Mondays, 8:30-9:45 pm, from November 12 to December 10
$100.00 advance / $110.00 after October 29
You've always wanted to play the fiddle. You have your grandmother's fiddle in the closet. Or you've rented one from Ifshin Violins, or some other reputable music store, and you want to turn noise into muse. Great! In this class we cover the fiddle from the very beginning. How to hold the instrument and the bow. How to take care of it. How to play some simple tunes, and get you up and running on Making Music. You need to have a fiddle, a bow, and some rosin. I highly recommend a shoulder rest and an electronic tuner. If you have a smart phone, you can get a tuning app -- there are many good ones. I like Cleartune.
Erik Hoffman spends his time calling
Old-Time Country Dancing and playing music (fiddle, guitar, voice,
mandolin, bodhran, and other odds and ends). Erik became interested in
traditional music and dance when he returned to his home town of Santa
Barbara in 1980. Friends dragged him to the contra dances, and he became
addicted. In 1985 he called his first dance.
In 1987, Erik took
up the fiddle. Three weeks later, on a dare, he competed in the Santa
Barbara Old Time Fiddle Contest and won third place in beginning fiddle
in a field of three. The following year he place first in intermediate
fiddle. In 1990, Erik came in third in advanced traditional singing.
Traveling
all over the state, Erik has become well known from Arcata to San
Diego, and from Carson City, Nevada, to the Bay Area. He has also toured
the United States extensively, on both coasts, and in between. He has
been staff at a number of festivals, including the Bay Area Country
Dance Society's American Week, Family Week, and Spring Weekend (Monte
Toyon); CD*NY's Hudson Guild; Sacramento's Echo Summit; California
Traditional Music Society's Solstice and New Year's festivals; San Luis
Obispo radio KCBX's Live Oak Music Festival; New Mexico Folk Music &
Dance's Memorial Day Weekend; and Seattle's Slugs at Sunrise Music and
Dance Camp.
Erik loves the spirit and joy that is passed along with traditional music and dance, and loves to share his enthusiasm.