I contacted Bill Ochs about the possibilities of having a workshop in Connecticut. I was thinking maybe in Hartford area, so it would be centralized for the whole state…it would depend on several things..
If I could find a reasonable place to have this workshop.
2 Find enough people interested in participating.
Depending on how many people participate would have the final determination on the cost.
Bill, strongly recommend dividing up the groups.
Absolute Beginners, Advance Beginners, Intermediate/Advanced.
There is one “wild-card” factor that affects every workshop: the mix of people who learn from printed music, and those who learn by ear. Bill tries to accomodate everyone’s learning style as best he can in each session. He brings written transcriptions for those who need them, and also play tunes slowly, one phrase at a time, for those who learn by ear. It is important that people who learn by ear bring some sort of recording device to the workshop, so they will have a copy of the tunes for future reference and review. It is often not realistic to learn an unfamiliar new tune by ear in a group setting, so having a tape recorder provides backup. In fact, I would encourage everyone to bring a recorder, whether they learn by ear or not.
So depending on the impact from this post will determine the fate of this workshop…
I am trying to do this for most of us that have a hard time finding a person to teach us, and also finding it hard to travel.
When I spoke to Bill he said that maybe sometime in October would be good for him…
You shouldn’t waste Bills time time “absolute beginners”.
There are other opportunities for that, even have another teacher come in for that segment. Your intermediate and advanced sections are the way to go! I would recommend you inquire about taping it. You just set the little camcorder on a tripod to the side, wide angle, and let it roll, if you are ambitious, I suppose you add an audio recorder and sync them up. Everybody thinks they will be intimidated. You forget it completely after the first 5 minutes. And you don’t need a cameraman which only adds to the distraction. Just switch tapes at the breaks.
AND, you edit it (they will help you at the copy store) and dub up about 150 copies and sell them on this website for $10 bucks as a fundraiser for this here, Fiffe and Chipple… Win/win.
Robin, I’m hoping that was a tongue-in-cheek comment suggesting taping it and selling the tapes as a C&F fundraiser If not, then I don’t know what to think!
As far as Bill Ochs teaching absolute beginners, I agree with you, wholeheartedly. After all, why else would his tutorial come in a package with a whistle?
Another thing about this sort of exercise is whether he is teaching tunes (BORING!!!) or teaching whistle techniques (USEFUL). Most of the workshops I’ve heard about are unfortunately tuning events. I have books and CDs for that. What I’m hoping for is a workshop that shows me how to take a tune I already know note for note, and make it sound ‘right’, where to put in an ornament and where it would distract, or practical examples of variations.
Maybe that’s the diff between a beginner and someone more advanced?
I wonder if his site provides information for what he believes is beginner, intermediate, advanced. . .
Bill Ochs regularly teaches a workshop for absolute beginners, and a class for absolute beginners, at New York’s Irish Arts Center. Having taken lessons from Bill for many years, starting from the advanced beginner level, I can vouch that he’s the finest of teachers for all skill levels. Anyway, why not start out with a teacher who can really inspire you?
Roy, I think you should try some other ways of publicizing this event before you decide if there will be an adequate response. We sometimes like to think that every whistle player on the planet reads these posts, but there are plenty out there who (dare I say it?) haven’t even heard of Chiff and Fipple (I know, I’m a heretic. Start gathering dry branches and bring on the torch). Seriously, though, there is a much wider interest in Irish music than is reflected by this site. Try some of the Hartford area Irish American clubs, or Irish dance schools. Is there a Comhaltas chapter in Hartford? Perhaps one of these organizations has an e-mail list they’ll let you post on. We have one for the Hudson Valley area that reaches several hundred people right in our area! You also might try posting on the fifeanddrum.com message board. There are lots of fifers in the Hartford area, and many of them are interested in Irish music.
Finally, When Tyghress reads this post, she’ll have some suggestions, too. She’s familiar with the Hartford session scene. You might even get some flute players or uillean pipers who’d be interested in a workshop with Bill.
Good luck. If it gets off the ground I might even come up to lend moral support.
The trad maillist is also a good place to bring this up… Rene, did you get on it? I know that Tom Walsh knows how to get on it. . .I’ll see if I can get him to get in contact with you.
I’ll be moving to Enfield CT in August, so I’m interested in an Ochs workshop.
Hmmm . . . I’ll be close enough to a lot of C&Fers (less than an hour from Hartford, Northampton, and Windham) to host whistling events, long as my landlord doesn’t freak .
It’s a 2 hr plus drive, but I think my wife and I would do it for such an event, especially the intermediate/advanced option… I’d really love to meet more Chiff and Fippler’s. I knew Bill years ago and would welcome a chance to see him again too.
If not, then I don’t know what to think! 
