ISSY EMENEY
A1 - Developing the Bass End
B1 - Fitting in the Basses
BRIAN PETERS
A3 - Biting the bullet in the key of D
B3 - Playing the Blues
SAUL ROSE
A5 – New Horizons
B5 - Playing for Dancing
JEANNIE HARRIS
A2 – One-Row Techniques
B2 – Round the World
LIAM ROBINSON
A4 - Getting it together
B4 – Same Row, Different Keys
Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
TUTORS
ISSY EMENEY. Inspired to take up the box by the playing of Norfolk squeezer Tony Hall, ISSY EMENEY has developed a unique sound and style that is renowned for its sensitivity. She plays mostly her own compositions, many of which are atmospheric and evocative, and is also gaining a reputation as a fine songwriter and accompanist. She is an experienced and popular tutor at festivals, as well as teaching one-to-one, and runs regular courses in the Somerset area where she lives. Issy plays in a trio with husband David and cellist Kate Riaz, and they have a new album of songs and tunes, Legends & Lovers, on the WildGoose label. She has worked recently with the BBC as traditional music and melodeon consultant.
JEANNIE HARRIS has been playing one-row melodeon since the early 70s after becoming a pivotal member of the folk- group Magic Lantern (under the name Madame Carrots!). During this period she played and sang alongside the likes of Oscar Woods, Cyril Poacher and a host of other Suffolk luminaries. She was a founder member of the original Old Hat Dance Band before leaving to live in Scotland for a number of years. Upon returning to East Anglia she joined forces with Katie Howson to form a duo and later they also played together in the reinvented 'Old Hat' band. At present she is a member of the all-star ceilidh band PolkaWorks. Her day-to-day life is spent teaching music in special education and as a practising Music Therapist.
BRIAN PETERS has been a professional musician and teacher for over twenty years, using the melodeon in a variety of styles including Northern English dance music and accompaniments for traditional folk songs. He’s also played in blues and rock’n’roll bands, dabbled in other styles such as Tex-Mex, and composed a body of original tunes. Brian is a regular tutor at Witney and has worked for the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust, Folkworks, the Australian National Folk Festival masterclasses, the Carrefour Mondiale de l’Accordeon in Quebec, and numerous trekharmonika workshops in the Netherlands, as well as giving countless UK festival workshops.
“Grand dance music in the English style…. Peters’ crisp, clean playing is a real joy…. a master technician.”
The Living Tradition
Website: www.brian-peters.co.uk
LIAM ROBINSON is a musician, singer, educator and organiser. He is based in Lincolnshire but works throughout the UK and has appeared in North America and a host of European countries. He plays Melodeon and Concertina as well as singing, calling dances and leading workshops. Liam’s primary interest is in the music and songs of Lincolnshire and he has recently released a CD of songs from Lincolnshire and the East Coast. Liam’s knowledge and enthusiasm, as well as his desire to get people involved, have helped him build up a great reputation in all he does.
He currently plays and calls with his own trio and with English Compass with Roger Watson, Gareth Kiddier and Tim Walker. Liam organises regular music and dance events in Lincoln, is the organiser of the annual Lincoln Morris Festival and is currently working on a research project about regular community dance events entitled “Dancing the Small Halls”. He still manages to find time to bring traditional music, dance and song to schools and community groups through the Mini Morris Company.
To find out more about Liam you can visit www.minimorris.co.uk or www.myspace.com/liamrobinsonlincs
SAUL ROSE – “As for me, I've been playing for 26 years, I've played for every type of morris or ritual dance that England has within its tradition, played in ceilidhs and concerts and been a professional musician for 16 years (on and off). I'm currently playing with Whapweasel, Random, Dansaul, Faustus, Jim Moray Band, Ruth Notman, Eliza Carthy and quite often other people too. I was nominated for musician of the year in this year’s folk awards.”
www.saulrose.co.uk
Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
SATURDAY COURSE UNITS
A1 ISSY EMENEY - Developing the Bass End
Some new and adventurous ideas to pep up your left hand
(Level – Intermediate/Higher)
A2 JEANNIE HARRIS – One-Row Techniques
Working mainly with East Anglian tunes, concentrating on how to achieve that unique “rumpy-pumpy” style, and the all-important use of informed fingering, to discover how to put flesh onto the skeleton of a tune. For one-row melodeons in D or the D row of a G/D melodeon.
(Level – Basic/Intermediate)
A3 BRIAN PETERS - Biting the bullet in the key of D
The key of D works differently from that of G, and even the simple three-chord trick requires some specialized fingering. It's tempting to be lazy, and bodge the chording - here's your chance to learn to do it properly.
(Level – Basic/Intermediate)
A4 LIAM ROBINSON - Getting it together
This unit is designed for basic players and looks at simple ways to improve the quality of playing using lots of simple ideas and techniques. It will cover getting the bass rhythms working better with the treble side, using more chords, simple decoration for tunes and getting more lift and rhythm into our music.
(Level – Basic)
A5 SAUL ROSE – New Horizons
Getting the best out of the melodeon - there's always a killer bass line or an unusual key to change to. A look at technique and control of the instrument to open it up to new horizons...
(Level – Intermediate/Higher)
Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
SUNDAY COURSE UNITS
B1 ISSY EMENEY - Fitting in the Basses
Pinning down the basics with exercises, tips and tunes to establish chords, vamps, bellows control, and how the right and left hands work together.
(Level – Basic)
B2 JEANNIE HARRIS – Round the World
Garnering tunes from other cultures and applying a little ‘English’ magic to them. We’ll look at tunes from Australia, Italy, America and ……..! - ways we can adapt them for dancing and also purely for the fun of playing them.
(Level – Basic/Intermediate/Higher)
B3 BRIAN PETERS - Playing the Blues
The melodeon lends itself surprisingly well to blues music. Here we look at some classic licks with which to build a solo in a band context, and also at accompanying a song or two.
(Level – Intermediate/Higher)
B4 LIAM ROBINSON – Same Row, Different Keys
This workshop will look at techniques for playing outside the home key of a one row melodeon. Using well-known tunes we will look at how to play in 3 major keys and two minor keys. We will also go on to examine the impact of this technique on two row melodeon playing. Suitable for D one-row melodeon or D/G two-row melodeon.
(Level – Intermediate/Higher)
B5 SAUL ROSE - Playing for Dancing
Whether this be Cotswold, border or northwest morris, rapper, step-clogging or ceilidh, the melodeon is king. We can tweak what we play to improve the experience for the dancer and the audience. And ourselves!
(Level – Basic/Intermediate)