STRINGS AT WITNEY2nd - 3rd February 2008
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PETE COOPER teaches, plays, composes, and writes about fiddle music. He sings and plays contemporary English roots fiddle music in the duo Cooper & Bolton, who’ve made two CDs, The Savage Hornpipe and Turning Point. He’s also a member of Anglo-Appalachian trio Rattle On The Stovepipe - CD Eight More Miles. Pete’s currently available book/CDs are English Fiddle Tunes and Irish Fiddle Solos (Schott) and The Complete Irish Fiddle Player (Mel Bay). Pete leads regular fiddle classes at his London Fiddle School based at Cecil Sharp House. For full biog & more go to www.petecooper.com.
GAVIN DAVENPORT is a musician and qualified teacher who plays (amongst other things) acoustic and electric guitar, cittern and mandolin and sings and performs regularly with the folk groups Crucible and Hekety and folk metal band The Glorystrokes. He’s played and taught all over the UK, Canada and Europe and has performed with everyone from Peter Kennedy to Bellowhead. As well as writing original songs which are being performed by folk performers like Keith Kendrick, Dave Webber and Anni Fentiman he also manages to find time to dance with the traditional Grenoside Sword Dancers and is the editor of respected folk magazine “Stirrings”.
CAROLYN FRANCES began playing violin aged 8. On leaving home at 17, she discovered her musical home in traditional fiddle music, which she has now been playing for over 25 years. She has explored a variety of styles and traditions over the years, including Irish, Old Timey American, Shetland, and more recently the hidden tradition of Lakeland fiddling, working mainly from various tune manuscripts left by fiddlers over the last 250 years.Recently, she has learnt to play the Border Bagpipes. Founder of Lakeland Fiddlers Community Fiddle Band in May 2000, she is a passionate and experienced workshop leader specializing in Lakeland and North-West English fiddle music.She also runs a fiddle group for children at her local school in Dent. Carolyn also performs with dance band Striding Edge, storyteller Taffy Thomas M.B.E., (combining Lakeland stories and tunes), Collaborators Puppet Theatre and supremo N.W. clog dancer Alex Fisher. Contact: carolyn@striding-edge.org
CHRIS HAIGH is an experienced and highly versatile fiddle player who has worked with artists as diverse as Alison Moyet, All about Eve, Riverdance, Oumou Sangare and Zumzeaux. He is a prolific composer, and his music is used worldwide on film and TV.He has written two books on fiddle music, and is the founder of the highly ambitious “Soviet Swing” band, The Kremlinaires.
Immersed as an enthusiastic young musician in the thriving mid seventies Leeds Irish Music scene, Leeds based fiddle player DES HURLEY is regarded as one of the most influential and respected traditional Irish musicians of his generation. Despite reluctance to record commercially, through informal recordings, sessions and workshops, his controlled, rhythmic and melodic style has influenced many Irish traditional musicians globally. To many enthusiasts of traditional Irish Music his reputation has remained enigmatic. Recently Des was persuaded to put down some very informal and impromptu tracks which can be viewed at www.youtube.com.
GILL REDMOND Have you played to the sheep on Maiden Castle? Do you enjoy searching out a remote barn or village hall and thumping out a bass to English dance music, with some celtic & continental tunes thrown in? Do you love to weave harmonies around songs and tunes? Gill has done all this & more with her ‘cello. In Britain and abroad Gill has worked with Endangered Species, Dave Townsend, The Mellstock Band, Sarah Matthews, various dance bands including Peeping Tom, Felicity Paterson & Goran Premberg.
Raised in the northeast, EMMA REED has been playing the fiddle since the age of three. She is now a sought-after performer and teacher in Britain, the USA and Sweden, where she is currently based. Emma is a truly natural fiddle player, with a deeply personal style and a real ability to speak through her fiddle. She has a performance degree in Swedish folk music and a Master of Music from Newcastle University. As well as performing solo Emma collaborates with Robert Harbron and is a member of the groups Methera, The Bezzas and Ditt Ditt Darium.
DAVE TOWNSEND performs solo and with various groups, including The Mellstock Band and The Lost Chord. He has played fiddle in The Mellstock Band and for local morris sides for many years, and is a tireless supporter of the neglected area of English fiddle style. He is better-known for his formidable technique and unique style on English concertina, which forms another part of his wide-ranging activities, including music for television, film and theatre, as well as recording, composition and research. He is the director of Hands On Music Weekends.
SATURDAY COURSE UNITS:
A1 - Pete Cooper – Fiddling Together
If you know your way round the violin and you’re just beginning to move into fiddle playing, here’s how to get started on playing tunes together, in harmony, with some ear learning. We’ll learn some simple tunes (mainly English), as well as chords and rhythm patterns, to create an exciting Fiddle Band.
[Level B/I]
A2 - Gavin Davenport – Cittern & Guitar for Accompaniment
Arranging and improvising accompaniment from session tunes to dance tunes and everything in between - there will be a tame box-player for you to practice on!
[Level B/I/H]
[Gavin plays in an open Csus2 tuning (CGCgcd) on guitar and cittern (GCgcd) and unusually favours the use of a plectrum in open tunings. The tuning is perfectly suited to accompaniment of songs and tunes as well as melodic lead/tune playing and Gavin’s approach allows players of all levels to quickly free themselves up to intuitive and driving accompaniments and find new ideas for performing and arranging melodies.]
A3 – Carolyn Frances – Re-Tune Your Fiddle!
Lots of fiddle traditions use alternative fiddle tunings, and Carolyn will introduce you to some of the English repertoire for different tunings, and some of the border pipes tunes which come alive on the fiddle when the strings are re-tuned.
[Level I/H]
A4 - Chris Haigh – Western Swing
Wild harmonies and wonderful rhythms from America for fiddles and other strings – bass, cello, mandolin and guitar are all welcome.
[Level I/H]
A5 - Des Hurley – Introduction to Irish Fiddle Playing
Understanding the rhythms, ornamentation and repertoire of the Irish fiddle tradition.
[Level B/I]
A6 - Gill Redmond – Dancing Cellos
How to use the Cello for dance accompaniment – on its own, with other instruments, in a band.
[Level B/I/H]
A7 - Emma Reed – Fiddling for Dancing
How can a solo fiddle fill a dance hall? How can a bow move feet? Using both English and Swedish tunes and focusing on swing, tone and bowing, we will look for answers to these questions.
[Level I/H]
SUNDAY COURSE UNITS:
B1 – Pete Cooper – East European Band
We’ll create some tight band arrangements, using stirring melodies from Pete’s new book, Eastern European Fiddle Tunes. Fiddles, violas, cellos, double bass and other instruments welcome.
[Level I/H]
B2 - Gavin Davenport – Tunes for Cittern & Guitar
Tune repertoire and technique (learning by ear, but will provide the dots) with a focus on British Isles tunes including English.
[Level B/I/H]
[Gavin plays in an open Csus2 tuning (CGCgcd) on guitar and cittern (GCgcd) and unusually favours the use of a plectrum in open tunings. The tuning is perfectly suited to accompaniment of songs and tunes as well as melodic lead/tune playing and Gavin’s approach allows players of all levels to quickly free themselves up to intuitive and driving accompaniments and find new ideas for performing and arranging melodies.]
B3 – Carolyn Frances - Lakeland Fiddle Music
How to play the exciting repertoire of music from the Lake District with energy and style.
[Level I/H]
B4 - Chris Haigh – Playing the Blues
Making the Blues come to life on the violin. You can!
[Level I/H]
B5 - Des Hurley – Playing Irish Fiddle Music
Style and technique, for those with some experience of playing Irish music on the fiddle.
[Level I/H]
B6 - Gill Redmond & Dave Townsend – Making a Dance Band
How to create accompaniments and arrangements for dancing. (This is The Sunday Band and is suitable for other instruments as well as strings of every kind)
[Level B/I/H]
B7 - Emma Reed - Polskas, Polskas, Polskas: Introducing Swedish Fiddle Music
The polska is by far the most predominant social dance form on the Swedish folk scene. There are as many variations to the polska as there are villages in Sweden, and the music reflects that. We will look at several different kinds of polska and discover what makes them so fascinating.
[Level B/I/H]
