Saturday 28th March

Workshop: Folk Tune Playing

with Alex Garden

Join multi-instrumentalist and folk producer Alex Garden (Tarren, The Drystones, Sheelanagig, Greenbank Folk Club) for a workshop on improving rhythm, phrasing and cognitive habits in your instrumental folk playing. This workshop will give you the tools you need to explore tune playing and form deeper connections to the material.

Have you been playing tunes for a while but struggling to get that ‘feel’ that other tune players have? Perhaps you already know how to play some ornaments and how to play fast but you’re still not finding the groove hidden within the music.

Have you struggled with finding the ‘right’ way to play?

This workshop will explore how less is (almost always) more. Articulation always comes before ornamentation and slowing down will give you a deeper understanding of the music and make your playing more effective and, most importantly, enjoyable.

As someone who has struggled with all of this in the past, Alex believes that enjoying your own playing is the only way you will ever truly improve. Together we’ll challenge pre-conceptions and bad cognitive habits around playing (which can often arise from rigorous classical training) and learn to enjoy our connection to our instruments, to tunes and to traditional dance music in general. We’ll also take some time to check in and share a bit about our musical journeys up to this point and what our intentions might be going forward.

Music is therapy, and when done right it shouldn’t be hard work, it should be fun. Once we learn to truly have fun playing music, then the by-product is that we begin to really improve sustainably.

Saturday 28th March 14.00-17.00

Hazelwell Hub, Vicarage Road, B14 7NH

Tickets £15, £5 Low income.

Suitable for intermediate to advanced musicians who play traditional melodic instruments.

All ages welcome, under 18s with an adult.