Workshops, classes & schools projects
We offer a range of educational opportunities, some of which we organise independently, and others which are run in association or partnership with other groups or individuals.
Instrumental tuition Spring Term 2010
This term we’re taking a slightly different approach - running beginners and improvers on the same night in the same venue so we can work together a bit more, and also picking a topic for each term. The beginners class is suitable for inexperienced players, either with your own instrument, or using one of our hire instruments. It will build on work in the previous term, but will also be suitable for people who haven’t attended classes before. This term’s theme is “A First Look at Chords”, working on co-ordinating basic chords with easy-to-learn tunes. The class is taught by Ron Ross. The improvers class is for those with some experience but who would like more support and ideas for developing their playing. This term’s theme is “Stretching your fingers”, featuring tunes which use the upper octave, have a wide range or go to unexpected places! This would suit one-row players or two-row players. The class will be taught largely in the key of D, by Katie Howson.
The classes run on Tuesdays February 9th / 23rd & March 9th / 23rd in Stowmarket, Suffolk. Ring 01449 771090 to see if there are still spaces.
Concertina Saturday School
After a lengthy planning period, we were thrilled to finally welcome eleven keen (although not all “fresh-faced”!) students on an autumn afternoon in 2008 for the first in a series of anglo-concertina tutorials led by Roger Digby. Roger, who lives in Essex, was a founder member of the influential English band Flowers and Frolics and accompanies singer Bob Davenport. He is currently Reviews Editor for the International Concertina Association. The group met three times before Christmas and Roger gave them an intense and structured grounding in playing the instrument, supported by booklets and even a phone and email helpline! One participant commented: “An invaluable set of sessions, extremely well taught. With the focus that the sessions have given me, I feel that I am starting to make some progress!” Several of the group have been using instruments hired from EATMT. The classes and hire scheme have been possible thanks to donations from members of EATMT and also due to support from the “Friends of Towersey Festival” fund.
Current classes are on Saturday afternoons 25th April, 30th May, 4th July. If you’re interested in future classes, do get in touch.
Melodeon & concertina workshops
Song workshops
We run song workshops on a project basis every year.
In 2009,
we are working on a project looking at songs collected in Cambridgeshire, in
partnership with the Cambridge Music Festival and Fen Edge Community
Association, called Songs from the Fen Edge. Longtime EATMT collaborator
Chris Coe, together with Mary Humphreys, who has unparalleled knowledge of songs
from the county, will be running song workshops with local schools and also a
series of evening workshops
for adults. If you live near enough to get there in an evening, and are
interested in joining in, please contact EATMT. It doesn’t matter whether you
are an experienced singer or just fancy having a go in a group situation, you’re
welcome. Chris and Mary are very encouraging and inspiring, and they have been
working away at some of the fascinating songs collected by Ralph Vaughan
Williams, Fred Hamer and Ella Bull from singers such as Charlotte Dann, Hoppy
Flack and Ginger Clayton in the early 20th century.
Chris Coe and Mary Humphreys will be running song workshops with local schools and a series of evening workshops for adults, looking at some of the folksongs collected in the area, leading to a performance on Friday November 20th. The workshops are on Wednesday 21st October, 4th, 11th and 18th November in Cottenham Village College.
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These pictures show Chris Coe and workshop participants in action during the Blyth Valley Voices project in 2004.
This project culminated in a community concert, BBC Radio 4 programme, touring exhibition and book -click here for more details.
Fiddle workshops
At present we don't run regular fiddle workshops, but there is a chance to meet and play with some of the best of the UK's ENglish style fiddlers at Traditional Music Day every year, and most years this events includes a Fiddle Forum.
In the past we have held classes in English fiddle style for beginners and competent players - in 2002 as part of the Tuning In project, in Long Melford, Suffolk, in 2004 as part of the Musical Roots launch in Eye, Suffolk, and in 2005 in Shipdham, Norfolk, as part of the Playback project.
The photographs above are from the Tuning In workshop.
Melodeons and More
A day of classes for melodeon and anglo-concertina players - held annually since 2000. Further details on the Melodeons and More page.
We work in primary schools across the region, sometimes on one-off visits, and sometimes on longer projects, often as part of a wider community project.
We offer some ready-made programmes which include song and dance. The most popular programmes include broom-dancing and jig dolls. We can also offer a closer look at some regional traditional instruments, and in some cases, we can offer children a chance to try out instruments for themselves. We also offer some seasonal programmes which involve a historical aspect: Victorian Harvest, Victorian Christmas, or sessions which look at some aspect of Victorian life through local folksongs, such as transport, farming, the roles of men and women, and the story of the east coast fishing industry in songs, dances and drama. Click here to see details of programmes currently available.
Through our projects, children in many schools have learned traditional songs and dances from their locality: for example, over 200 children in King's Lynn learned local fishing songs during the summer of 2006. Following an initiative by the East Anglian Traditional Music Trust, Suffolk Folk donated twenty mini-melodeons to a Suffolk primary school. We also have our own stock of mini-melodeons which we can offer to schools on a shorter term basis, or as a one-off experience. An exciting partnership with the regional dance development agency, DanceEast, which involved a series of workshops on stepdancing for another Suffolk school, resulted in the production of a DVD for schools use and distributed nationally, 'Soil Dances'. See the DanceEast website for full details.
In 2007 we again worked in King's Lynn primary schools with 10-11 year olds, and are also ran a dance project in Diss with 6-7 year olds. Recent projects include country dancing in Norfolk and a song-based project in Cambridgeshire is due to start in October 2009..
Please ring 01449 771090 or email us at info@eatmt.fsnet.co.uk to enquire about booking a school visit or to discuss a customised project: perhaps for your arts week or to mark a special celebration.
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