NORTH EAST FIDDLE SCHOOL

Five week course of virtual classes: Weds 24th Feb – Weds 24th March 2021

Online Resources covering technique and style for Levels 2 & 3 with tutors Stewart Hardy and Melissa Whitehead. Worksheets (pdf), audio files (mp3) and in-depth video tutorials (via YouTube) are provided for each of the tunes taught. The videos include exercises relevant to the tune, tuition of the tune by phrase so you can learn by ear if you choose, suggestions for bowing and ornamentation, and demonstrate of the style of each piece. On average, each tune will have over an hour of video content. Each level will have two tunes, one tune from each tutor.

Fiddle Practice calls will be held on Zoom on each Wednesday evening from 7.00 – 7.40 pm including a ‘Technical nugget’. These are a chance to play along with a tutor-led practice session, giving you 30 minutes of fiddle practice and ideas to take away for your own practice. These are an optional extra and aren’t integral to the video tutorial element of the course. A recording of each Fiddle Practice Call will be available on YouTube. There is a optional Live Teaching element to the course again this block. This will be on a Wednesday evening following the Fiddle Practice Call, running from 7.50 – 8.30 pm for the 5 weeks. This event will focus on Core Repertoire using fundamental fiddle techniques, and will be accessible to both Level 2 and 3 players. There will be new tunes to add to your session repertoire, plus some you may have learned in previous blocks at NEFS. Recordings of the Live Teaching event will be available each week if you miss one, have technical difficulties, or prefer to work from YouTube and not Zoom.

Registration for the block is £59 per person including the Live Teaching element, or £47 without (resources, video tutorials and Fiddle Practice Calls are included) Please email or use the contact form for with any queries. To book your place, please use the Online Booking Form. Absolute Beginners and Level 1 will resume when we can meet again face to face.  

In this block for Level 2, Melissa will be continuing the D minor/one flat theme with one of the great Scottish slow airs, Archibald Macdonald of Keppoch – a real stunner of a tune and a valuable addition to any musician’s repertoire. The great Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham famously recorded it on his solo CD ‘Fair Warning’ and it is a fabulous vehicle to reinforce the finger positions required for D minor. For Level 3, Melissa is bringing something more recent – one of Ed Reavy’s finest compositions, In Memory of Coleman. This tune is in G minor but requires no E-flats – an opportunity to expand the tonality available to us with these finger positions.
Stewart is bringing a very recently composed English jig to Level 2 – Stay at Home Jig by Becki Driscoll. She and her partner Nick Wyke are two of English music’s finest champions not only as performers but also teachers and composers. Apart from its unfortunate topicality, this tune is great for looking at English jig bowing patterns and NEFS is delighted to have the opportunity to introduce those who haven’t come across Becki and Nick to their music. Level 3 will be exploring the joys of the French-Canadian repertoire with a session favourite and Québécois classic commonly known as Old French Reel – loads of joyous energy and lots of fun to play.
The French-Canadian theme will continue into the Live Teaching with an opportunity to learn Rejean Brunet’s immensely popular jig Maison de Glace. and we will also revisit that English classic Bonny Kate.