P.E.I. Fiddle Camp features familyimmersion fun
Family-immersion is the theme of P.E.I. Fiddle Camp this weekend in Charlottetown.
New classes, Songs for the Whole Family and Island Gaelic Mouth Music, will compliment the regular schedule of fiddling, smallpiping, flute, whistle, songs, dance and accompaniment workshops on July 11-12. The weekend is scheduled around group and private sessions for beginners to advanced players, and children, teens, families, adults and seniors are welcome.
Cape Breton's Chrissy Crowley joins Richard Wood and Ward MacDonald to lead the fiddling program, which entails everything from raw beginners, youth fiddlers, not-so-youth fiddlers, advanced and master classes. Zakk Cormier will lead accompaniment workshops focusing on guitar but open to piano, bass, and mandolin as well. Maine's Will Woodson will offer smallpiping, wooden flute and tin whistle over the weekend and he will also host two Special Topics sessions for whistle and flute on Monday, July 13 and traditional piping on Tuesday, July 14.
Tiber Falzett will host Na Puirt Bhlasda (Tasty Tunes), a session in Island Gaelic Mouth Music for fiddlers, pipers and anyone interested in picking up some puirt-à-beul (Gaelic mouthmusic) from archive recordings made in Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. Learn to sing the Gaelic words to some local favourites at Island cèilidhs and to keep the tunes going when you don't have a fiddler or piper around.
"No previous knowledge of Gaelic is required, just your ears, voices and a sense of adventure.," says a release.
The family-immersion begins Saturday morning with a Songs for the Whole Family session lead by Mary MacGillivray and Cian Ó Móráin, and a youth fiddling program (ages five to eight) runs on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and concludes with a family square dance.
The camp is presented in association with the Holland College School of Performing Arts. It will take place at the college's downtown campus in the Music Performance building at 275 Kent St. in Charlottetown.
Visit www.peifiddlecamp.com or call 902 201-1758 for information.