An Old-Time Stringband ENSEMBLE Workshop with NEIL WOODWARD

Saturday , February 25, 2006
01:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($35.00)

Black Dog Recording Artist, Musician, Storyteller, longtime Elderly Instruments instructor, half of the traditional-culture collaboration Matter and Ghost, and Official Michigan Troubadour (by proclamation of the State Legislature), Neil Woodward is offering this two-hour hands-on class to players of all stringed instruments (and tinwhistles, too!) who would like an opportunity to "play with others" and increase their confidence in being able to comfortably take part in ensemble playing. NO PRIOR ENSEMBLE-PLAYING EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY!

Ensemble playing--playing in an old-time stringband--is a different breed of dog (Neil loves dogs) from solo performance. Neil's workshop will enable stringed-instrument players to become comfortable playing in a group, by offering interactive instruction and live experience. The workshop will include an overview and demonstration of traditional North American dance tunes and the instruments of a traditional dance band.

This workshop is for Intermediate and Advanced players familiar with their instruments and the D-major scale and basic chords in D. Which stringed instruments? you ask. Ready? Here's the list of instruments that Neil provided us (which largely parallels the various instruments he so competently teaches): "Fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo (clawhammer or bluegrass), bass, dobro, ukulele, harmonica, tinwhistle, concertina, accordion, autoharp, dulcimer, etc." Neil has actually played all of these instruments for dances--with the possible exception of the uke, he says. We're pretty sure he would play the ukulele at a traditional dance if the opportunity arose.

Students will work on traditional tunes, and hand-outs will be provided. For the final 30 minutes of class, the novice stringband players will join Sheila Graziano's simultaneous Beginners' Clogging workshop in order to accompany the rookie cloggers with their newly-learned tune. Everybody wins!

And all this follows a free in-store concert by the traditional music-and-dance duo Matter and Ghost at 12 noon, in order to offer Elderly patrons of all ages a good time and to demonstrate old-time music and dance for potential workshop attendees who want to learn more about the traditional music and dance forms.

As we mentioned, Neil has been officially proclaimed "Michigan's Troubadour." In addition, the Arts Foundation of Michigan in 1993 acknowledged the "modern troubadours' tradition" by supporting Neil's project In the Year of the Dog. Let us share something special--straight from Neil--about what a modern troubadour actually does in his efforts to capture and recount the life and times in which he lives. Here's the scoop:

Neil has taught lessons at Elderly on Thursdays for years. On Thursday, November 10, working on material for this workshop, we hoped to catch him between lessons to ask a couple questions. But Neil wasn't here that blustery Thursday. He explained why a few days later in a letter, offering a haunting vision of the "modern troubadour's tradition":

"I was actually on the deck of an ore freighter in Toledo playing for a 30 year anniversary remembrance of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The wind was howling, we froze..., I managed to keep my guitar in tune, and it was WAY worth it!"

Neil's latest CD, Michigan-I-A(a collection of Great Lakes folk songs), lends further credence to his legislatively-declared position as "Michigan's troubadour." Neil will be performing at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Thursday, January 12. For further information on Neil's background and experience as a recording artist, traditional musician, raconteur, and teacher, visit www.neilwoodward.com. The workshop is Item # NEIL-2006.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Neil Woodward