Fiddle Tunes at Centrum

Get Ready for Cajun Friday

Friday, July 3, at 7:30pm we're hosting a grand ole Cajun and Swing Dance outside McCurdy Pavilion here at Fort Worden. (We'll move it inside if it rains).

The evening will feature some of the finest Cajun musicians in America - Jesse Lege, Joel Savoy, and The Red Stick Ramblers - onstage, and YOU dancing on Littlefield Green. (Purchase tickets online.)

The Red Stick Ramblers first emerged from Baton Rouge around 1999. Even early on, their live shows were inspired and infectious, equal parts unbridled, ramshackle energy and thrilling musical precision. Up and down the Gulf Coast, the Red Stick Ramblers quickly earned a reputation as a thrilling band as appealing to elderly Cajuns as they were to college kids out for a good time. Four albums later, the Ramblers are nationally sought-after, and we're happy that they are choosing to spend the week with us.

Coming Soon: Fall Fiddle Tunes Workshop

FIDDLE TUNES WEEKEND
November 15–18, 2007

For the second consecutive year, the Fiddle Tunes party returns to Fort Worden in the fall! The Fiddle Tunes Weekend is a total-immersion workshop presenting many regional styles of fiddle music, particularly the songs of the Southern mountain region.

The program will be jam-packed with workshop classes, tutorials, and open jams, culminating in a faculty concert on November 17 that is free for participants. A public dance in the USO building follows the concert.

We'll taking registrations shortly. Stay tuned for more info very soon!

Workshop Schedule

Mornings are devoted to workshops in fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass and songs. The intended focus of these morning sessions is on the individual faculty member’s regional and personal style and repertoire. All faculty members will give four morning workshops during the week, and the nature of these workshops will vary according to their personal preferences. While some of the faculty will be experienced teachers, some will not. In general, the emphasis will be on the participant’s learning in the tradition of close observation and listening, followed by industrious, personal experimentation. Some tutors will give morning workshops in subjects of their choosing.

 

Afternoons are focused on the band labs in which participants join the faculty members of their choice to form ensembles and learn tunes as close to the styles of their faculty leaders as possible. These bands play for dancers on Friday night and for the climactic band concert on Saturday morning. The second afternoon period presents the tutors in “office hours” where they can trouble-shoot and answer questions uncovered in the band labs, as well as imparting instruction in instrumental technique. Tutors are chosen to be very responsive to the needs of the individual participants. The last afternoon hour is devoted to dance workshops and the popular do-it-yourself or “wild card” workshops.

 

Evenings feature intimate, unamplified showcase concerts in the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater, including the vastly entertaining Participants’ Concert on Thursday night. Splendid social dancing takes place in two dance halls, and a limited number of master jams are hosted in the Schoolhouse. All of this is stirred up with a full-load of night-long jamming and impromptu parties.

Typical Schedule

First Sunday

• 3:30-5:30 check-in
• 7:30 welcome session

Monday- Friday

• 9:30 am workshop
• 11:00 am workshop
• 2:00pm band labs
• 3:30pm tutorials
• 4:30pm dance & wildcard workshops
• 7:00pm showcase concerts
• 9:30pm dancing & jamming

Meals

• Breakfast    8:30
• Lunch        12:30
• Dinner        5:30

Last Sunday
Check out by 11am