2025 Block 3 Saturday

2025 Block 3 – Saturday Workshop

This full-day fiddle workshop on Saturday 17th May with Stewart Hardy and Grace Smith will contain four different teaching sessions containing in-depth, high-quality fiddle tuition. There will be three mixed-ability workshops and the chance to join in with a tutor-guided session.

Materials

Follow Up Materials

Video of Grace’s Groove Pattern:

Introduction to Snake Bowing from Stewart:

Pulse Bowing – from Grace

Simple Shuffle – from Stewart

An example of a Drum Loop Groove Track for practising rhythmic grooves to:

Stewart has also shared his Dropbox folder of useful percussion rhythms in different grooves and at different speeds, so you can practice rhythmic grooves or tunes along to these:

Rhythms

Advance Materials

These are the resources for the Saturday Workshop for you to have a listen to the tune and print or save the notation.

Slängpolska efter Byss-Calle #32 – Notation (pdf)

Audio (mp3)

Slängpolska efter Byss-Calle #32 – zip file

The Drummer – Notation (pdf)

Audio (mp3)

The Drummer – zip file

Session

The session element of the day will include tunes from our Live Teaching repertoire. If you have previous versions printed, you may only need the end pages from each, and you can choose the bowed or non-bowed version, you don’t need both. The Tune Sets document has the tunes that we play together on the same page.

Latest NEFS Live Tunes updates:

There are harmony lines for some of our Live Tune if you want to try them, just for fun!

For full notation and audio files of all previous Live Tunes, and Zoom call recordings of the Live Teaching calls, please see the web page:

Tunes we will play

If you are fairly new to our session material, here is a list of a few tunes/sets that we will definitely play, so this will be a good place to start. You’ll find all the tunes either in the Live Tunes document, or in the list of resources above.

  • Mona’s Delight / Jacob (Live Tunes Sets p. 9)
  • La Planète (Live Tunes p.20)
  • Tobin’s Favourite (Live Tunes p.20)
  • Josefin’s Dopvals (Live Tunes p.17)
  • Gilsland Hornpipe (Live Tunes p.17)

Details

Saturday 17th May
10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Wylam Methodist Church, Chapel Lane, Wylam NE41 8AA

Please arrive from 9.45 am for a 10.00 am start.

  • 10:00 – 11:15 : Workshop 1
  • 11:15 – 11:45 : Morning break
  • 11:45 – 13:00 : Workshop 2
  • 13:00 – 14:00 : Lunch
  • 14:00 – 15:15 : Workshop 3
  • 15:15 – 15:45 : Afternoon break
  • 15:45 – 17:00 : Session

You will need to bring all of your own equipment, including a music stand if you wish to use one.

Lunch is not included, so please bring a packed lunch, or there is a tea shop, a pub and a Spar a couple of minutes walk away. There will be a one hour break for lunch.

Tea and coffee will be provided during the morning and afternoon breaks (please advise us of any dietary requirements).

Travel

There is a small car park at the Methodist Church, or please park with consideration in the surrounding residential streets. Wylam Station is well connected by train (about 30 mins from Newcastle Central Station or 20 mins from Hexham Station) and is 10-15 mins walk away, or catch the X84 bus from Eldon Square (35 mins via West Road, or 52 mins from Hexham). If you would like a lift from the station, please ask and we will ask around.

COVID-Secure Guidelines

We will run the workshop with care and consideration for all. If you feel at all unwell, we ask that you take a lateral flow test before travelling, and do not attend if you get a positive result or think your illness might be contagious. Please continue to wash or sanitise your hands regularly and thoroughly, maintain a safe distance and bring an extra layer of clothing in case ventilation leaves the room slightly chilly.

By attending an in-person event organised by NEFS, you agree to follow any COVID-secure Workshop Guidelines in place, and any further reasonable requests made by the venue, the Tutors or Directors to keep the group safe and all attendees feeling as comfortable as possible.