NEFS 2026 Block 6: Nov/Dec 2026

NEFS 2026 Block 6 Online will run from Wednesday 4th November to 2nd December. Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith will be teaching live on Zoom, and we are delighted to welcome back Sophy Ball who will join us for another Wednesday evening Zoom call. We will be focusing on fiddle practice and techniques in the first half of each meeting, and learning tunes together to build up our shared repertoire in the second half.

The Online block runs for five weeks, with live Zoom calls on Wednesday evenings. These are also available as recordings on-demand, and there are video tutorials published weekly for you to work through at your own pace.

Our Saturday workshop will take place as part of our NEFS Winter Residential 2026 on 4th – 6th December at Shepherds Dene, Northumberland. This event is fully booked, but please get in touch to go on the waiting list.

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NEFS 2026 Block 6 Online – Zoom calls and Video Tutorials
with Stewart Hardy, Grace Smith and Sophy Ball on Zoom, plus two detailed video tutorials.
Weds 4th November – Weds 2nd December
£80

• 5 week course of fully-online fiddle tuition, accessible on Zoom and YouTube from anywhere and at any time, with Stewart Hardy, Grace Smith and Sophy Ball
• Two in-depth Video Tutorial series, which include elements of technique or a tune taught by the phrase with a detailed look at bowing, ornamentation or stylistic interpretation.
• Wednesday evening live Zoom calls, including Fiddle Practice and Tune Learning in the Zoom workshop, plus we play through previous tunes which form our core repertoire.
• Recordings of all Zoom calls available for catch-up on demand.

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Details of the Online Block option:

Fiddle Practice Calls are available to all participants on a Wednesday evening (7.00 – 7.45 pm). These are held on Zoom and are an extra, regular way to practice along with learning the tunes in the video tutorials. They are a chance to play along with a tutor-led practice session, giving you 40 minutes of fiddle practice and ideas to take away for your own practice. There is also a Tune Surgery Q&A event which is held from Week 2 onwards at 6.45 pm (before the Fiddle Practice Call) to address any questions raised from the video tutorials, or fiddle playing in general. A recording of every call will be available on YouTube, and is included in the cost.

The Live Teaching calls will be on a Wednesday evening following the Fiddle Practice Call, running from 7.50 – 8.30 pm for the 5 weeks. These will focus on core repertoire using fundamental fiddle techniques, and will aim to be accessible to all from competent beginners upwards. This will include revision of the tunes previously taught, with full resources and recordings of past calls provided for those new to the Live Teaching element. There will also be new tunes to add to your core repertoire, taught by ear with full supporting resources available. Recordings of the Live Teaching calls will be available each week if you miss one, have technical difficulties, or prefer to work from YouTube and not Zoom.

All course materials are provided via your NEFS account webpage. Worksheets (pdf files) and audio files (mp3 files) are available to view/listen online or download. Video Tutorials and Recordings of live calls are provided as links to unlisted YouTube videos. New resources will be added each week, and then all materials will be available for you to access in your own time for as long as you need them.

NEFS workshops are aimed at improving fiddle players, and are not suitable for absolute beginners. We aim to introduce tunes that are accessible for a wide range of players (from Level 2, those able to play a simple tune steadily – see the Ability Level Guide for reference) for the melody and bowing suggestions. We then explore the tunes in greater stylistic detail and with suggestions for ornamentation for Level 3 players.

Please use the contact form if you have any queries. Payment (by bank transfer, cheque or PayPal) is required to confirm all bookings and can be selected through the Shop. Details for bank transfers and cheque payments will be sent to you after the booking is made.