Master teacher, musician, and author Bill Ochs will lead “Ornamentation Boot Camp”—a workshop for flute, tin whistle and low whistle players on Friday, August 13th from 2:00 to 6:00 PM at The Killington Grand Hotel, 228 East Mountain Road, Killington, Vermont.
The workshop is geared towards students who feel comfortable playing Irish dance tunes at a moderate pace, but who are either new to ornamentation or who would like to review the techniques. The class will start with instruction in simple ornaments (cuts and strikes) and then move on to compound ornaments (rolls and crans). Each ornament will be presented in the context of a tune, so students will learn not only technique, but will also add new pieces for their repertoires.
The fee for the workshop is $40. For further information or to register, contact me via PM or through Steve(dot)Bliven(at)comcast.net. There are still a few openings in the class but if you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible.
Participants should bring a tin whistle or low whistle pitched in D. Players of any type of flute are welcome—Boehm or simple-system pitched in D.
Boot Camp creator and presenter Bill Ochs has been called a “central figure in the renaissance of the tin whistle” by National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and the "leading tin whistle teacher in North America” by The Irish Voice newspaper. He is the author of "The Clarke Tin Whistle”—the definitive tin whistle instruction book—now in its twenty-second printing with over 250,000 copies in print. He teaches the flute, tin whistle and Uilleann pipes at The Irish Arts Center in Manhattan and at his own studio.
The Boot Camp workshop takes place just before The Pipers’ Gathering—North America’s most comprehensive alternative bagpipe event—at The Killington Grand Hotel. There will be ongoing whistle and flute instruction at The Pipers’ Gathering throughout the weekend presented by John Skelton and L.E. McCullough. The Gathering and Bill’s workshop are separate events requiring separate registration, but they should provide very complementary experiences.
For details on the Gathering, visit http://www.pipersgathering.org and http://www.pipersgathering.org/WhistleFlutes.shtml Combining Bill’s workshop with the Gathering will offer an exciting weekend of learning and listening.
Best wishes.
Steve