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British Folk with Nigel Gatherer by Nicola Wells: I attended my first Nigel Gatherer folk workshop at the wonderful BMG Federation weekend in Edgbaston. Nigel certainly puts the word fun into his workshops. Nobody felt in anyway intimidated from the outset. His first question was “Does anyone play by ear?” Just a few hands went up, but by the time our session had ended, we were all doing just that - ‘playing by ear’ and thoroughly enjoying the whole experience. Nigel has a wonderful knack of putting everybody at ease and manages to simplify everything to accommodate all abilities, while at the same time making you think and work. It was a great experience and judging by the comments and smiley faces, everyone enjoyed the workshop just as much as I did. I shall actively seek him out at the next BMG Federation gathering which, incidentally, I am already looking forward to! Composing for Fretted Instrument Ensemble with Richard Shearing & Robert Tong By Jan Kinsman & Ashley Willis: Richard & Robert bravely took on the challenge of introducing this topic, in one hour! Robert opened the session with a series of music files, illustrating differences of tonal qualities between fretted and other instruments. The greatest of these is perhaps plucked instruments' lack of sustain, and Robert gave examples of how such problems have been overcome in several genres of music, from the renaissance to the present day. Practice exercises of composition for several instruments were attempted, but with the time constraint and the wide ability range of the participants in this subject, they were outlined only. Richard then enlightened us on the advantages of notation software, such as Noteworthy Composer and Sibelius, giving useful notes on their functionality. An informative workshop.
Lutherie with Phil Davidson by Robert Tong: There’s no finer job than sitting in the sunshine listening to birdsong
while you carve the arched top of a mandolin” said Phil
Davidson. However, this pleasure comes with a hidden cost – risk of
injury to your hands from chisels used to lovingly shape the wood.
Although Phil showed an injury he sustained, this had not dampened his
enthusiasm for instrument building – or his sense of humour – both of
which were evident as the workshop progressed. While the discussion was
relatively unstructured and did not include a hands-on session, a number
of key points were covered. Participants who had already built
instruments were able to question Phil about techniques and materials.
The topics discussed ranged from how much heat (and moisture) to apply
when bending the sides of a guitar, to where to obtain woods and other
materials – not forgetting the ultimate intoxication of the smell of
Brazilian rosewood. Those players present could be glad that Phil was
prepared to devote his skill and energy to building them fine
instruments.
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Bluegrass with Keith Kerans by Ann Messenger: Keith’s workshop was very popular and the small classroom we were allocated was soon
filled to capacity and we ran out of chairs and floor space. However
Keith was very well prepared having both dots & tab for mandolin &
guitar, complicated & easy versions, plus tab for banjo. He had three
different tunes so we had plenty of work to do. We picked and plucked
happily through each section in turn, with each instrument, before
putting it all together. First was
Andy Smith’s Rag, a rather pretty tune with an oriental flavour,
then we played Bar Mitzvah Breakdown. Session protocol and tune
variation/decoration, without overkill, followed - Keith hates a tune to
disappear into lots of extra flowery notes. Noelle, one of his students,
then played Blackberry Blossom
to demonstrate how it should be done properly on the banjo. We finished
with E Flattery, a pretty tune
which was inspired by a derogatory remark made by Dave from Instrument Care & Set Up with Phil Davidson by Robert McKerlie: This workshop demonstrated how best to set up instruments properly, how to check for bridge placement, different strings, neck adjustment and replacing pegs, vellums etc. This was a very popular start to the weekend, standing room only. After introducing the session Phil asked the participants if anyone had an issue with their instrument resulting in a number of willing volunteers happy for Phil to take a look. Phil made every attempt to provide advice to all who required it and in doing so covered a variety of topics. Topics covered included: how to check the action on a banjo and other fretted instruments; how to change the vellum on a banjo; floating bridge placement on a mandolin to ensure correct intonation. This was a workshop that was delivered in a friendly and relaxed manner that had something for everyone. |
