News
SORE FINGERS JANUARY 2025 NEWS UPDATE
26th Jan 2025
Sore Fingers Week 2025 – 14th to 18th April, 2025
Sunday 13thpm - Depart Saturday 19tham
Please note this is the week RUNNING UP to Easter Sunday!
Don’t get caught out!
Kingham Hill School – Chipping Norton – Oxfordshire – OX7 6TH
Date: January 26th, 2025
TUTOR UPDATE
The start of 2025 brought a flurry of bookings which recent activity means some courses are now full. Joe Decosimo, Jake Workman and Jeff Scroggins are full to bursting.
So, we have taken the plunge and booked three more great tutors to double up for Guitar, Old Time Fiddle and Bluegrass Banjo. As we have great faith that enough of you will book to make the extra expense work; now teaching will also be legendries: JOHN MOORE, SAMMY LIND and LEON HUNT respectively.
The word seems to be out there even before we’ve issued this press release, and the new classes are filling already.
Many will remember John Moore as Guitarist and Mandolinist with band Bluegrass Etc who toured several times in the UK. John taught at Sore Fingers in 2008 and went down a treat, he a fabulous player and continues to teach and perform at camps and festivals. It is also a little-known fact that John was Chris Thile’s first mentor when Chris was a mere lad of thirteen in his native Colorado! Welcome back John! Here also is a video featuring some of Johns lovely playing whilst in pursuit of his other professional activity of Horse Development training. This man’s a Cowboy in the truest sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxnWxHJrS60 .
What can one say about Sammy Lind? Last time he came to Sore Fingers, he taught all day, and “sessioned” all night. Another successful teacher and a big hit. It has been suggested we are in for a real Old Time Party. Hopefully, there will be time for some lessons too! There are lots of videos of Sammy but here’s one I particularly liked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU1kjPKAdUM&t=7s .
Leon Hunt needs absolutely no introduction and is considered one of the world’s best Banjo Players. He’s another who knows his teaching and has the distinction of being the most booked banjo player at Sore Fingers Week. There are very good reasons for that, he’s just brilliant. Again, there are lots of his videos out there but here’s one of my favourites showing some Leon instrumental versatility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpKlzM0w5pk
I can’t wait to see what these guys are going to bring to the showcases!
On the other hand, some courses are struggling. Singing, Bluegrass Fiddle, Ukulele and Bass are a bit thin on the ground. Where are you all?
We’ve got some great tutors lined up for these classes, Trent Freeman, Chris Sanders, Percy Copley and Eleanor Wilkie, all of them masters of their art.
Here are some more video links and respective web sites:
Trent Freeman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHxzZBKGLDA – (You’ll also recognise another old Sorefingers friend in this video).
Chris Sanders: https://hardroadtrio.com/video: From Her band “The hard Road Trio” site
Percy Copley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2RVb5jI3x4&t=64s And more on Facebook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2RVb5jI3x4&t=64s
Eleanor Wilkie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYkNzvy3Qs&t=135s demonstrating a “good slap” as part of her teaching technique.
One thing I always wonder is why we don’t get more BEGINNERS?
REMEMBER: YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE GOOD to come to Sore Fingers Week, it’s a school! We teach you to get better and not pick up bad habits. So please don’t be inhibited, it’s really friendly and our tutors, Ed Hicks and Peter Earle are complete pussy cats….
Here’s a reminder of the classes for Easter 2025 with new additions:
AUTOHARP – HEATHER FARRELL-ROBERTS/LYN JONES
BANJO – JEFF SCROGGINS
BANJO – LEON HUNT
BASS - ELEANOR WILKIE
DOBRO – SALLY VAN METER
BLUEGRASS FIDDLE – TRENT FREEMAN
GUITAR – JAKE WORKMAN
GUITAR – JOHN MOORE
MANDOLIN 1 – MATT FLINNER
MANDOLIN 2 – ANDREW COLLINS
MUSIC DEVELOPMENT – ANDY MAC KENZIE/MIKE PRYOR
OLD TIME BANJO – MITCH DEPEW
OLD TIME FIDDLE – JOE DECOSIMO
OLD TIME FIDDLE – SAMMY LIND
SINGING – CHRIS SANDERS
UKULELE – PERCY COPLEY
BEGINNERS (ALL INSTRUMENTS) – ED HICKS/PETER EARLE
Check out the course page and read the tutor bios. We can look forward to another series of wonderful evening showcases, and with this line-up, I’m certain well see some musical fireworks again.
As well as the daily teaching and the evening showcases, Sore Fingers Week is one of the best experiences of the year. The event has become firmly established in the line-up of great Bluegrass and Old-Time camps.
ACCOMMODATION AND THE SINGLE/TWIN ROOM DILEMMA.
As I suspect you know already, there are very few single and twin rooms available to us and requests for this type of accommodation always exceed the number of rooms we have available. We appeal to you to be flexible and consider a shared dormitory place.
The dormitories are friendly, and we believe the experience of sharing accommodation helps build the Sore Fingers community spirit which is so characteristic of the event.
Many lasting friendships have grown out of the social side of Sore Fingers Week with people sharing much more than banjo licks during the week. So, please don’t hesitate to accept a place in a dormitory room, you’ll find its fun.
SPONSORSHIP FUNDS
In these dark times funding is slower than it was prior to the pandemic, and we have several young prodigies needing some financial help to attend Sore Fingers Week. If you’ve got a spare tenner lurking somewhere please consider donating to our funding bank account.
Over the years, we have seen how beneficial a week at Kingham has been in helping these young players to flourish and develop great skills. It has most definitely influenced the whole British scene. We see these young wizards forming fantastic bands and playing at British Festivals and on the Professional Folk Circuit.
Several have become regular Sore Fingers Tutors too.
Here are the bank details:
PLEASE REFERENCE THE TRANSACTION WITH YOUR NAME
And
PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS ACCOUNT FOR COURSE FEES it’s for donations only.
SFSS Deposit Account (Sponsors)
Sort: 30-98-97
Account No: 47972463
IBAN GB62LOYD30989747972463
BIC: LOYDGB21031
SCRATCHBAND REGISTRATION
Advance registration will be open until Sunday, April 6th 2025. After this date, you will need to register on arrival at registration. There will be a booth right next to the registration table where you can meet the team and register.
Please note that Scratchband registration will close altogether after main registration closes at around 7pm on Sunday 7th April.
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: “sbands2025”
USEFUL WEBSITE LINKS
Here are some useful information links to the website. You might like to read the following pages for insight:
For a Booking form use this link: https://www.sorefingers.co.uk/booking.php?id=26
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
We and the support team look forward to seeing you at Kingham Next Easter.