Title: Guitar I

Brief Description: This class will focus on getting started playing folk-style and flatpick guitar, playing chords, picking out single melody notes, and learning to read tablature.

For: Absolute beginners and people who have tried to learn guitar but would like an approach with more structure.

Goals: Learning basic guitar-playing techniques, understanding basic rhythm playing on guitar and being able to play rhythm while changing chords, and being able to work with tablature for learning guitar melodies, singing and playing.

Detailed Description: We will cover the basics: holding a guitar and pick, how to pick and strum with the right hand, and positioning the left hand for forming chords and playing melody notes. We will work on a basic pick/strum rhythm and learn a chord a week to play with this rhythm. We will begin reading tablature by introducing tabbed-out right-hand exercises that will also get us used to playing a single string at a time. We will work on one flatpicking tune and one Carter-style tune. Most students will not be playing the tune by the end of the class, but the goal will be for students to understand enough about basic techniques and reading tablature so that they can master the tunes at their own pace. We will also talk about how to approach singing and playing.

Materials: A cd with the tunes that will be introduced; tablature for right-hand exercises and two traditional songs/tunes.

Recommended materials for students: capo, electronic tuner

8-Week Plan:
Weeks
1 Introductions, explanations of the style and approach, tuning your guitar, watching and listening, trying the basic rhythm, the G chord and trying the rhythm with the G chord
2 Going over the tablature for the exercises, the C chord and changing chords
3 Going over the tablature for “Shady Grove”, the Am chord
4 Singing with the rhythm, the D chord
5 Going over tablature for “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, and approaching Carter-style playing, the G7 chord
6 The A and D7 chords
7 Playing along with a fiddle
8 Review/reinforcement

Title: Fiddle I

Brief Description: Get started playing any style of fiddle music in this class that will focus on learning and improving basic fiddle techniques.

For: Absolute beginners, and students who are looking for a more structured learning approach.

Goals: By the end of the class students will have a practice approach for attaining good bowing technique, understanding bowing and rhythm, attaining good intonation, and an understanding of tablature and how to use it to learn two tunes that will be introduced.

Detailed Description: We will cover the basics: tuning the instrument, holding the fiddle and using a shoulder rest, and holding the bow. We will spend most of the class time working on bowing and intonation. Exercises will be introduced and students will try to watch and imitate the teacher as they build these two fundamental fiddling skills. While most students are excited about learning tunes, we will acknowledge that jumping right into tune learning can impede the progress needed to master the fundamental techniques. While we will spend most of the time on these techniques, we will also try “putting everything together” as we spend some time working on a couple of fiddle tunes.

Materials: A cd with recordings of two fiddle tunes, tablature for bowing and intonation exercises, and tablature for two tunes.

Recommended materials for students: Electronic tuner, rosin, shoulder rest

8-Week Plan:
1: Introductions, explanations of the technique and acknowledgments of the obstacles, watching and listening, holding the bow and shadow bowing, holding the fiddle and bowing open strings: “I Go” pattern
2: Plucking first and third finger notes, plucking “Angeline”, bowing first and third finger notes, bowing “Angeline”
3: Playing pairs of strings and using this to find intonation, more “Angeline”
4: Slurring on one and two strings, more “Angeline”
5: “I Shuffle” pattern, middle finger notes, introduce “Shady Grove”
6: Listening and fiddle philosophy
7: Substituting Shuffles for I Go’s
8: Review/Reinforcement

Title: Clawhammer Banjo IB

Brief Description: This class will focus on right-hand technique and good rhythm, a couple of tunes, and playing along with a fiddle.

For: Absolute beginners, students continuing from Clawhammer Banjo I, and banjo players who want to work on good rhythm and technique.

Goals: Learning and improving your right-hand banjo approach, understanding how to apply that approach to learning tunes, playing accompaniment.

Detailed Description: We will spend most of our time together focusing on rhythm/timing/technique of the right arm and hand for playing clawhammer or overhand-style banjo. This means we will play the rhythm on the banjo over and over while students watch and imitate the teacher and receive feedback. Once the rhythm starts to “catch” we will work toward narrowing it down to play notes and melodies. We will also cover the basics of the left hand technique. We will go over two tunes for which recordings and tablature will be provided, but we will acknowledge that a focus on technique is more important than tune-learning for progressing on the banjo; tunes should be worked on and picked up after learning good rhythm. We will spend time talking about the history of the banjo, listen to banjo and related traditional music, and discuss banjo philosophy.

Materials: CD’s with six banjo tunes appropriate for beginners through advanced beginners, tablature for two of these tunes, a list of practice exercises and tabbed-out banjo exercises.

Recommended materials for students: Electronic tuner, capo

8-Week Plan
Week 1: Introductions, explanations of the technique, watching and listening, trying the rhythm
Week 2: Going over the tablature for tune 1, The banjo: tool or machine? Rhythm work
Week 3: History of the Banjo Part I: The Rise of the Banjo, rhythm work, questions about tablature
Week 4: History of the Banjo Part II: The Fall of the Banjo and its History Since, Narrowing the right-hand technique/exercises for aiming at single strings
Week 5: Listening
Week 6: Introduce tune 2, rhythm work
Week 7: Rhythm work, playing along with fiddles and at jam sessions
Week 8: Rhythm work, wrap-up and advice about going forward with your playing

Title: Traditional Ensemble

Brief Description: Get started and gain confidence playing with a group of musicians. We will work on few different traditions and group settings so that student can get a feel for playing in a jam session or a band.

For: Students who have reached at least an intermediate stage on their instruments, but who are not yet ready to jump right into full-speed jam sessions.
For the following instruments, you should be able to,
Fiddle: play a handful of tunes at a moderate tempo, and pick up tunes phrase by phrase or by tablature/notation
Mandolin: same as fiddle, and have a knowledge of your basic chords and rhythm playing
Guitar: knowledge of your basic chords and playing rhythm; playing runs and melodies are a bonus and we’ll work on incorporating these more advanced techniques into group playing
Banjo: understanding how to tune for different keys and a good rhythmic approach; we’ll work on incorporating advanced melodies on the banjo into the group playing, and coming up with simple rhythmic and melodic improvisations for unfamiliar tunes
Bass: understanding how to follow chord charts or guitar players for finding the bass notes that match chord changes
Other instruments can use the above descriptions to gain some idea of the skills needed.
For prospective students who feel they may be getting in over your head: don’t be too afraid of taking the plunge; a good way to never raise the level of your playing is to always avoid situations that challenge you. You may not always keep up, or pick up as much as some of the more experienced students, but a willingness to stretch yourself will always reward you.

Goals: To gain experience, confidence, and have lots of fun!

Detailed Description: We will work on building a repertoire of tunes the group can play together. I hope most of the tunes we work on will be familiar to most of the students. I also hope all students pick up some new material. We will proceed slowly, and hope to have a half dozen to a dozen tunes we can play well together by the end of the eight weeks. When a tune is introduced we will play it slowly, and play it over and over with pauses for questions and recommendations. Each week we will spend time playing over tunes introduced earlier in the semester. We will play in both unison formats and break-taking formats, and incorporate some singing into the group playing. We will talk about jam etiquette and what to expect from playing in open jam sessions. We will also talk about how to turn the class experience into building arrangements for performance bands.

Recommended materials for students: Tuner, capo; a device for recording music is not absolutely necessary, but highly recommended

Materials and 8-Week Plan:

This class will be fairly open-ended, but here is some of the material I would expect to cover. I will provide chord charts, as many recordings and as much tab/notation as I can.

Angeline
Amazing Grace
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Shady Grove
Arkansas Traveler
Scollay’s Reel
New Jericho Waltz
Sandy River Belles
Old Joe Clark
Frosty Morn
Altamont
Alabama Gals

Title: Fiddle II

Brief Description: This class will focus on learning and listening to old time fiddle tunes and exploring various keys and tunings. Bowing as it applies to playing these tunes will be a major focus. This class will be taught without the use of tablature.

For: Fiddlers who have some experience, can tune their instruments on their own and can play through a handful of tunes comfortably. Advanced beginners and fledgling intermediate players with an interest in developing their ability to play by ear will find this class most useful.

Goals: Fiddlers will learn a handful of tunes. Students will become better listeners and more comfortable learning tunes on their own.

Detailed Description: Our time in this class will be spent exploring some fun tunes and different fiddle tunings common to old time music. A great deal of emphasis will be placed on the use of the bow in order to create the right kind of rhythm and feel. Class time will be spent dissecting tunes, discussing their history and listening. We may on occasion watch video or listen to recordings of other fiddlers and examine their techniques. Some class time will be spent practicing previous material with guitar or banjo accompaniment. Tunes will be taught in a “call and response” method.

Materials: None. Because the focus of the class is on developing a student’s ability to listen and learn by listening, there will be no tablature or sound recordings provided. However, students are encouraged to bring and use a recording device.

8-Week Plan  (of course, this outline will adapt to the class’ needs, ability, and interests)
Week 1: Introduction, essentials of bowing, Tips for learning by ear, try out a tune (GDAE)
Week 2: Wrap up tune 1, Begin tune 2 (GDAE or GDAD?)
Week 3: Wrap up tune 2, Begin tune 3 if we’re there, watch video clips
Week 4: Work out kinks, practice tunes we’ve learned with guitar and banjo accompaniment, explore variations
Week 5: Learn a creepy tune AEAE
Week 6: wrap up creepy tune, Learn a waltz?
Week 7: A Tennessee tune
Week 8: Work out kinks, listening suggestions