... in Dexter was the location of the Central Maine Fiddle Workshop with Greg Boardman! We got our packet of tunes and the CD a few weeks ago, so had time to get familiar with playing the tunes. These workshops are great... organized with tunes for beginners, intermediate and advanced players. Everyone gets the same tunes, but each group is the focus for one of the three hours. Advanced players start~ they sit in the "inner circle" with Greg and play the tunes, learning tips and techniques to make each one really special. Then, after a short break, the second hour starts with the intermediate players taking those inner seats... and you guessed it, the final hour is the beginner's turn. Everyone plays the tunes, including those sitting in the chairs outside the focus group, so we all get ideas for playing the tunes. After the three hour workshop, the newly learned tunes are played at a short contradance held at the same place... practical application of new information!
We got to try out a few new things when we played at the Norlands last night for their live-in program's Barn Dance, which was actually held in the kitchen because of the cool temperatures in the barn. It's so much fun watching young people learn to contradance, square dance, and circle folk dance for the first time. And it's always fun for us to play music for people!
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