School of Celtic Music Forges Trad Band
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THE COAST STRINGS annual Sunshine Coast Summer School is presenting its third Traditional Band program this summer. |
By HEATHER CATTANACH BECKMYER
GIBSONS, BC - When Iain Fraser encouraged Ann Law to begin a School of Celtic Music on the Sunshine Coast to enhance the musical education of the Coast String Fiddlers and other players, no one imagined what it would become.
Eight summers later, it boasts top teachers from around the world, offering classes in fiddle, cello, guitar, piano, accordion, flute, and harp, and is presenting its third Traditional Band program.
As the local Coast String Fiddlers progressed, a fiddle class merely learning new tunes was not enough of a challenge.
In 2006 Ian Lowthian taught the first Trad Band class, forging arrangements with electric bass, percussion, saxophone, viola, cello, piano, accordion and guitar welded to traditional and modern fiddle tunes to create a steely new sound.
The following year, Harris Playfair, director of Junction Pool, threw his funky wrench into the works, and along with Iain Fraser they created a white-hot performance that drew an instant standing ovation and encore.
This summer continues the tradition, reassembling the group under Playfair and Fraser. Brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, and electric instruments combine jazz, fusion and rock with traditional tunes.
Performances will be at the Heritage Theatre, Gibsons (July 12), and at the Harrison Folk Festival (July 13).
The July 7-11, 2008 School also includes a stellar line-up of teachers including fiddlers Pierre Schryer, Gordon Stobbe, Mairi Campbell, Ivonne Hernandez, Patrick Ourceau, Adrian Dolan, Michelle Bruce and Cathy Reckenberg. David Frances and Andy Hillhouse teach guitar, Abby Newton, cello, and Sharlene Wallace, harp.
For more information, call Ann or John Law at (604) 886-4768, or visit: www.coaststringfiddlers.com. Write to the Coast String Fiddlers Association at P.O. Box 1398, Gibsons, BC, V0N 1V0.
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