Photo 1: Pete on top of The Wrekin, Shropshire
(photo: Jill Cooper)
My sabbatical this year has been great, but I'll be back, suitably refreshed, at the London Fiddle School on 18th September, with two 10-week autumn courses on Wednesday evenings at Cecil Sharp House: 'Fiddle playing: the Inside Story' (Basic-plus) and 'American Old Time Fiddle' (Intermediate/ Advanced) - see WORKSHOPS. I'll also be at home for individual lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays during term time, and am looking forward to seeing all you fiddlers again.
Photo 2: Pete at Christuskirche, Niebüll
(photo: Ard Jongsma)
Photo 3: Niebüll concert
(photo: Bernt Weber)
I did break my vow of teaching abstinence for Harald Haugaard's week-long International Fiddleschool in Breklum, North Frisia at the end of July, my 8th consecutive year on the faculty - and as ever, what a week! It was inspiring to work with 146 musicians and singers from across Europe, Scandinavia and all over, including the energetic Calgary Fiddlers from Canada, as well as a dozen amazing colleagues, among them cellist and singer Mike Block - with wife Hanneke and new baby Eilidh. A couple of tunes I taught - Farewell to the Dene and Pearl Wedding, by Northumberland fiddler and shepherd Willie Taylor (1916-2000) - went down a storm at the Finale Concert in Christuskirche, Niebüll - see photo - but everybody was still as perplexed as ever by Brexit.
At the time of writing, my next gig is Whitby Folk Week (17-23 August) with Rattle on the Stovepipe. Dave, Dan and I have been recording at Doug Bailey's WildGoose studios recently, and although the new album isn't out yet, performing the new songs and tunes live will be exciting. We will be back up north for a mini-tour in West Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lancashire in September, with shows in Ripponden, Stockport and Southport (20-22 September) - see GIGS. At the Folk Week I'll give a fiddle workshop on Tuesday morning at the venue allocated for this purpose, Whitby Conservative Club, teaching tunes and dispensing words of wisdom from below a fading portrait of Margaret Thatcher. I'm also looking forward to a reunion for two Whitby concert sets with my singing partner of the 1980s, Peta Webb. Unlike Margaret T., Peta and I are still around.
Photo 4: Dave Arthur at WildGoose Studios
(photo: Pete Cooper)
Have a good rest of the summer.
See you later,
Pete
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