Alasdair Fraser Fiddle Workshop

Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser kicks off the New Year with the 5th annual Community Workshop & Gathering on Saturday, January 5, 2013.  The workshop will be held from 9:30 am – 4:30p.m, with a jam session to follow.  The event is being sponsored by Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp, in collaboration with Miners Foundry, and is underwritten by the Sierra Fiddle Village Fund of the non-profit Scottish Fiddlers of California.  Advance registration is $50.00 for General Admission and $30.00 for Youth 12 and younger.  Registration the day of the workshop is $60.00 General Admission and $40.00 for Youth 12 and younger.  Lunch, coffee, and tea are included.  For information and to register, please call (530) 292-4219, email [email protected]; or Visit Website.

“We’re going to explore playing Celtic music as a group with an emphasis on arrangement ideas and traditional flavors,” says Fraser.  “We’ll look at the elements of language and dance and how to put fiddle tunes together to form a medley of a larger piece of music.  And we’ll have a mighty jam session at the end!”

Fraser will be teaching tunes “by ear” to musicians of all ages playing a wide range of instruments, including fiddles, cells, guitars, woodwinds, keyboards, and more.  Instruction will be geared toward intermediate to advanced musicians, though enthusiasts of all levels are welcome to participate.

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas

Fraser is renowned for his synergistic approach in performance and in his teaching; in concert, he’s been known to invited just-met musicians or dancers to join him for a wild impromptu finale; and his acclaimed week-long music camps famously conclude with veteran musicians taking the stage with beginners, all joyously sharing freshly-learned tunes.  “When people come together to make music,’ Fraser relates, “there’s a sense of presence and possibility, a synthesis of all the life experiences in the room.  Community arises when we open to that and go exploring.”

The Mission of the Miners Foundry Cultural Center is to preserve, enhance and utilize the historic Miners Foundry for cultural, educational and social activities.