Susan Cattaneo

You and Me and Harmony! (All) 

Explore your vocal potential and try some harmony too! This class will explore basic music theory and ear training to get you singing. We’ll explore vocal control and range as well as experiment with harmony singing in one, two and three parts. All levels welcome!

Cowboy Songs – The Best of the West (Level 2-3) 

Calling all cowpokes! This workshop explores the magic behind some of the most classic and unforgettable cowboy songs. We’ll try some new songs, explore the basics of the Nashville number system and work and play these familiar hits. Great songs don’t have to be complicated, and this hands-on class will show you the beauty behind three chords and the truth!

John Corzine

“Man on the porch” (i.e. jam’s and more) Instructor

Dave Firestine

Mandolin FUNdamentals (Level 1) 
This course is designed for the beginning mandolin player. No experience required. However, if you are a more advance player and want to review some fundamental techniques, this is the perfect opportunity. We will begin with stretching, breathing, relaxing, and remembering to have fun! I will check your mandos for correct setup, strap setup, holding the mando and the pick. We will spend time playing with the proper pick direction, giving you the secrets to playing smoothly and at speed. We will learn some easy tunes, practicing the techniques described above. Join us for some fun, no shoes required.

Fiddle Tune Extravaganza All Instruments (All Levels) 
Do you need some new cool tunes? There are classic tunes that many of us know; we are now ready to add some new material to our repertoire. In this class we will explore tunes in the jamming world, some old and some relatively new. You can learn the melodies, or chords, or both (you will get extra credit for both). All normal instruments are welcome. Please let me know ahead of time if you plan to bring a Tuba or Theremin.

Katie Glassman

Classic Country Fiddle (Level 2-3)

Great Texas-style fiddlers like Bob Wills grew up playing foot-stomping breakdowns and fiddle tunes for contests and square dances, then brought their fiddles to the bandstand to join the band on classic country weepers and cowboy songs. In this class, we’ll focus on playing fiddle on those early country favorites by Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and the Sons of the Pioneers. Then we’ll two-step over to some Ray Price country shuffles with tasty melodic embellishments and longbow style. Expand your jam repertoire, improve your fiddle skills, and kick up your heels.

Western Swing Improvisation (Level 3-4)

Western Swing music found its roots in country, breakdown fiddling, and jazz. The combination of these regional styles formed a unique string-based, big-band sound in the 40s and 50s, centered around the seminal Western Swing band, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. We’ll learn several twin fiddle tunes to capture the styling that gets us to the bowings and embellishments of the bands of that era, vital to capturing their authentic sound. After learning the melody and twin fiddle parts, we’ll delve into my 5 key ingredients to improvising a Western Swing solo. Practicing each “ingredient” with creativity and using guided repetition to solidify your skills, you’ll become a Western Swing improviser in no time!

cara luft

School of Rock for Folkies (All)

This class is all about experiencing immense musical joy as a group while “folkin’ up” classic pop/rock songs in 2 & 3 part harmony. Come prepared to sing your heart out, laugh and have loads of fun, all while rocking out folk-style! Some of the “tools” we’ll use include: learning and arranging a song as a group, dynamics within a song, blending instruments, listening to each other, knowing when to sing/play simply and when to step it up, how to play in support of the vocalist or soloist, and how to get out of the way and let the song speak. We will also explore tasteful fills, singing in harmony, and performance techniques. Any acoustic instrument is welcome (voice, guitar, bass, dobro, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, ukulele, bodhran, accordion, etc). With voices and instruments working together, we’ll bring these songs to life!

Clawhammer Banjo (Level 2-3)

Geared for the beginner/post-beginner clawhammer banjo player, we’ll tackle how to make our banjos sing! From learning the basic clawhammer style and using the drop-thumb technique, to playing tunes that help us incorporate these techniques and utilizing different tunings (open G, sawmill, and double C). Most importantly we’ll learn how to use our banjo as an accompaniment instrument while singing songs, writing songs, and taking part in jam sessions with others (use of chords and a capo!).

Lewis Mock

Cosy Sheridan

Guitar: Rhythms and Riffs (Level 2-3) 

We will learn a few percussive right hand picking patterns, and we’ll experiment with playing those new picking patterns while adding a moving chordal riff in the left hand. We’ll learn a few songs that use these techniques. (And then we sing!) We will have fun while we make our guitar playing an engine of forward energy.

Beginning Guitar / Uukulele (Level 1) 

In this class we will learn some simple three chord songs. We will also learn a basic strumming pattern, and maybe even an easy picking pattern!  If you have been playing for a while now, or if you’ve just picked up the guitar, this class is for you!

Doug Smith

Fingerstyle Guitar: Positively Popular Picking Patterns (Level 2-3) 

Here we’ll take a look at a few popular picking patterns that have launched a zillion songs, including The Alternating-Thumb, or Travis Pick, and the 3+3+2 pick, used by Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot and many Hawaiian Slack Key players.
playing.

Fingerstyle Guitar: The Many Ways of Chord Shapes (Level 3-4) 

Can you fingerpick a C chord? Try sliding it up the neck to the 6th position to play a beautiful sounding Fadd9 chord. We’ll explore different sounds using mostly recognizable shapes that can add color to your playing. Ability to read tablature will be helpful. (PS: Not sure what the 6th position is? We’ll discuss that, too!

Steve Smith

Mandolin: Five days Five Essential Bluegrass tunes for jams (Level 2-3) 

We’ll learn a must know tune a day from early to modern Bluegrass that draws from the mandolin, fiddle and vocal tune world. Having a few standards in your back pocket to go to can help build confidence in a jam or group setting. Nothing crazy hard just the basic melodies. Within these tunes we’ll break down the technique needed for the tunes and try to explore possibilities for modulation based off of the chord tones. Handouts included but we will work a lot with the ears

Mandolin: Bluegrass improv and backup and fills. (Level 3-4) 

How can you make your playing more exciting and challenging in a jam or group setting? By developing more improvisation and backup skills of course. We will use chord tones, scales, song fragments and arpeggios to develop and create patterns over familiar songs so we can quickly become familiar with as starting points to launch into solos and fills. It’s a fun and exciting way to create some Ah-Ha! moments in your playing and can help clear away some of the mystery behind soloing and backup. Handout available and lots of ear work too.

Solid groove and developing a chord vocabulary

Rene Worst

Bass Basics  (Level 1-2) 

We’ll cover left- and right-hand positions—and coordination between the two! Learn how to find the notes on the bass with a variety of song styles and feels: bluegrass, country, classic pop and swing

From the Bottom Up! (Level 3-4)

Take your bass playing to the next level by stepping up your technique. Walking lines, swing, Western swing plus Bossa Nova & even something funky, plus a little functional harmony to spice up your lines and solos!

Charlie Koch

Beginning Guitar (Level 1) 

In this class we will learn some simple three chord songs. We will also learn a basic strumming pattern, and maybe even an easy picking pattern!  If you have been playing for a while now, or if you’ve just picked up the guitar, this class is for you!