Beginning Improvisation for Fiddle and Mandolin

Adult Group Class / Fiddle & Cello Program

Improvising, riffing, jamming, soloing, arranging – all of these musical activities stem from the learned skill of composition. If you enjoy making up your own music and you play mandolin or fiddle, there are infinite musical possibilities just under your fingertips. Develop different composing modes such as melodic, pentatonic, lyrical, and blues. Folk, bluegrass, and jazz, are a few of the styles that will be covered, and we will also explore how to fuse rhythms together to build your own unique grooves. In each class, play an exercise and a musical example to explore the possibilities for rhythm, composed backup parts, and soloing.

This workshop is right for you if: You have always played from written music but wonder how to “just play,” you have learned lots of fiddle tunes by ear but struggle with what to play when you get together with other instruments, or you sound really great on the same three licks but wonder if there are more things to play.

Grouped with: Musicianship