2009

Phil Belanger

Basic Snare Drumming:
This course will give you the basic techniques necessary to accompany other musicians with your snare drum. We will learn brush and stick techniques, and explore Swing, Latin, and Folk/Country rhythms. Bring a snare drum or “laptop” snare if you have one. We might also add some cymbals or hi-hat, time permitting.

Hand Percussion:
In this course we will focus on the smaller percussion “toys” – shakers, maracas, tambourine, cowbells, guiro, triangle, and some conga and other hand drum techniques. The musical styles will lean towards Bossa Nova and Samba (Brazil), and Cha-Cha and Salsa (Cuba).

Keith Bennett

Song Arranging for Guitar:
This course explores how to create guitar accompaniments for songs. Where time permits, this will include intros and extros, transitions between chords, simple chord substitutions and tweaking your existing song arrangements. Students are asked to bring a couple of songs they’d like to arrange and perform. Also bring paper, pencil and eraser.

Beginner Blues Harmonica:
With little or no experience you will soon be playing the blues. Harmonica is a great choice as a soloing instrument for singers and guitar players. All participants must bring a Hohner “Special 20” diatonic harmonica or equivalent in the key of C.

June Cannon

Absolute Beginner Fiddle:
If you’ve always wanted to play the fiddle but are not sure how to get started, this is your opportunity. How to hold it and look cool, basic bow control, rhythm patterns, how to get the notes and maybe even a wee tune. Bring your own fiddle if you have one in working order, or June will have a limited number to lend for the weekend.

Celtic Fiddle Tunes:
If you have already begun your fiddling journey and can play, in this class you can learn a couple of tunes from the Celtic repertoire, some details of the Celtic styles, advance your bowing technique, explore shuffling and slurring to give your tunes accent and drive, and find answers to other questions you may have about fiddling.

Dave Dunnigan

Party Guitar:
Great party and jam songs aren’t necessarily the hardest ones to play, but they are the ones everybody loves to sing along to, even if they don’t play an instrument. In this course we’ll sing and play some of the best songs to bring to your next party, sing-along or jam – timeless tunes with great melodies and groove. This course is open to guitarists of all levels.

Fingerstyle Guitar (I):
One of the most beautiful sounds in music is that of fingerstyle acoustic guitar backing up a song. Think of the timeless music of James Taylor, Paul Simon and other singer songwriters and you know how effective a fingerpicked guitar can be. Designed for the intermediate guitarist, this course will explore a variety of fingerpicking patterns that can be used to accompany both contemporary and classic songs. Music, charts and tablature will be provided as appropriate.

Don Fraser

Dobro-style Guitar:
Come and learn the basic tuning and techniques for dobro. We’ll cover all you need to know to be able to get started playing over major minor and dominant chords, proper bar and pick techniques and a few tunes to put these important techniques into practice.

Country-style Soloing (B/I):
We will learn the major pentatonic scale which works really well for soloing in a country style. Five movable patterns allow you access to the whole neck and because they are movable you can play in any key. As well we will learn how these same patterns relate to the minor pentatonic scale to get a bluesier sound.

Neil Fraser

Advanced Improvisation (I/A):
Explore single note soloing over jazz tunes using scales, triads and arpeggios to create substitutions that will add colour to your playing. Knowledge of a scale system (for example, the C-A-G-E-D system) would definitely be an asset.

Advanced Jazz Chords (I/A):
This class will explore how to create interesting chords while supporting a soloist by manipulating the basic inversions of the chords; using chord scales; 1/2 step approaches, and other devices. Pre-requisite: knowledge of inversions of min7, maj7, dom7 chords on the top four strings.

Guido Heisteck

Blues Guitar (I):
This low-key class will cover Finger-style folk blues playing in the style of Mississippi John Hurt as well as walking a simple bass line through a Blues. The philosophy of this course”it doesn’t have to be fancy to sound good.”

Ukulele:
We will learn to play modern pop songs arranged for ukulele. Songs by Feist, Green Day and Corrinne Bailey Rae. As well as some Hawaiian classics. If you have a ukulele somewhere, please dust it off and join us! Class will be designed for G, C, E , A tuning with a high-G.

Don Kellet

Mandolin (B/I):
This course is designed for players who have a few chords and want to learn to play melodies. We’ll focus on learning appealing melodies to help you become familiar with both right and left hand technique. Tunes will be selected from folk, bluegrass, fiddle tunes and standards. Most importantly, we’ll aim to have fun with this versatile instrument.

Gypsy Jazz/Hot Club Swing Guitar (I):
This course is designed for a discussion of the basic technique for both rhythm and lead playing in this style. The main focus, however, will be on playing tunes that are Gypsy Jazz Standards – those written by Django as well as other more modern players of the genre. So bring your guitar, your enthusiasm and we’ll pretend we are sitting outside a caravan in Samois.

Kitty King

Songwriting:
Finding your way in. How do you begin to write a song: with melody, lyrics, rhythm, chord structure, or…? In this supportive class, we’ll experiment with different approaches to creating and sharing your own songs. Bring your instrument and an open mind!

Wendy Knudson

Introduction to Fingerstyle Guitar (B/I):
Have you always wanted to play fingerstyle guitar? We’ll work on getting that thumb to be truly independent, learn a few basic finger patterns and apply them to a variety of songs

Guitar Backup for Fiddle Tunes (B/I):
AKA beyond boom chuck. Using standard tuning, we’ll explore tips and tricks to figure out chords to fiddle tunes, simple bass runs, rhythmic ideas and alternate chord ideas to jazz up your accompaniments.

Colleen Savage

Vocal Technique:
This class will cover all the basics of producing our unique, natural sound. Beginning with proper body alignment and full connected breathing, we’ll discover how to support our best tone from way down deep, lift our sound up through all our body’s resonating chambers and deliver our musical message with clarity and expression. Along the way we’ll utilize some basic structures of music to tune up our ears to the harmony. Then we’ll sing traditional melodies in three parts!

Vocal Blues:
Well sing some well known blues in major and minor keys, learn some common voicings for the chords, groove to swing and Latin feels, try out some different bass lines, and take turns on lead and background vocal parts using the basic 12 and 8 bar patterns. We’ll invent our own riffs and improvise vocal solos over them.

Brian Tate

The Swing and Beyond Choir:
This course is a fun-filled introduction to the music of swing and beyond. Lift up your voice with fellow singing enthusiasts with arrangements of swing, bebop, and the roots of jazz: gospel, blues, African and Afro-Cuban music. Learn how to sing parts and develop a repertoire of different vocal styles. All levels are welcome: music reading skills are not essential. There will be opportunities for soloists.

The Singers Master Class:
An intimate and dynamic class designed for you to discover your power through your voice, expand your confidence and creativity, connect powerfully with your audience, and take any song and make it uniquely yours. You need not have any singing experience to do this workshop! Come with a song of your own choice memorized. Return to top of page