Bluegrass Fiddle Beginnings with Jannell Canerday
Are you feeling the bluegrass jam siren call? Ready to learn a bundle of bluegrass jam favorites? This class will help you wade in, as we cover perennial tunes in the vein of "Cherokee Shuffle," "Bill Cheatham," "East Tennessee Blues," and more, depending on class preferences and prior knowledge. We'll also learn a fiddle break for a common bluegrass song, since bluegrass fiddlers need to be able to handle instrumental and vocal numbers with equal ease. This class will also provide tips on bluegrass session etiquette and how it may differ from other types of traditional music jams. The class will be pitched toward students who are comfortable with tone production and playing in time, and who can pick up tunes by ear in D, G, C, and A. I typically provide notation as a reference, but we'll try to get the tunes by ear in class, mostly.
Class Objectives
- Most important ⇨ having fun while tackling new skills!
- Increase comfort while playing
- Learn a passel of solid jam melodies
- Practice kickoffs and how to “lead” when it’s your turn
- Try a break on a song
- Tune into basic, common chord progressions
- Consider some ways you might personalize a tune when you play it
- Get a feel for the flow of a jam, and a sense of some of the more widely accepted etiquette practices
Prerequisite: Fiddle 3
This is an adult class open to students aged 13 and up.