Roger Landes will be in the Denver area doing a lessons, a workshop, and a house concert January 27-29.
The workshop is titled "A survival guide for the Irish Traditional Musician - surviving and thriving in an aural tradition", and will be held on Sunday, Jan. 29 from 1-5 PM. The workshop is not instrument-specific, and will be useful for both melody player and accompaniment.
The house concert will be held Saturday, Jan. 28 at Zina and Pete's house in Erie (25 minutes N. of Denver). The concert is free for workshop and private lesson attendees.
Roger still has a few one hour private lesson slots available on Friday and Saturday. He can teach Bouzouki, Guitar, Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, Oud, and Lavta.
If you are interested in any of these things, please contact me directly via email for more information. (Click on my username "Reverend", and then select "Send an email").
Roger is also interested in organizing these workshops elsewhere as a way to help cultivate Irish Traditional Music scenes in different parts of the U.S. You can contact me if you would like more information.
For anyone unacquainted with Roger, he's a fine teacher. I play flute, but sat in on several of his classes at Zoukfest a couple of years ago. It was interesting and educational to hear the questions posed by folks playing plectrum instruments and the responses Roger, and others, provided them.
A few of my favorite tunes are tunes I got from him. Any time spent with him is a good investment in development, plus he's just one heck of a nice guy.
You know, Stevie, that makes me think of something I've been wondering about for a while: I always think it's interesting when people say things like "well, I'd love to take a lesson from someone like *insert your current musical crush here*, but s/he plays an *instrument* and I play an *another instrument that's not the first instrument*.
My first real teacher in Irish was a fluter, and I play a fiddle. There've been a lot of things that have been great about that, and some things that have been a true and distinct advantage. (Of course, this would not be appropriate if you don't know your way round your instrument yet.)
But it strikes me that it's often very useful to take lessons from anyone who comes your way, regardless of what instrument they play...
Anyway, Will -- hey, all you'd need to do is get yourself down here. ;) C'mon! Bring the boys and Rose! I can always put the boys down in the basement, you KNOW they'd HATE being stuck in a room with the big screen TV and the arcade machine...
Yes, Zina. Exactly. I went to a workshop with Joe Craven when he played in town, and it was one of the best 2 hours I've spent. He officially plays mandolin, but since he also played cake pans and other stuff, it really didn't matter. He simply made me think about my playing and about music in general in a new way.
I also enjoyed sitting in on adjudication sessions with my daughter's high school jazz band. The clinicians tend to be very good music teachers, even if you don't play the saxophone.
Oh, go to Colorado, Will. It's only like 800 miles or so.....eeek.
As much as I like driving across tropical Wyoming in the dead of winter, I'll have to skip it this time. Ben's birthday is the 27th and we already have plans (er, closer to home). We need high-speed rail linking Helena, Cody, Denver, and Albuquerque (rumour has it that they're planning the Cheyenne-Albuquerque span of this), but that won't happen in my lifetime.
Learning across instruments is lots of fun. I've always listened a lot to pipers and adopted their tricks of the trade to fiddle. And now that I'm wheezing away on flute, I'm amazed at how many things transfer--how you can lean on a note with your breath like you do with the bow hair on fiddle, how a strike with the left ring finger feels like a ring finger cut on fiddle, how the right hand rests on the flute much like it does on the bow.
Plus, as Batlady says, so much of what you can learn is mental, attitudes, frames of reference, musical ideas not tethered to any one instrument or another.
See? I knew it wasn't just the cash. *smirk* ANYway, yeah, I think the cross-instrument thing is really an interesting phenomena. Oops, sorry, gotta get the bean soup started for tonight...well, more started than it already is...
Heck Will, if Wyoming is anything like Colorado this winter, it's probably closer to tropical than it is to the snowy wonderland that it normally would be.
We had 70 degree temperatures over much of the last month, including Christmas day. Last Saturday was in the 70's. And I've played several rounds of golf in the last couple weeks... (The good news is that our mountains are getting pounded with snow, so we hopefully won't have drought conditions next summer).
Yep, it *rained* here last night. I have friends who've been fishing every week this winter--and I don't mean ice fishing. Our snowpack is marginal locally but about average elsewhere in Montana.
Truth is, I just can't afford another big road trip, time or money.
But Pete, I thought all the snow in the Colorado Rockies drained west? ;o)
Hi Will, If the bean soup won't temp you, how about some fancy, imported cheeses? Or how about a fishing trip on the Arkansas River, the South Platte, or the North Platte, or the Rio Grande? Actually, the snow-pack is above average right now, despite the nice bicycling weather down here on the front-range
Dirk
"I thought all the snow in the Colorado Rockies drained west?"
Yeah, yeah, Grand Canyon and all that... That's why they call it the continental divide, though... So half of the water drains this way too... Now if we didn't go and sell it all to neighboring states...
But back to the topic at hand... If you really want Roger to come up to Helena, I'm sure it could be arranged, if you could find enough people that would want to do workshops and lessons, I'm sure Roger would be interested! (So you might as well come down here and talk to him about it while he's in town... And then you could write the trip off as a "business expense", yeah, that's it!)
Zina - I agree. I'd add that I consider almost any lesson to be useful, some more than others, but useful none the less. If you do nothing but have something you already know reconfirmed -it's useful. And certainly if you get anything new it is. Sometimes it's just hearing an idea stated differently or more completely, but I really enjoyed the bouzouki classes because it made me more specifically aware of how to better understand the flexibility those particular instruments have, as well as improving my own ability to convey or understand an idea of how the two instruments (theirs and mine) might better play off of one another rythmically and/or melodically.
I did not, however, attempt to understand bouzouki players.
What's not to understand? We're all tall, handsome, and utterly talented!
Actually, Roger talks a lot about how being a former uilleann piper taught him a lot about how to think about music on stringed instruments. He even does really nice crans on the zouk!
I think that once you have a certain comfort level with your instrument, there is a lot to be learned by listening to other instruments - especially when you play one of the not-so-traditional instruments like bouzouki.
Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Roger Landes will be in the Denver area doing a lessons, a workshop, and a house concert January 27-29.
The workshop is titled "A survival guide for the Irish Traditional Musician - surviving and thriving in an aural tradition", and will be held on Sunday, Jan. 29 from 1-5 PM. The workshop is not instrument-specific, and will be useful for both melody player and accompaniment.
The house concert will be held Saturday, Jan. 28 at Zina and Pete's house in Erie (25 minutes N. of Denver). The concert is free for workshop and private lesson attendees.
Roger still has a few one hour private lesson slots available on Friday and Saturday. He can teach Bouzouki, Guitar, Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, Oud, and Lavta.
If you are interested in any of these things, please contact me directly via email for more information. (Click on my username "Reverend", and then select "Send an email").
Roger is also interested in organizing these workshops elsewhere as a way to help cultivate Irish Traditional Music scenes in different parts of the U.S. You can contact me if you would like more information.
Pete
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Reverend
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Hi Pete,
What time will the house concert be on Saturday?
-Dirk
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by dirk
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Please send him to Helena....
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Will CPT
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Hey, c'mon down.
One of the guest bedrooms is unclaimed as of yet.
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
For anyone unacquainted with Roger, he's a fine teacher. I play flute, but sat in on several of his classes at Zoukfest a couple of years ago. It was interesting and educational to hear the questions posed by folks playing plectrum instruments and the responses Roger, and others, provided them.
A few of my favorite tunes are tunes I got from him. Any time spent with him is a good investment in development, plus he's just one heck of a nice guy.
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Stevie C
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Well thanks for the invite, but there's a hole in the pocket of my clothes where the money comes and goes and flows, how it rolls....
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Will CPT
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
You know, Stevie, that makes me think of something I've been wondering about for a while: I always think it's interesting when people say things like "well, I'd love to take a lesson from someone like *insert your current musical crush here*, but s/he plays an *instrument* and I play an *another instrument that's not the first instrument*.
My first real teacher in Irish was a fluter, and I play a fiddle. There've been a lot of things that have been great about that, and some things that have been a true and distinct advantage. (Of course, this would not be appropriate if you don't know your way round your instrument yet.)
But it strikes me that it's often very useful to take lessons from anyone who comes your way, regardless of what instrument they play...
Anyway, Will -- hey, all you'd need to do is get yourself down here. ;) C'mon! Bring the boys and Rose! I can always put the boys down in the basement, you KNOW they'd HATE being stuck in a room with the big screen TV and the arcade machine...
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Concert will be at 8PM - sorry, shoulda mentioned that
So Will, how 'bout we take up a collection to get you gas money? Heh
Pete
# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Reverend
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
That's a good idea, Pete. What do you say, Will?
Dirk
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by dirk
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Yes, Zina. Exactly. I went to a workshop with Joe Craven when he played in town, and it was one of the best 2 hours I've spent. He officially plays mandolin, but since he also played cake pans and other stuff, it really didn't matter. He simply made me think about my playing and about music in general in a new way.
I also enjoyed sitting in on adjudication sessions with my daughter's high school jazz band. The clinicians tend to be very good music teachers, even if you don't play the saxophone.
Oh, go to Colorado, Will. It's only like 800 miles or so.....eeek.
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Batlady
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
As much as I like driving across tropical Wyoming in the dead of winter, I'll have to skip it this time. Ben's birthday is the 27th and we already have plans (er, closer to home). We need high-speed rail linking Helena, Cody, Denver, and Albuquerque (rumour has it that they're planning the Cheyenne-Albuquerque span of this), but that won't happen in my lifetime.
Learning across instruments is lots of fun. I've always listened a lot to pipers and adopted their tricks of the trade to fiddle. And now that I'm wheezing away on flute, I'm amazed at how many things transfer--how you can lean on a note with your breath like you do with the bow hair on fiddle, how a strike with the left ring finger feels like a ring finger cut on fiddle, how the right hand rests on the flute much like it does on the bow.
Plus, as Batlady says, so much of what you can learn is mental, attitudes, frames of reference, musical ideas not tethered to any one instrument or another.
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Will CPT
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
See? I knew it wasn't just the cash. *smirk* ANYway, yeah, I think the cross-instrument thing is really an interesting phenomena. Oops, sorry, gotta get the bean soup started for tonight...well, more started than it already is...
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Trying to tempt me with bean soup, eh? *snort*
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Will CPT
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Heck Will, if Wyoming is anything like Colorado this winter, it's probably closer to tropical than it is to the snowy wonderland that it normally would be.
We had 70 degree temperatures over much of the last month, including Christmas day. Last Saturday was in the 70's. And I've played several rounds of golf in the last couple weeks... (The good news is that our mountains are getting pounded with snow, so we hopefully won't have drought conditions next summer).
Pete
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Reverend
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Yep, it *rained* here last night. I have friends who've been fishing every week this winter--and I don't mean ice fishing. Our snowpack is marginal locally but about average elsewhere in Montana.
Truth is, I just can't afford another big road trip, time or money.
But Pete, I thought all the snow in the Colorado Rockies drained west? ;o)
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Will CPT
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Hi Will, If the bean soup won't temp you, how about some fancy, imported cheeses? Or how about a fishing trip on the Arkansas River, the South Platte, or the North Platte, or the Rio Grande? Actually, the snow-pack is above average right now, despite the nice bicycling weather down here on the front-range
Dirk
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by dirk
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
BTW, Roger can teach guitar in the following tunings: DADGAD, dropped-D, and standard, and he also plays in DADGAE and DGDGBD.
It was GOOD bean soup. And it was a triple-cream cheese, which you could practically pour onto the cracker. Very yummy. Mmmmmm.
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
"I thought all the snow in the Colorado Rockies drained west?"
Yeah, yeah, Grand Canyon and all that... That's why they call it the continental divide, though... So half of the water drains this way too... Now if we didn't go and sell it all to neighboring states...
But back to the topic at hand... If you really want Roger to come up to Helena, I'm sure it could be arranged, if you could find enough people that would want to do workshops and lessons, I'm sure Roger would be interested! (So you might as well come down here and talk to him about it while he's in town... And then you could write the trip off as a "business expense", yeah, that's it!)
Pete
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Reverend
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Zina - I agree. I'd add that I consider almost any lesson to be useful, some more than others, but useful none the less. If you do nothing but have something you already know reconfirmed -it's useful. And certainly if you get anything new it is. Sometimes it's just hearing an idea stated differently or more completely, but I really enjoyed the bouzouki classes because it made me more specifically aware of how to better understand the flexibility those particular instruments have, as well as improving my own ability to convey or understand an idea of how the two instruments (theirs and mine) might better play off of one another rythmically and/or melodically.
I did not, however, attempt to understand bouzouki players.
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Stevie C
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
Is there any point?
# Posted on January 12th 2006 by Zina Lee
Re: Colorado workshop with Roger Landes
What's not to understand? We're all tall, handsome, and utterly talented!
Actually, Roger talks a lot about how being a former uilleann piper taught him a lot about how to think about music on stringed instruments. He even does really nice crans on the zouk!
I think that once you have a certain comfort level with your instrument, there is a lot to be learned by listening to other instruments - especially when you play one of the not-so-traditional instruments like bouzouki.
Pete
# Posted on January 13th 2006 by Reverend