Handmade Music School Workshops offer unique learning experiences in music or dance with master teachers at the Floyd Country Store. The workshops are timely, engaging, and dynamic sessions targeted to serve participants with varied interests and goals. Register today for a shorter 1-2 hour workshop, an all-day learning experience, or a multi-day camp!
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February 2020
The Handmade Music School presents a bluegrass guitar workshop with Jesse Smathers on Saturday, February 8, 2020 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm. Jesse will be teaching a bluegrass guitar workshop that focuses on the fundamentals of bluegrass rhythm in a traditional and modern context. He will also spend time breaking down his approach to lead playing.
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The Handmade Music School presents a bluegrass mandolin fundamentals workshop with Jeff Parker on Saturday February 15, 2020 from 3:30-5:00pm. Cost is $30.
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The Handmade Music School presents an intermediate old time fiddle workshop with Rachel Eddy on Saturday, February 22, 2020 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm. This fiddle workshop will focus primarily on how to help your fiddling sound old-timey and more driving. It will be geared toward learning how to use bow pulses, bowing phrases, and note combinations to give fiddle tunes a shape.
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The Handmade Music School presents an intermediate old time clawhammer banjo workshop with Rachel Eddy on Saturday, February 22, 2020 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm. This clawhammer banjo workshop will focus a lot on how to use your thumb to make the banjo swing in different percussive ways. We will study common phrases on the banjo and learn how to vary them in different ways.
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The Handmade Music School presents an Old Time Fiddle Fundamentals Workshop with Andrew Small on Saturday, February 29, from 1:30-3:00pm. This workshop will be beneficial to beginning and intermediate fiddlers as well as anyone who wishes to gain a foundational understanding of the functional, technical, and stylistic considerations inherent to old time fiddling.
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The Handmade Music School presents an Old Time Fiddle and Banjo Workshop with Paul Brown and Terri McMurray on Saturday March 7, 2020 from 1:30-3:00pm. Explore the interaction between old-time fiddle and banjo through demonstrations and your own participation. All levels welcome, and other instruments are welcome too! Paul and Terri have played fiddle & banjo together for decades, as a duo and in bands including the Toast String Stretchers and Smokey Valley Boys. Get some great tips, and generate your own new insights.
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The Handmade Music School, along with The Floyd Country Store, is excited to announce the Third Annual Floyd County Old Time Music Get-Together at the beautiful EcoVillage in Floyd County, Virginia! This amazing four day camp will take place in early spring on March 19-22, 2020. Instructors include Caleb Klauder, Sammy Lind, Nadine Landry, Reeb Willms, Tatiana Hargreaves, Jake Blount, Adam Hurt, and Phil Jamison. Early bird cost for the camp is $350 through December 31, 2019. Cost increases to $400 on January 1, 2020.
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The Handmade Music School presents an intermediate banjo workshop with Jared Boyd on Saturday, March 28, 2020 from 3:30-5:00pm. This workshop will focus on a few regionally local tunes phrase-by-phrase, as well as some clawhammer techniques and licks you can add to your playing to give it more character/variety.
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The Handmade Music School presents a flatfoot dance workshop on Saturday, March 28, 2020 from 5:30-6:30pm with local dancer/fiddler Gina Dilg. Gina will break down some basic steps that you can practice at the 7:30pm dance with the Twin Creeks String Band! All ages welcome. Cost is $15.
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The Handmade Music School presents an intermediate old time mandolin workshop with Carl Jones on Saturday, April 4, 2020 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm . Cost is $30. With 2 string chord shapes we can make the entire fingerboard our playground. In this session we will learn an old time tune and explore the back up with these smaller chords. We also will explore octaves, unisons, drones and backing up songs as well. I hope to show you that by using less strings our mandolin playing can have more possibilities, be easier, and much more fun.
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The Handmade Music School presents an intermediate-advanced old time fiddle bowing workshop with Erynn Marshall on Saturday, April 4, 2020 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm. Cost is $30. In this class we will learn a tune that uses more advanced, old-time bowing including pulses and a variety of bow rocks.
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The Handmade Music School presents a bluegrass guitar workshop with Jesse Smathers on Saturday, May 9, 2020 from 3:30 - 5:00 pm. This clawhammer banjo workshop is intended for the absolute beginner or those who feel they need a refresher on basic clawhammer techniques.
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