re only ever soloing about 15% of the time, and backing others up is as rewarding as a great solo break…
In addition to the musical elements of bluegrass fiddle, we will explore how to develop efficient and productive home practice routines to maintain your trajectory of musical growth beyond camp. Balancing technical with creative practice and identifying weak areas in your playing can be a challenge. In this class, we’ll talk about how you can create your own customized and ever-evolving system of practice and time management in order to maximize the effectiveness of your precious practice time… while also having more fun!
We will balance our class time between learning new repertoire, exploring creative methods of improvisation, establishing logical practice routines, and class discussions. Be sure to bring a recording device and a pad of paper and pen as I teach mostly by ear. I’ll also provide a playlist of musical examples as we go.
Most importantly, BRING QUESTIONS! I find the most productive classes often start with a simple question. See you soon!
