NORTHERN ROOTS Traditional Music 3-Day Workshop
With Keith Murphy (guitar, mandolin), Becky Tracy (fiddle), Matt Heaton (guitar, bouzouki) and Shannon Heaton (flute and whistles)

July 9-11, 2010
5 pm Friday through 2 pm Sunday
Green Mountain Camp, Dummerston, VT

The Northern Roots Weekend features a series of intensive teaching workshops in traditional music with highly experienced and engaging instructors. Some classes will focus on technique specific to fiddle, flute, whistle, mandolin and guitar, but all instruments are welcome. Some experience in traditional music required and a recording device is recommended.

A dance band workshop will review the basics of playing for contra dancing but will also be an opportunity to form mini ensembles and experiment with arranging. Evening dancing will be a chance for musicians to play for dancing and to enjoy a good romp on the floor.

The Northern Roots Weekend will also be a wonderful chance to enjoy informal jam sessions and pub style singing in a lovely country setting (with swimming) in Dummerston, Vermont at Green Mountain Camp, located just 10minutes from downtown Brattleboro.

Camp begins Friday at 5pm through Sunday at 1pm with wonderful meals provided beginning with Friday supper through Sunday brunch. Rustic cabin accommodation available and also good camping.

SEE FULL SCHEDULE BELOW.

Cost:  $230 / Includes all workshops, 5 meals and 2 nights cabin lodging (if desired) / $60 deposit
To register: Download the  Summer REGISTRATION FORM or call 802-257-4523

Instructors

Keith Murphy & Becky Tracy
Keith Murphy and Becky Tracy have been leading the Celtic Music Classes at the BMC for several years. They also founded the Northern Roots Festival in Brattleboro, VT which happens annually in January in Brattleboro, VT. Becky's fiddle playing and repertoire combines elements of traditional Irish and French Canadian music. She is a veteran of the New England contra dance scene and has performed and traveled widely. Keith is highly respected guitar player in the world of traditional music with a style based on DADGAD tuning. He has accompanied some of the finest players of traditional music and has played with many traditional bands, including the trio Nightingale with which he plays with Becky. Both Keith and Becky are experienced teachers and are particularly adept at helping initiate students in learning by ear.

Matt & Shannon Heaton
Named Female Musician of the year by the Irish-American News in 2009 and by LiveIreland in 2010, Shannon Heaton is a masterful flute player and singer. Right along with her is her husband, Matt Heaton, an incredible guitarist and bouzouki player.

Equally comfortable as performers and instructors, the Heatons are passionate about elements of style, etiquette, and rhythm for Irish traditional music. As individuals and as a team, they are active participants in the ongoing learning process that makes Irish music the vibrant tradition that it is-from formal workshops/classes to spontaneous sessions after shows.

Shannon Heaton (flute, tin whistle, songs): Shannon's facility on her own instruments, her sensitivities as a composer/arranger, and her ability to discuss and demonstrate technical aspects of Irish music make her an effective and sought-after teacher in a variety of settings. At home in Boston she offers private flute and tin whistle instruction and teaches group classes for the Comhaltas (Harvard and Boston College).

Matt Heaton (guitar, bouzouki, songs, bodhran): Matt plays and teaches in both standard tuning, which can be more accessible to players familiar with the guitar, and in alternate tunings such as DADGAD. Years of session playing allow him to offer insights for musicians of various levels. And his classical guitar training (MMus, Northwestern University) gives him an awareness of technical issues which can be overlooked by other traditional guitar and bodhran teachers.  He stresses to accompanists of all instruments the importance of the melodic tradition in Irish music, and encourages students to play the music, rather than just play along with it.

LOCATION:  Green Mountain Camp, Dummerston Center, Vermont

MUSIC DOWNLOAD FOR PARTICIPANTS