News
40 odd sleeps....
26th Feb 2024
NEWS UPDATE
ingers Week 2024 – 8th to 12th April, 2024
Arrive Sunday 7th - Depart Saturday 13th
Kingham Hill School – Chipping Norton – Oxfordshire – OX7 6TH
February 25th, 2024
News is coming thick and fast this year. Only 48 or so days to go and counting.
Jeepers! - Sore Fingers Week is gaining on us fast.
PLEASE ADDRESS ALL QUERIES TO: moira@sorefingers.co.uk
HEADLINES
• MORE ABOUT DEDE WYLAND and why you should book!
• COURSE NEWS – DOBRO WILDERNESS….
• SCRATCHBAND PRE-REGISTRATION
BLUEGRASS VOCALS:
Here’s link to an article in Bluegrass Unlimited about Dede Wyland which tells her whole story: https://bluegrassunlimited.com/article/dede-wylands-online-school-of-voice/ .
Also, here is a link to DeDe’s own site containing an introduction video by Dede explaining some essences of what she can teach you https://www.dedewyland.com/ .
And here are links to her albums where you can appreciate her singing performances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyXz3YbVdyg .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcdqRs4XVp4 .
And what do you do after watching and listening? Book your place on the Singing Class at Sore Fingers April week. Don’t miss this opportunity to have face to face tuition with one of the world’s leading Bluegrass vocal coaches.
Additionally, here’s a link to AN IBMA VIRTUAL WORKSHOP where vocalists Dede Wyland (our singing tutor at the forthcoming Sore Fingers Week), Steven Mougin (Vocalist with the Sam Bush Band, and Dan Boner (formerly of the Becky Buller Bluegrass band) were commissioned to run a conversational workshop on Bluegrass vocals.
The workshop has a subtitle: “Everyone is a Singer: The Voice as an Instrument”. If you are a vocalist in a band you may want to scroll through this to savour some of the valuable things you will encounter in DeDe’s class.
Here’s the You Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-e_V_LICoA
DOBRO WILDERNESS?
Here’s an irresistible video of Ivan Rosenberg in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=zs-AUVkLAO8
Back in 1996, we ran just three classes: Banjo, Guitar/Mandolin combined, and singing. Just over fifty students attended and set the scene for the subsequent twenty-seven years. In year two, we ran classes for the full line up of instruments in a Bluegrass band except for Dobro. We mistakenly believed there were only a handful of players in the UK and that a viable course would never materialise. Well, we took a chance on booking the late Stacy Phillips and an astounding twenty souls turned up. They were people we’d never seen before. They called themselves “Resophonic Guitarists” and they even had a group messaging system. We just didn’t know about them…..
For many years the Dobro class flourished but I guess many of those early students have moved on or stopped playing and disappeared into the wilderness. Natural turnover of people happens on every class, but it seems the number of Reso players has regressed. Sadly, Ivan’s class is a bit thin on the ground and could really do with about five or six more students to it bring it back from the brink.
We are not cancelling the class so, how about coming out of the wilderness? There’s plenty of room and it surely will be comfortable.
Please let’s hear from you soon.
OTHER COURSE NEWS
Unfortunately, whilst it started well, we’ve had to cancel Sue Pomeroy’s Songwriting class., Due to the recent reshuffling of instructors for other instruments she is left with only one student who has now agreed to transfer to the singing class. Sue will be attending the event, and we will ask her to run a songwriting elective. We’d like to thank Sue for her flexibility.
There’s still plenty of room on the following classes so if you’ve left it late, there should still be something to suit you.
Autoharp, Bass, Bluegrass Fiddle, Mandolin (Tristan Scroggins), Old Time Banjo (Lukas Pool), Old Time Fiddle, Singing, Music Development and Ukulele.
There are one or two places left with Gabe Hirshfeld (Bluegrass Banjo) and Stash Wyslouch (Flatpick Guitar).
Ron Block (Bluegrass Banjo), Jo Walsh (Mandolin) and Alison De Groot (O. T. Banjo) are full.
REGULAR NEWS
Scratchband Registration
We aim to close Scratchband registration by tea break on the first Monday of Sore Fingers Week. So, we encourage you to get registered beforehand using the online form. You can always withdraw later if you change your mind. Here’s the link:
Link, login and password are below to access the protected registration form.
https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/Scratchbands/sbregform.php
Login: is as follows:
User: “musician”
Password: “sbands2024”
TUTOR AND CLASS REMINDER
I have updated some current information where classes are either fully booked or running out of space. Where there is no comment there is still room for a few more bookings – some more than others as described above. Things keep changing all the time, but this is today’s snapshot:
Michael Poole AUTOHARP
Gabe Hirshfeld BANJO – Only one place left.
Ron Block BANJO – Class Fully Booked.
Sam Quintana BASS
Ed Hicks & Peter Earle BEGINNERS
Heather Farrell-Roberts BEGINNERS (AUTOHARP
Ivan Rosenberg DOBRO
Brian Wicklund FIDDLE
Stash Wyslouch GUITAR
Tristan Scroggins MANDOLIN
Joe Walsh MANDOLIN – Class Fully Booked
Andy Mackenzie & Mike Pryor MUSIC DEVELOPEMENT
Allison DeGroot O T BANJO – Class Fully Booked.
Lukas Pool O T BANJO
Sami Braman OT FIDDLE – Only one Place Left.
Dede Wyland SINGING
Phil Doleman & Percy Copley UKULELE
Places are available on all these classes except where indicated.
USEFUL WEBSITE LINKS
We have loads of useful information on the website and you might like to read the following web pages for insight:
Check out your Easter 2024 tutors and their bios:
https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/tutors.php?id=25
The “Experience” page describes both the classroom experience and all the extra-curricular activities. It also includes a comprehensive section about the Scratch Band Activities: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/experience.php
The “What Course Should I Go On” if you are a little confused as to which class would best suit your musical needs: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/whatcourse.php
Check the “FAQ’s” page for answers to general and practical questions such as “What should I bring?”, etc: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/faq.php
Follow this link to get a daily schedule of activities: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/docs/Master%20Daily%20Programme%20Easter.pdf
To Register to Participate in the Scratch Band activity:
Link, login and password below to access the protected form.
https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/Scratchbands/sbregform.php
Login: is as follows:
User: “musician”
Password: “sbands2024”