Improv Basics
Instructor: Barry Saunders
All levels, All Instruments
This class will go over some of the fun ways to get your feet wet and create your own sounds! We will cover creative improv games and getting through the tinge of anxiety that can be there for some. We will also cover community improv and sharing the joy of music.
Guitar backing skills and techniques
Instructor: Matt Shipman
Backing up tunes in a session or in a band can really help lift the music. In this workshop we will work on skills to help us be a better backer of tunes. We will go over right hand technique in various time signatures such as 6/8, 9/8, 4/4 and waltz time.READ MORE
Step Dancing
Instructor: Mac Morin, Wendy MacIsaac, Mairi Rankin
All Levels; Dancing
Wendy, Mairi, and Mac are all accomplished step dancers. In Cape Breton it is common for people to learn steps as children and they are often interwoven with many other parts of the ceilidh culture. This dynamic team will take the pulse of the room and move forward to accommodate the group present. Basic steps will form the basis of this class and embellishments will branch out. Steps may include strathspey steps and reel steps. Last year routines were developed and in some classes live music was part of the fun.
Check our schedule matrix to see which classes each instructor is teaching.
Bring soft soled (not tap) dance shoes if you like. A water bottle will be welcomed, as well as layered clothing–you will break a sweat!
Step Dancing: The Inverness Square
Instructor: Wendy MacIsaac
You will learn how to make steps sound percussive to match the tunes and then apply them to the Inverness Square set you will also learn. You’ll leave being able to attend the next dance in Cape Breton with confidence!
Dance Leadership and Dance Calling
Instructor: Bill Olson
All Levels
There are few better ways of building a musical community than to start a local dance, either regular or occasional. We’re talking a community dance or “barn dance” where everyone is welcome regardless of age or experience. To make this happen in your community you need musicians, a place to do it, and most of all a dance leader to teach and call the dances. READ MORE
Demystifying the “Dots on the Page”
Instructor: Pam Weeks
All levels, All Instruments
Are you used to trying to figure tunes out by ear but have no idea how to read music notation? Or you can sort of use the ups and downs of the dots music to jog your memory of a tune, but there’s a lot you don’t really understand? We will start at the beginning of what it all means, with the goal of sending you home with the understanding and tools you need for practicing and improving your music reading skills!
Timing is Everything!
Instructor: Pam Weeks
All levels, All Instruments
A class to exercise our “rhythm muscles”. We’ll be clapping, tapping, stomping, strumming, drumming, creating polyrhythm with the whole class, learning how to entrain our bodies with the beat of the music. We will explore rhythmic notation, how to count accurately using subdivision, and how to translate that to our instruments.
Learning by Ear
Instructor: Pam Weeks
All levels, All Instruments
For folks who have been playing for a while but primarily from sheet music. Folk music is, at heart, an oral tradition, and it’s important to become comfortable learning by ear. This class will break down and de-mystify the process!
Tune Writing
Instructor: Pam Weeks
All levels, All Instruments
There’s a method to the madness of being creative that can give you greater success at writing your own music. We’ll take a little time analyzing common tune and chord structures, and and then spend the session brain-storming techniques to open up your creative well We’ll also check out alternatives to conventional music notation so you can remember what you’ve just composed!
Cajun Music
Instructor: Pam Weeks; Bill Olson
In 1755 French people were expelled from Canada when the English gained control of Quebec and New Brunswick. Those who settled in SW Louisiana are the source of the vibrant, passionate Cajun music of today. We’ll learn a Cajun two-step and/or waltz and how to “second” (chordal accompaniment), concentrating on the markers that separate this music from other fiddling styles.
Sacred Fiddle and Song
Led by: Pam Weeks; Bonnie Black; Joni Harms; Rob Flax; Fred White
All levels, All Instruments
How might we come together as instrumentalists and singers of all levels of playing and singing ability, and of experience in this form of music, and then ply them all together in a grand chorus of gratitude, praise and lamentation? This session will attempt to answer this question by an active involvement in that direction. One hoped-for outcome would be a sense of the possibility of organizing similar gatherings at home, as might meet the needs of the local community.
Creativity in Music
Instructor: Rob Flax
All levels, All Instruments
The most direct way to foster “creativity” is through “creating!” This workshop is designed to foster courage for improvisation and composition using the abstract musical structures fiddlers already know, and encourages participants to embrace simple constraints as strategies for inspiration. When creating new music there are no answers, only better questions.
Jazz Fiddle: Where To Begin
Instructor: Rob Flax
All levels, Fiddle
This class focuses on unpacking the underlying structure of the jazz standard “Ja-Da,” a simple melody from the pre-bop era, which features a ii-V-I progression that pops up in thousands of jazz tunes (and many other places).
Tunes
Ja Da, by Bob Carlton (1918), as performed by the legendary jazz violinist Stuff Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=S9WM0W-pQSg
Improve Your Improv: Building More Compelling Solos
Instructor: Rob Flax
All Instruments
Multi-instrumentalist Rob Flax has a Masters degree in Contemporary Improvisation (“C.I.”), from the New England Conservatory, and in this workshop he shares secrets and insights from the C.I. program plus concepts developed over many years of performance. Participants will focus on deconstructing what makes a solo “compelling,” learning compositional strategies and exploring the importance of the human voice to craft better solos. Each participant will also have the opportunity to take a solo and receive feedback, masterclass style (but this is not required to participate!)
Using Pedals with Bowed Strings
Instructor: Rob Flax
All Instruments
The violin family of instruments has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, a feat unmatched in any other realm of technology. But with the advent of instrument amplification the modern string player has access to a whole new world of sound possibilities.READ MORE
Play faster – sound better
Instructor: Elaine Malkin
All levels, All Instruments
This is a hands-on workshop on improving technique for both hands, tone and intonation tips, and fiddler tricks to make a tune come alive.
Learn a Québécois tune with the traditional style and ornaments
Instructor: Elaine Malkin
We will learn a tune from Quebec with the traditional style and ornaments.
Share your music in your community
Instructor: Elaine Malkin
I will teach choosing the repertoire, how to begin a tune strongly, and how to deal with any difficulty that might arise.READ MORE
Playing in a small ensemble
Instructors: Matt Shipman; Elaine Malkin; Erica Brown; Neil Pearlman
All levels, All Instruments
In this workshop we will work on the elements of playing with others in a small ensemble. Working with instruments different than your own is a great way to expand your musicianship and listening skills. We will work on arrangements, medleys and harmony.READ MORE
Sound equipment
Instructor: Bill Olson
All Levels
Sound amplification is often needed for a concert or a dance, maybe to play for a large audience, or a noisy one (like at a dance). Or maybe for ensemble playing, with instruments that project differently (A mountain dulcimer tuba ensemble comes to mind.) There’s SO MUCH gear out there. New, used, big, small expensive, cheap…yikes. Where do you begin and what do you really need? We’ll try to dispel some myths and point you in the right direction.