Monday
Aug 26, 2019 at 12:01 AM Aug 26, 2019 at 9:40 AM
The Concord Conservatory of Music, 1317 Main St., has expanded their American Roots offerings for this coming year.
New this year, CCM is offering classes in Fingerstyle Picking and Blues. CCM’s Roots classes also include Old-Time, Bluegrass, Banjo, Fiddling and Guitar classes. Courses are tracked for those who are entirely new to the instruments or new to the style, and for adults with Bluegrass experience who are looking for a local jam. Teens and adults will find a class or a jam session that’s right for them.
Course offerings for beginners include Americana fiddling, bluegrass, banjo, and mandolin. Children as young as 8-years-old can join the group classes in fiddling and banjo, and they can also join the weekly jam sessions. Adult-track classes include beginner and intermediate fiddle, a learning to jam bluegrass class with a jam, beginner banjo, and mandolin. Beyond banjo, fiddle, and mandolin, anyone on guitar, violin, bass, banjo, or Dobro would fit in the offerings just fine. Anyone that enrolls in a group or lesson in the American Roots genre can also join the weekly jam at 8 p.m. Thursdays for free. Throughout the year, CCM will also offer monthly drop-in jam sessions and workshops to complement the program, focusing on related skills like improvisation, for example.
In the classes, students will pick up songs that are common in the Bluegrass and Roots tradition, learning melodies by ear.
“Song-based and aural learning works a whole different part of the brain than reading music off the page,” says fiddle player and teacher Kathleen Parks. “Learning in this way opens up a whole new world of musical and social possibilities.”
Tony Watt, an award-winning Flatpicking guitarist, and mandolinist will be teaching the bluegrass courses.
For more information about specific offerings, visit http://concordconservatory.org/offerings/american-roots, call 978-369-0010, or email info@ConcordConservatory.org.