Lis Stewart
Music files for this weekend have been uploaded to the site. If you have booked for this course, you will soon receive your user name and password. When you do, follow this link: downloads and click on concertinas.
Lis Stewart
Sadly Chris Coe is unable to teach at this year’s Concertinas at Witney due to illness. Her place will be taken by Lis Stewart, who will be teaching the same course units Chris planned to do*.
Lis Stewart plays duet concertina (56 key MacCann), fiddle and keyboards. Based in London, she plays regularly for ceilidhs, at folk clubs and sessions. Her musical collaborations have included working with Duet concertina player Ralph Jordan, folk fiddler Pete Cooper, and traditional singer Peta Webb. Most recently, she had a solo concertina gig at the Tate in St Ives. Lis works as a primary school music teacher for Camden Music Service and also leads a variety of community music projects for children, adults and families.
*except the scope of unit B1 will be widened:
B1 Using the Concertina for Accompaniment
The subtle art of creating sympathetic accompaniments for songs and tunes with a concertina.
COURSE UNITS
SATURDAY MORNING
A1 - Lis Stewart - Harmony on Concertina
An outline of how it all works, chords, notes, theory, and what you need to know as a concertina player.
This unit is suitable for all systems but will make special reference to Duet Concertina.
All Systems, Basic/Intermediate/Higher
A2 - Jenny Cox - Playing A-Round
Rounds and catches are an ideal way to start playing different parts together and learning ensemble skills. Suitable for any sort of concertina, as long as you have basic music reading or are able to pick up a tune by ear.
All Systems, Basic/Intermediate
A3 - Rob Harbron - Playing the Whole Instrument
Making the most of your concertina to bring out the music, exploring dynamics, phrasing, tone and use of the bellows.
All systems, Basic/Intermediate/Higher
A4 – Brian Peters - Band from the North
Three-part arrangements of tunes from Northern England. Fair reading ability required.
All Systems, Intermediate/Higher
A5 – Dave Townsend - The Fast Track
How do you play fast tunes on English Concertina and, more importantly, how do you make them sound like music? Introducing a range of traditionally fast music from Scotland, Eastern Europe, the Basque country and England, Dave brings you a full set of techniques and ideas to make rapid melodic playing exciting, rhythmic, fluent and fun.
English Concertina, Intermediate/Higher
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
B1 - Lis Stewart - Using the Concertina for Accompaniment
The subtle art of creating sympathetic accompaniments for songs and tunes with a concertina.
All Systems, Basic/Intermediate/Higher
B2 - Jenny Cox - Approaching Concertina Band
Reading the notes, then developing the music – two, three and four-part music played slowly and carefully, using Treble, Baritone and Bass Concertinas. You will need to know your way round your instrument and be able to follow written music. Baritone and Bass English Concertinas will be available to borrow.
All Systems, Basic/Intermediate
B3 - Rob Harbron - Approaches to Chords and Harmony on English Concertina
How it works and how to apply it to your instrument.
English Concertina, Intermediate/Higher
B4 - Brian Peters - Conquering the Chords on Anglo
A full-scale introduction to playing chords on Anglo Concertina. Brian will cover chording only in the home key (which in this case will be C), starting with finding the basic chord shapes, fitting them into simple tunes, then trying out some alternative chords.
Anglo in C/G, Basic/Intermediate
B5 – Dave Townsend - Finding Your Way on the English Concertina
Or ‘How to Not Get Lost and Keep Having to Go Back to the Beginning’! By working through some straightforward but unfamiliar tunes we will learn how to understand the layout of the English Concertina, find the best fingerings and play with a sense of musical shape and rhythm.
English Concertina, Basic
SUNDAY
C1 - Lis Stewart - Slow Tunes & Waltzes
Beautiful tunes, not hard to play, but with lots to learn about phrasing, expression and harmony. This is for all concertina systems, with special reference to Duet Concertina.
All Systems, Basic/Intermediate
C2 - Jenny Cox - Advanced Band
Working on more complex scores, for people with good understanding of their instrument and music-reading ability.
English Concertina, Intermediate/Higher
C3 - Rob Harbron - Band by Ear
In this unit we will earn a few simple tunes by ear (and some techniques for learning by ear), and then build them up into arrangements, working by ear. Along the way we will touch on harmony, phrasing, dynamics, good ensemble playing, and other musical skills.
All systems, Intermediate/Higher
C4 - Brian Peters - On The Pull
Anglo playing can be as much about understanding pull/push as it is about push/pull. In this Unit we will explore keys like F, G and D, (all on C/G instruments), which revolve around using “pull” notes. G on the pull is an interesting challenge that not many people seem to think of but has its uses and rewards.
Anglo in C/G, Intermediate/Higher
C5 – Dave Townsend - Styles & Traditions of English Dance Music
An introduction to the variety of rhythms and regional forms found in different parts of England, from Dartmoor jigs to Northumbrian rants and from morris to step-dance.
All systems, Basic/Intermediate
Please download the Booking Form here. For online bookings, please either fill in the form and attach it to an email, or copy and paste the form into the body of your email. For postal bookings, please print off the form, fill it in and post it.
PAY ONLINE
CONFIRMATION
Confirmation of bookings, with all the information you need before the weekend, will be sent by email.
ADVANCE MUSIC
Some of the music for the weekend will be available a few weeks beforehand for download online, so that you can print off the pages you need. There will also be mp3 files of the music being played.
ONLINE BOOKING
We encourage you to book online as this means your booking can be processed more quickly and you are more likely to get your first choice of course units. Payment is via the well-established Paypal system, and can be made in Sterling, U. S. Dollars or Euros.
*!*!*!* LOG JAM ALERT*!*!*!*
Some tutors are so popular that nearly everyone wants to work with them all weekend – whatever the topic or ability level! This might mean that all their units become full very quickly and a lot of people will miss out on the opportunity of working with them, or just won’t come at all. So in the interests of fairness, it will only be possible to book for one unit offered by tutors designated with this symbol *!*!*!*