Monday Sept 13 - Nov 1
Fiddle I: 7pm Taught by Charlie Burnham
Fiddle II: 8pm Taught by Charlie Burnham
Fiddle IV Irish Fiddle: 8pm Taught by Dana Lyn
Tuesday Sept 7 - Oct 26
Mandolin I: 7pm Taught by Ernie Vega
Mandolin II: 8pm Taught by Ernie Vega
Finger Picking Banjo
: 7pm Taught by Hilary Hawke
Wednesday Sept 8 - Oct 27
Fiddle III: 7pm Taught by Betsy Plum
Banjo I: 7pm Taught by Eli Smith
Banjo II: 8pm Taught by Eli Smith
Thursday Sept 9 - Oct 28
Ukulele I: 7pm Taught by Doug Skinner
Ukulele II: 8pm Taught by Doug Skinner
Ensemble Class: 7pm Taught by Eli Smith
Ensemble Class is about playing with other people. We’re looking for a banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, percussion, voice, or some combination of some of them. Eli Smith, our banjo teacher, will teach the class, and the goal is to create a group to play music as a band. Eli will supply music for the group, and teach people how to begin playing together. The class is for people who finished two levels of our class, or the equivalent playing level. You will learn to play kick-offs and endings, and keep time with each other.
Friday Sept 10 - Oct 29
Kids Guitar I: 4pm Taught by Sonia Brown
Kids Guitar II: 5pm Taught by Sonia Brown
Saturday Sept 11 - Oct 30
Guitar I: 1pm Taught by Geoffrey R. Wiley
Guitar II: 2pm Taught by Geoffrey R. Wiley
Guitar III: 3pm Taught by Geoffrey R. Wiley
Fingerstyle Guitar I: 4pm Taught by Ernie Vega
Fingerstyle Guitar II: 5pm
Taught by Ernie Vega
Kids Guitar I: 4pm Taught by Sonia Brown
Kids Guitar II: 5pm Taught by Sonia Brown
Geoff Wiley is the co-owner of Jalopy and also one of its teachers. He grew up in the Seattle are, first in the music of his mother and the Baptist church, only to come to his county-blues forum of today. He has played in several bands, from punk to bluegrass – if you squint you may see him in the fiddle classes, learning a new instrument.
Doug Skinner has played the ukulele for decades, everywhere from Lincoln Center to “The Joe Franklin Show,” from Joe’s Pub to an MTV jingle. He’s written numerous scores for dance and theater, most notably for “The Regard of Flight” and other productions by actor/clown Bill Irwin.
Eli Smith is an old-time banjo player originally from Greenwhich Village. He says, "I play old-time banjo because its the first music that I heard as a kid that really spoke to me." Eli plays several old-time styles, including clawhammer/frailing, up-picking, thumb-lead and feels free to mix those styles. "Old-time musicians did whatever they wanted! But they did it within the framework of their 'tradition.'" Eli teaches banjo and guitar lessons full-time, plays gigs and hosts the internet radio show Down Home Radio.
Ernie Vega is a New York City singer/songwriter/guitarist who specializes in Rock and American roots music. He is a former student of Dave Van Ronk and when he isn’t gigging in Manhattan or Brooklyn, he can be found at the Jalopy Theatre fixing up guitars.
Sonia Brown recently moved to Brooklyn from Alabama, where she spent the past few years immersed in learning delta blues and old-time country music from the source. She's also a trained pianist and drummer who has played in everything from orchestras to punk bands, but these days she writes and performs primarily on guitar.
Betsy Plum has been playing fiddle for seventeen years. While she was raised in and around the tradition of old-time music, she augmented her classical violin training with Irish, French-Canadian and Cajun styles growing up. She believes learning the tradition of the music and styles one plays is equally important to the notes and bowings. Two fiddlers who have influenced Betsy are Curly Miller and Judy Hyman. In Brooklyn, she can be found moonlighting with "The Calamity Janes" on fiddle and banjo-uke.
Dana Lyn. is a Brooklyn-based fiddle player Dana Lyn first heard traditional Irish music fifteen years ago and has since immersed herself in the Clare and Galway styles of traditional Irish fiddle music. She has toured with the Green Fields of America, Cherish the Ladies, and Susan McKeown, has been featured on RTE documentaries The Raw Bar and Geanntrai, and her fiddle playing has been featured on over two dozen recordings. Dana has been an instructor at the Augusta Heritage Center and The Catskills Irish Arts Week, and has taught privately for ten years.
The passion and fire of Charlie Burnham's violin has graced the work of many: Cassandra Wilson, James Blood Ulmer, Steven Bernstein, Susie Ibbara, Peter Apfelbaum, Henry Threadgrill, String Trio of New York, Ted Daniel, Medeski, Martin & Wood, and many, many others. His new band Charlie Burnham and the Hidden City, marvelously combines his stellar fiddle with his soulful voice. Charlie has taught musicians for years.
Hilary Hawke. Don’t be fooled by banjoist Hilary Hawke’s pigtails. She’s got a degree in music education from Crane School of music in Potsdam, NY and is currently enrolled in the Masters of music program at Columbia Univ.
“I love to see the community and music making that surrounds old time and bluegrass, it’s amazing how banjo can make people dance!” Hawke took part in the Greyfox Bluegrass festival (’09) and the International Bluegrass Music Association conference as well as the Folk Alliance with the Maybelles last year, and her own band in 2010, Hilary Hawke and the Flipsides. Hilary Hawke plays fingerpicking style (3-finger, 2-finger) and clawhammer with many bands around the city, in theatres, school workshops, and on numerous recordings, and is a huge fan of the Jalopy Theatre.