Beginning Banjo

Instructor: Leo Shannon

Course Description: Beginning banjo will explore the foundations of old time banjo playing, including basic picking patterns and simple chords. The class is open to all ages.

Early Intermediate Banjo

Instructor: Karly Dawn Milner

Course Description: This class is folks who have completed a beginning banjo class or have progressed to playing a few old time tunes and are ready to learn some fun Kentucky tunes and singing songs on the banjo.  We will learn tunes in a few different popular tunings to round out your Kentucky old time repertoire and feel comfortable finding the tunes and joining the jam.

Intermediate Banjo

Instructor: Montana Hobbs

Course Description: Intermediate Banjo is a space to explore your personal style within old time music. No two banjos are the same! And they shouldn’t be!  In this class we will focus on exciting and challenging techniques, how to sing with the banjo, two finger tunes/songs, alternate tunings, listening exercises and how to jam with others. Students should be comfortable with the “clawhammer” stroke and have a few tunes/songs under their belt. 

Advanced Banjo

Instructor: John Haywood

Course Description: This class will build on Haywood’s personal experiences playing with and living near some of east Kentucky’s greatest old time banjo masters. He played in the Lee Sexton Band for many years and was apprentice and neighbor to George Gibson. Under these masters, Haywood studied the banjo playing of Banjo Bill Cornett, Rufus Crisp, Coy Morton, Morgan Sexton, Roscoe Holcomb, Henry Bunch, Jack Bunch, Rudell Thomas, Virgil Anderson, Dock Boggs, Grandpa Hudson, Buelle Kazee, and so many more regional players. He has also had the chance to play with some of Kentucky’s greatest old time fiddlers including Paul David Smith, Jimmy McCown, Roger Cooper, Jesse Wells, and more.  In addition to specializing in east Kentucky banjo music, Haywood incorporates repertoire from outside of the region into his East Kentucky banjo playing tendencies. In this course, students will focus on overhand techniques, left hand plucking, two finger banjo, up picking, back thumbing, and ways of incorporating multiple techniques into one tune. 

Beginning Fiddle

Instructor: Ella Webster

Course Description: This class will teach basic fiddle technique: how to hold the instrument and bow, an introduction to notes, and instrument care. Students will learn a collection of simple fiddle tunes, especially tunes considered “Cowan Creek” or Kentucky fiddle standards. They will also be introduced to jamming. Students with no prior experience are welcome! 

Early Intermediate Fiddle

Instructor: Meghan Bryant-Hall

Course Description: Early Intermediate Fiddle is for students who have completed a beginner class, feel comfortable holding the fiddle and bow, and can already play a few simple tunes. This class will build a repertoire of basic Kentucky fiddle tunes, focusing on tunes that are commonly played at jams or square dances. The class will also explore bowing patterns, slurs, and other techniques that can be incorporated into your playing.

Intermediate Fiddle

Instructor: John Harrod

Course Description: The intermediate fiddle class will learn a variety of Kentucky tunes from well-known and not so well-known fiddlers. We will learn about the fiddlers themselves, the places they came from, and how the music changed from place to place. We will emphasize bowing as the key to getting the sound and the feeling of these old fiddlers. The tunes should be accessible to all players with a couple of years’ experience.

Advanced Fiddle

Instructor: Roger Cooper

Course Description: This class will focus on learning and playing Kentucky fiddle music. Through learning Kentucky fiddle tunes, students will focus on technique and tone. This is an advanced class, for students who are comfortable playing common tunes up to speed, and are able to learn by ear. 

Early-Intermediate Guitar

Instructor: Heather Summers

Course Description: This early-intermediate guitar course  is for students who can play basic major and minor chords on guitar and strum simple rhythm patterns comfortably. In this course, students will gain confidence joining in on any traditional old-time jam by increasing their knowledge of fiddle tune chord progressions and recognizing chord changes in real time. By the end of the week, students will be able to play many traditional fiddle tunes up to speed, confidently join in on unknown tunes, and have fun with bass runs!

Intermediate-Advanced Mandolin

Instructor: Matthew Carter

Course Description: Intermediate/Advanced mandolin is for players who are comfortable learning tunes by ear in a group or jam setting. We’ll learn at a pace the whole class is comfortable with, while also breaking down the trickier parts on our way up to jam speed. In this class we’ll be learning tunes from Kentucky fiddlers, Norman and Nancy Blake tunes, and many other unique and fun tunes from various mandolinists and fiddlers. 

Intermediate Mountain Dulcimer

Instructor: Sarah Kate Morgan

Course Description: This class is for folks who already play the dulcimer and are ready to move on to more complicated tunes! We will cover techniques like strumming complicated rhythms with speed and accuracy, flatpicking and fingerpicking, complicated melodies in a variety of tunings, improvising, singing with the dulcimer, and how to find and name chords up and down the fretboard. We’ll learn lots of Kentucky and Appalachian tunes as well as a few Irish and Scottish melodies thrown in. We’ll learn primarily by ear, but I’ll provide sheet music at the end of the class. Pre-requisites: You need to be able to tune your dulcimer on your own and play a few simple melodies from memory.

Singing

Instructor: Linda Jean Stokley

Course Description: We’ll be discussing and putting into application: 

– the cornerstones of traditional 3-part country harmony, and exploring the flexibility of choices within a duet approach

– arranging songs for duos and trios 

– lead singing (finding your voice, and the power of stylistic decisions, making choices, singing by feel…)

– group singing (the power of singing with others and fun songs)

– exploring the fundamentals and power of vocal awareness and health

Fiddle and Guitar

Instructors: Gabriel Dansereau and Don Rogers

Course description:  Don Rogers and Gabriel Dansereau will lead a fiddle & guitar class that explores playing these two instruments together. The class will include listening, talking, and playing. The class will cover technique and musicianship on both instruments, including rhythm, playing a tune you’ve never heard before, fiddle and guitar accompaniment for songs and ways to further develop skills beyond this class. We will learn fiddle tune melodies on both instruments. Students should be intermediate or advanced players of one or both instruments and should have some experience playing with others.