All Group Lessons

Guitar
 

Targeted at the beginning adult guitar student (16 years and up) interested in learning basic skills. Learn to tune the instrument and play chords and melodies in first position, how to read guitar tablature and the fundamentals of music theory. Course material will be applied to a selection of well-known folk tunes. Acoustic or classical six string guitars only.

This class is targeted at the adult guitar student (16 years and up) interested in advancing beyond basic skills. The ability to tune the instrument and basic familiarity with some first position chords is required. The course will increase the students knowledge of first position major and minor chords and more complex melody playing.  Acoustic or classical six string guitars only.

Beginning Blues Guitar

Instructor:  Ray DeMers

This course will provide an introduction to a variety of blues styles on the guitar, including Delta, Chicago, and Memphis blues, as well as basic blues progressions and solo techniques.  This class is targeted at the beginning guitar player.

Intermediate Blues Guitar

Instructor:  Ray DeMers

This class is a continuation of Beginning Blues Guitar, covering a variety of blues styles including Delta, Chicago, and Memphis blues.  The study of blues progressions and solo techniques will be continued. 

Swing Guitar II

Instructor:  Michael Dunn

Swing II is an advanced class for those students who have completed Swing Guitar I OR have a good understanding of bar, diminished and augmented chords.  Three and four tone orchestral chords will be used throughout the course and the songs studied will often include 3 and 4 chords to the measure.  Students will be studying jazz and popular standards from the thirties and forties.  

Bottleneck and Slide Guitar

Instructor:  Dan Todd

Fingerpicking 101

Instructor:  Charlie Hall

For years, you’ve been playing chords, and maybe a bit of melody, but you haven’t been able to put it all together.  With fingerpicking, you can not only do some beautiful accompaniments to songs, you can play both the melody and accompaniment.  In this introduction, you’ll learn several popular picking patterns including the industry-standard, ISO-9000 certified, Oprah-approved Travis pattern as played on songs such as “The Boxer,” “Freight Train,” and “Dust In the Wind.”  You should already be able to chord along with songs and be able to change between the basic chords (C, D, G, F, Am, etc.) effectively.

Fiddle
 

The key to Irish fiddle is getting off on the right foot, says the instructor. From there, the journey is wherever the spirit takes you, and he will be on that journey with you.

If you are an intermediate violin or fiddle player, and you’d like to work on getting that fiddle sound, this class is for you! Ron Sommers is an experienced Bluegrass and Irish fiddle player who has played in many local bands over the years. He’ll teach you tunes as well as the styles that you hear and want to play. This class is for the intermediate player who is comfortable with the fiddle and bow, who can play at least several tunes and scales, and can learn new tunes by ear or by reading music. Please bring a recording device.  

Mandolin
 

This course is targeted at the beginning mandolin student.  The class will cover right and left hand techniques for chords and melodies, basic care of the instrument, and simple songs in a variety of styles. 

Banjo
 

This class is targeted at the beginning banjo player. The class will cover right and left hand techniques, including chords and melody, in the traditional bluegrass style..

A continuation of Beginning Bluegrass Banjo I, this class will further explore three-finger roll patterns, chord/accompaniment, tuning, and song structure for bluegrass banjo enthusiasts. This class requires that you either already have taken Beginning Banjo I or have been playing more than a one year in the bluegrass banjo style.

Bass
 

This class will cover the ergonomics of holding and playing the bass and the bass set-up; how to get a full sound and solid rhythm in various time signatures; commonly used chord progressions and the scales and arpeggios to go with them.  If enough students are interested, bowing will be introduced. 

Other Classes
 

This class will cover the technical basics of good singing. You will learn how to breathe, vocal placement, tonality and projection. The course will also cover tips on stage presence and delivery. You will learn some new songs and exercises to improve your singing skills.

If you’re always stuck singing the melody and would like to expand into harmony but don’t know how to begin, this course is for you.  You’ll explore the theory of harmony (why some notes work and others don’t), learn about harmony’s relationship to the chords of a song and to the melody, and you’ll spend a lot of time just singing and getting used to being on the harmony part.  You’ll take home CDs of harmony singing, sing with them at home, and come back the following week singing your new parts.

You like this whole idea of jamming, of playing with others, but you just can’t seem to work up the nerve, or you feel you’re just not ready.  In this course, you’ll get together and make music with others in a low-pressure situation.  You’ll learn jam protocol, leading a song, not leading a song (playing quietly in the background), following others, backup techniques, intros and endings.  A great way to hook up with other players who like to get together and play.  No music reading is required, but players should be able to read and play the basic chords on their instrument. 

This class is geared towards helping string players of all levels garner a more thorough understanding of back-up instrumentation (when to play, who should play and what to play). Hands-on practice time will be made available during every session. Essentially we’ll approach several tunes, as times allows, and construct a band arrangement for each. This class is open to all players who have at least one year of performing experience on their instrument. We’ll need bass, guitar, mandolin, fiddle players. More than one student on each type of instrument IS acceptable. NOTE: This class, due to musical arrangement constraints, will be limited to 10 students.

This class is targeted at the beginning Dobro player. The class will cover right and left hand techniques for chords and melodies, and simple songs in a variety of styles.

Beginner to intermediate acoustic playing will be the focus. Posture, breathing, note bending, projection, phrasing, set-up, vibrato, chord vamping, rudimentary theory etc., in folk, country, blues and swing music. Students should bring a Hohner Special 20 harmonica in the key of C.

Basic Music Theory

Instructor:  Charlie Hall

Aimed at players and singers who would like to better understand the components and relationships of the music they play and hear, but are terrified by the word theory. It will be fun. We'll cover—and demystify—melody, harmony, chords and rhythm, plus the basics of musical notation. Gain a new perspective on musical styles when you're finished. Students should be able to play and/or sing simple folk songs; the ability to read music is helpful but not necessary.

Music Theory II

Instructor:  Charlie Hall

This is a continuation of the Basic Music Theory course; it reinforces the concepts learned in the first course, and addresses rhythms, voice leading,  and harmonization techniques. 

For novice to intermediate Bodhranai players who would like to improve their technique, increase the variety of sounds and styles of which this much-maligned instrument is capable, and learn to play something which complements the various styles of Irish and traditional music. 

Targeted at novice whistle players—those who already know basic scales and simple melodies and would like to learn more of traditional Irish ornamentation and phrasing, including slow airs and basic jigs and reels. The class will cover ornamentation, phrasing for slow airs, breathing, learning tunes with and without written music, whistle tweaks, and selecting better whistles without going into debt. Bring a pennywhistle in the key of D for class. Techniques apply to all keys.

This class is for songwriters, lyricists and poets. Students can expect to learn about copyrighting, song structure, the art of co-writing, marketing your material & alternative markets for your songs. In the latter part of the class the group will evaluate original material that was optionally submitted in earlier sessions.