Folk School of Chattanooga » Instruction

A visit from a great Irish fiddler

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:20:07 +0000

Deirdre Ní Chonghaile has arrived in Chattanooga, and will be teaching two Irish fiddle workshops on Saturday at the Folk School. The early workshop at 10am is for beginner/intermediate level, and the second workshop at 2pm is for intermediate/advanced players. Both will give students a chance to learn some Irish tunes and some of the ornamentation that gives Irish fiddling its distinctive sound. If you’d like to sign up for either (or both) of these workshops, give us a call at 423-827-8906. See our classes page for a full description.
Deirdre will also be joining in on the Irish session at the Tremont Tavern in North Chattanooga this Sunday at 6pm. The tunes will be flying!! Come check it out!

Spring 2010 Schedule

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:03:03 +0000

The May/June full-color printable, shareable, tape-it-up-to-the-wall-at-work-and-school schedule can be downloaded here!

Details, class descriptions, and online registration can be found on our classes page.

Kids Music Camps

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:02:01 +0000

Yes! The Folk School of Chattanooga will have music camps for kids in June and July. We know you and your kids have a lot of choices for summer camps in the Chattanooga area, but this is a great opportunity for your kids to work with traditional musicians and get hands-on experience with many different folk instruments, including banjo and fiddle!

Click here for more information.

New schedule of classes!

admin — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:10:10 +0000

Our winter schedule includes a variety of beginning-level classes, such as banjo, fiddle, guitar, mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, and bass. There’s also a new vocal ensemble class, ear training, and music theory, plus old favorites like the traditional music ensemble. Intermediate-level classes are being offered in mountain dulcimer, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. We offer family discounts if two or more people from the same household want to enroll, and a multi-class discount if one person wants to take more than one class.

Schedule, class descriptions, and registration–Here!

Winter Classes: Feb 1 – Mar 26

Register by Feb 1.

Fletcher Bright Fiddle Workshop

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:38:29 +0000

We had a wonderful time at GreenSpaces last Saturday with Fletcher Bright in his bowing techniques workshop. Here’s a short video clip of Fletcher teaching some of the tricks involved with playing “Orange Blossom Special,” a handy thing for every fiddler to keep in his or her back pocket!

Fall ‘09 Classes

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:07:53 +0000

Only a few days left to register for fall classes! Classes start the week of September 28th. We have 17 different 8-week classes on offer, as well as 6 one-day workshops. Click here to download a .pdf of the Fall 2009 Schedule of Classes.

Enrollment is limited! Sign up now!

Click Here.

Alabama Gals

Christie Burns — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:41:31 +0000

…or Buffalo Gals, if you prefer. This tune will be our big group grand finale number at our opening set on September 26th at the Riverfront Nights concert, so students, study up! We’re calling for all students and teachers of the Mountain Music Folk School to join us on stage for this one.

Here’s Matt playing it on fiddle:

And Christie playing it on mountain dulcimer:

Old Chattanooga

Christie Burns — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:39:07 +0000

Here’s one for our Tuesday night students, a video clip of some folks playing “Old Chattanooga” at Christie’s house last year.

Julianne Johnson

Christie Burns — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:42:49 +0000

Here’s the tune we’re teaching this Tuesday at the tune-learning class, Julianne Johnson. It’s a beautiful old time fiddle tune in the key of D.

Tuesday Tune-Learning Class

Christie Burns — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:45:50 +0000

This past Tuesday, we had a nice turnout for our first of 8 Tuesday night tune-learning classes. Fiddlers, guitarist, and a mandolin player came, and we all worked on “Cuckoo’s Nest,” a fun jam tune in D. With Matt out of town for the week, Butch Ross stepped in to help teach the class. Thanks, Butch! I’m already looking forward to our next class. We’ll have lots of tunes ready to go and determine what to teach based on who shows up (we’ll pick a tune that’ll be new to everyone in the class), and like the first week, we’ll teach the tune by ear and give out the printed notation/tablature at the end for students to take home. All advanced-beginners and intermediate players are welcome to join us this Tuesday, or any Tuesday between now and the end of April. Classes cost $10 per session, and meet in the church across the street from Mountain Music, 7 to 8:30pm. No RSVP or registration required–come once, twice, or to all eight classes! You’ll meet other musicians, and add a tasty tune or two to your repertoire. Call us at 827-8906 if you have any questions.