SUMMIT SCHOOL OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND CULTURE
Fall 2024 Classes
INTERMEDIATE YOUTH TRAD BAND with Joanne Garton
Sundays 4:15 - 5:30 pm. 6 weeks starting September 22, $120
For intermediate level youth trad musicians of all varieties (roughly ages 9 - 15) who can learn tunes by ear from the Scottish, Irish, Cape Breton, and Quebecois traditions. Join the group to learn new tunes, practice familiar tunes, create some harmonies, and meet other trad kids and teens in the area. All acoustic instruments welcome. Come as you are–no previous Trad Band experience needed. Build our repertoire this fall to play with other youth and all ages trad bands in Quebec and Vermont next spring. Contact Joanne Garton with questions via www.joannegarton.com.
THE SUMMIT SCHOOL ALL-AGES TRAD BAND with Joanne Garton
Sundays 5:30 - 6:45 pm. 6 weeks starting September 22, $120 - $150
For intermediate to advanced traditional musicians of all ages interested in creating tune sets, harmonies, and arrangements, and learning about each other’s instruments and musical backgrounds. Get your favorite tunes ready for the dance hall! All instruments welcome with a focus on New England contra, Celtic, and Quebecois tunes. No need to have been in a previous Trad Band class. Welcoming brass players! Build our repertoire to perform at least once in Montpelier this fall and with other all ages Trad Bands in Vermont next spring. Contact Joanne with questions via www.joannegarton.com.
Youth/Low-Wage $120
Regular adult $150
Fiddler and dancer Joanne Garton mixes her pervasive passion for Scottish culture with the drive and rhythms of the New England dance floor. She performs, teaches, and records traditional music and dance from Scotland and Cape Breton with big influences from Ireland, England, Quebec, Appalachia and New England. A resident of Montpelier, Vermont, for the last 12 years, Joanne teaches kids and adults, performs on stage, plays in sessions, and of course, steps out on the dance floor at contra, Scottish, and English dances. Visit www.joannegarton.com for videos, sound bites, gig listings, and more.
INTERMEDIATE OLD TIME FIDDLE 103 with Jenny Monfore
Wednesdays 6:30 – 7:45 pm, 8 weeks, starting October 30, $200
Looking to spice up your old time fiddling? Struggling to add nuance to your playing and don't know where to start? Join Intermediate Old Time Fiddling!
In this class, we’ll learn simple techniques that will help you hone your old time fiddling style and make your playing sound more 'fiddley.' We’ll cover easy bowing tips and apply them to tunes we'll learn in class, how to play in alternate tunings for common old time keys, and practice leading tunes in a small jam setting--not as scary as it seems!
Students are encouraged to bring a recording device and are welcome to take videos. Everything is taught by ear. This class is geared towards folks who have been playing old time fiddle (or other genres of fiddle music) for at least a year.
Jenny Monfore has been playing old time music since her early 20s. Starting out on clawhammer banjo at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, NC, she picked up the fiddle and hit the road! She’s traveled around the country playing at regional old time festivals, from Clifftop to the Alaska Folk Fest and many in between. She enjoys playing and calling square dances, small jams at house parties, and introducing new folks to the wild world of old time music! She lives near Montpelier and has a flower farm called Old Time Flowers. Visit her website to learn more: https://www.oldtimeflowers.com/
5-STRING BANJO: AN INTRODUCTORY MINI-CLASS with Jacob Stone
Thursdays 7:30 - 8:45 pm, 4 weeks: Nov. 14, Nov. 21, Dec. 12, Dec. 19, $100
This mini-class is for anyone who thinks they might want to get started on the five-string banjo. For folk music, bluegrass, and even pop and rock music the banjo is a powerful and exciting instrument that is growing in popularity every year.
In these classes we’ll cover the basics of playing banjo, and you’ll have a chance to learn both bluegrass style – like Earl Scruggs and Bela Fleck – and clawhammer style – like Pete Seeger. Every student will be provided at the first class with a set of handouts that will serve as a teaching guide for all the classes and afterward.
Nobody will finish the class as a banjo virtuoso, but everyone should finish being able to play “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash or “Tom Dooley.” More important, you’ll know how to continue learning, whether with further lessons or on your own with online and printed materials.
This mini class is open to everyone! Even if you’ve never touched a musical instrument before, this might be a good way to start. People of all ages are welcome, and young folks in particular may find this class a great way to move ahead in their musical adventures.
And you don’t even need to have a banjo! We have loaner banjos available that class participants will be able to use and take home with them for the duration of the class. During the last class we’ll discuss how to buy a banjo if you want to keep playing. We’ll also discuss instructional materials that are available.
Class size is limited to four students who need loaner banjos and three students who have their own banjos.
Jacob Stone has been playing acoustic music since the “folk scare” of the 1960’s, he took up the five-string banjo about thirty years ago. He plays “Scruggs-style” three-finger bluegrass banjo, but his repertoire goes far beyond traditional bluegrass to old-time dance music, Celtic fiddle tunes, folk songs, ragtime, and even the occasional Grateful Dead song. He believes that bluegrass banjo picking can work with virtually any musical genre.
Before moving to Vermont a few years ago he was a founding member of the Pennsylvania band Faith and Practice, and has played with numerous other groups in Pennsylvania, California and Alaska. He currently plays with the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra. He and his wife Gretta also help lead a monthly community jam in Montpelier.
DROP-IN CLASSES and JAMS
COMMUNITY JAM led by Susan Reid, Gretta Stone and Jacob Stone (and others)
First Thursday of each month (no summer months), 6:15 - 8:00 pm, drop-in, $5 donation/session
Montpelier Senior Activities Center, 58 Barre St., Montpelier
The Community Jam is an opportunity for acoustic musicians at all skill levels to come together, learn new tunes, learn jamming skills, practice learning tunes by ear, connect with others in the rich music community in Montpelier, and have a fun evening. At each jam there will be a short instructional segment at the beginning, to welcome and encourage new attendees.
We welcome fiddles, mandolins, acoustic guitars, banjos, accordions, concertinas, dulcimers, harmonicas, pennywhistles, recorders, ukuleles, and bass. (No amplification except for bass guitars.)
We will be playing a wide variety of tunes: Celtic, old-time, contra dance and square dance tunes, bluegrass, and whatever else participants bring to the jam.
We welcome players at every skill level; if you know a few chords on your instrument you will be able to participate and grow your musicianship. Playing with others is an essential path to becoming an accomplished musician, and even the most passive participation in a jam can be a wonderful growth experience.
This is a drop-in event; no registration needed. To get on the mailing list or for more information, contact Bob Barrett at barrettsvt@gmail.com. We request a donation of $5 per session to support both the Summit School and the Senior Activities Center.
GENERAL CLASS INFO
Payment:
You can securely pay online securely via Paypal by clicking the button below to the class of your choosing. The Summit School appreciates payments by check or cash when possible in order to minimize service fees. Checks for the amount listed can be brought to the first day of class or sent to: Summit School, 46 Barre St. #5, Montpelier, VT 05602. Checks may also be dropped off at that location in the secure dropbox with the Summit School sticker. Please note the relevant class in the description line on the check.
Location:
Unless otherwise indicated, weekly classes are held at the Center for Arts and Learning at 46 Barre St. in Montpelier. The Community Jam is held in the downstairs Community Room.
Refund and Payment Policies:
After the first week of programming, no refunds will be provided. Student cancellation a week or less before the program begins results in a refund of half of the tuition. No refunds or make-up classes offered for student absences due to illness or family emergency.
Questions?
Contact the class coordinator, Tracy Loysen, at traloysen@gmail.com or 802-522-3083.
