Tutors

INTRODUCTION -

Here is the October 2023 Tutor and class line up and a fine one it is too!
We are making a few changes to the programme, see below.

Please note that courses will run if they've achieved a minimum of 8 bookings by the 31st August, 2023. So early booking is recommended. If the numbers do not reach this threshold, then SFSS reserve the right to cancel the class. Students affected would be given a full refund of their fees or the opportunity to move to another class.

We are adding couple of courses, Beginners and Songwriting. We are also attempting to stage the Choro class that didn't happen last year.

All in all, the October Weekend is building up into something quite exciting!

So why not come and join us and see what the fuss is all about.

Lyn Jones - AUTOHARP

Lyn Jones was a headteacher who, when leading a music based initiative at her special school, hired Mike Fenton, the premier English autoharpist and was completely blown away by the music of the autoharp.
She followed up this interest by arriving “harpless” at Sore Fingers, where she borrowed an instrument and became committed. She became a regular student at Sore Fingers and also travelled to the US seeking out the best teachers she could find. She is now on the teaching team of the UK Autoharp Association teaching across the UK. She plays solo, and in various groups that celebrate the traditions of music in the UK, Europe and America.
She plays both chromatic and diatonic autoharp and will support you in your personal journey in practice, playing and arranging.
Lyn was one of our teachers for last year’s October weekend but unfortunately was unable to come and Heather Farrell Roberts stepped in and took the class. So, you can catch up with Lyn this time.

Ron Block - BANJO

What can we say about this man who has taken to Sore Fingers because he likes the vibe of the event! These days it’s hardly Sore Fingers if Ron isn’t lurking around the place, either teaching or serving the tea!
Well this time, it’s his banjo skills were after and he has are plenty of those to offer. His experiences going out on a limb to find different scenes to play the banjo are bearing fruit, many will be familiar with his collaboration with Damien O’Kane. Ron can push the limits of possibilities and show you things that you might not expect from a Bluegrass perspective. When we meet on Oct 20th, he’ll be just off another tour with Damien.
He’s got some seriously good lessons online but there just isn’t anything to beat sitting in the room with Ron just a few feet away from you. You can really get close to how he operates and gets that near perfect tone and time.
This is the man Alison Krause has trusted with the banjo job in her band since 1991, yes that’s thirty years. He must be doing something right.
Ron is like a family friend to Sore Fingers and loves being at Kingham Hill School in your company. We love him too, so come and join in the banjo love in!

Website

Peter Earle - BASS

Peter Earle is a graduate of the Leeds College of Music, where he majored in percussion and piano. After many years playing drums and keyboards in various genres, he discovered bluegrass in 2006 after attending his first Sore Fingers.
After a few years playing banjo, he moved to double bass, which has been his main instrument for the last 15 years. Over that period, he has built a strong reputation and he’s in constant demand at many festivals and also at Sore Fingers deputising as the house bass player on many occasions. He’s pretty handy on the sound desk too, a man of multiple talents. Resident of Otley in West Yorkshire, he performs as part of an Americana duo, and has also appeared regularly at many of the UK bluegrass festivals, as well as in Ireland and the US.
He is a familiar figure at Sore Fingers, and for the last few years has run the popular Basic Music Theory elective, where he has utilised his training as a teacher to de-mystify the murky world of chords and scales! Following his success assisting Ed Hicks last easter on the beginners class, he teaches Bass for the first time at S.F. So come and find out how he achieved such notoriety and take some lessons off the master!

Ed Hicks - BEGINNERS

We had the notion that perhaps it would be appropriate to include a beginners class at the October weekend. So after successfully teaching the class last Easter, Ed Hicks is stepping up again.
Ed is an experienced music tutor with over ten year’s experience of teaching people how to play folk music. Primarily a banjo player specialising in old time music, Ed also plays fiddle, guitar, mandolin, sings and has a working knowledge of a range of other folk music instruments (accordions, whistles, string basses etc).
Ed has worked as a banjo teacher and folk music workshop leader for the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) for ten years and was a lead tutor on their Full English project. He has trained in music workshop leading with Spitalfields Music, EFDSS, Music for Change, Musicleader, Sing Up, Folk Arts England, Platform for Arts and the Discover Centre.

- CHORO INTRODUCTION

Sore Fingers Students are an inquisitive lot - quite rightly of course! - and as a result of an evening elective held at last Easter's event, Mike Pryor raised a huge amount of interest and intrigue in this style of music.

The class is open to any instrument and focussed on Mandolin. Choro originates in Brazil. As you can imagine, it's uplifting and dynamic but here's an proper introduction from our resident expert:

Immerse yourself in Choro!

Choro is the joyous, infectious and uplifting musical style from Brazil which people like Mike Marshall and John Reischmann have been championing for many years.

It has been called the original Brazilian music which can be traced back to the mid 1800’s and is the precursor to well-known styles like Samba and Bossa Nova.


In this mixed-instrument course Dave Griffiths and Mike Pryor will explain the social and political origins of Choro and teach you to play five landmark Choro tunes.

They will lead you through all the fundamental rhythms, structures, and dance forms of Choro and equip you to be able to join in Rodas (i.e. sessions).

The course is suitable for players of intermediate and advanced abilities, who have a good knowledge of their instruments.

The pieces will be taught in standard musical notation, tablature and chord charts, and can provided in advance of the course.

Once you start playing Choro it is difficult to stop, and Dave and Mike are on a mission to spread the Joy of Choro to everyone. Read their bios below.

Mike Pryor - CHORO (Any Instrument)

Mike Pryor began playing music in 1969 and since then has performed as a semi-professional musician in acoustic-based groups on mandolin, cavaquinho, double bass and guitar.

Performances have included television, radio and numerous festivals in UK and mainland Europe, including Glastonbury.

With these groups he has recorded numerous CDs including the British Bluegrass No.1 Small Town. He currently plays with Cavacante, The Bill Smarme Rock’n’Roll Trio, Los Adjustes and the Pond Skaters.
Mike has studied mandolin under Mike Marshall, Simon Mayor, John Reischman, Butch Baldassari and Andy Townend; he has studied guitar under Stefan Grossman, John James and Chris Moreton, and double bass under Danny Thompson.

Mike has taught private students and has tutored group classes at various Festivals, Sore Fingers Bluegrass Summer Schools and at BMG Federation Festivals. He was a regular contributor to British Bluegrass News and Mandocrucian’s Digest and helped organise the original Didmarton Bluegrass festival for ten years.

Well there’s a busy man and that’s just music! So, we are lucky to have him join our team of tutors to lead us in a slightly new direction. Whatever you already play on a mandolin, you need to have a look at Choro and Mike is just the man to take you to the right place.

Dave Griffiths - CHORO (Any Instrument)

Dave Griffiths is a blues, choro and jazz mandolin player and an accomplished jazz bass player. He started playing mandolin in the 60's influenced by blues, ragtime and jug band music. He has performed at concerts and music festivals in the UK, Europe and the USA including Radio and Television appearances.

He has worked, toured and recorded with “Tight Like That”, “Paul Brett”, “Dave Paskett”, “Smile”, “Eddie Martin”, “Mingus Fingers” and “Brejeiro".
Dave has been Brazilian Choro music with his band Brejeiro for over fifteen years and currently plays with “Cavacante” and “Jim Reynolds".
Dave is an experienced workshop leader and educator running Bristol Jazz Workshops for ten years and courses for BMG, Sore Fingers and Creative Vacances in France. This isn't Dave’s first appearance at Sore Fingers having previously joined us to help with take Bass players beyond the basic “Root/Fifth” so common in Bluegrass and Old Time.

This time though, he’s going to take Mandolin players to new places! A fine man to do the job too.

Website

Chis Eaton - DOBRO

Chris has been teaching guitar, ukulele and Dobro for over 10 years, in schools, colleges and privately. He was the head of the guitar team at West Sussex Music Service for a number of years and has provided masterclasses for some of the leading UK guitar schools.
He has written about Dobro for various UK guitar magazines and interviewed some legendary players, including Jerry Douglas. He took a trip to Nashville to study Dobro, with lessons from some of the world’s best players, you could say he probably knows his stuff!
He has been He has composed and produced numerous Dobro tracks for use on TV and in 2023 produced and compiled 'The UK & Ireland Dobro Celebration' compilation album.
Whilst Chris is a new name on the Bluegrass block, he’s certainly been making his presence felty online and at this years festivals where he is the single most in demand Dobro workshop leader!
We just had to have him! Enjoy this man’s expertise.

Website

Jay Bradberry - FIDDLE

Raised in a musical household on country songs and fiddle tunes, Jay’s teaching strongly reflects her upbringing that was focused around playing with others and having lots of fun whilst doing so! From attending weekly sessions to finding like-minded friends to perform with, there was no doubt that music was a long-term plan for Jay and she has been successfully touring the UK (and occasionally further afield) with her band, ‘Jaywalkers’ ever since. Since making music a profession, Jay has been teaching in a variety of formats; one to one tuition, residential courses, children’s workshops and peripatetically in schools. You may have also seen her moonlighting in the ‘Rip Roaring Success’ at a festival somewhere around the country. Jay has bundles of enthusiasm and knowledge to share and is passionate about adapting methods of learning to suit the individual.

Website

Andy Quelch - GUITAR

OAndy Quelch has been playing guitar for over 25 years. His journey through American traditional styles took off when he heard the playing of Doc Watson & Clarence White. Via these two greats Andy was exposed to the playing of Tony Rice & later on David Grier. Two courses with Grier – 1st at Steve Kaufman’s Flatpicking camp & 2nd at Sore Fingers - a good few hundred hours tied to the metronome and Andy has become sought after in the UK Old-time and bluegrass scene for his driving and inventive guitar playing.
Andy played with Chris Moreton in Trouble and Strife and the Chris Moreton Trio. He now regularly performs with Old Time Band Firecracker along with Emily Smith (our Old-time fiddle tutor). His expert navigation of chord sequences, solid rhythm and creative runs make him a guitarist of choice for visiting American artists and he recently toured with the old-time Fiddle ace Chance McCoy on his 2012 UK tour.
The course is aimed at intermediate players, and will focus on the building blocks of great guitar playing: navigating chord sequences, developing driving rhythm and achieving great tone. He will also explore the use of runs to liven up back up and as a basis for developing solos. Andy is a multi-instrumentalist and teaches Guitar, Banjo and Fiddle. He and Emily enjoying giving workshops and look forward to developing some shared repertoire across the courses to liven up the evening’s jamming!
Andy strongly recommends the use of recording devices in his workshops & lessons, you never know what might pop out of his guitar so keep those tapes rolling!!
Have a listen to some of Andy’s playing by clicking the website link below

Mike Giverin - MANDOLIN

Mike has been playing mandolin for almost 20 years and a professional musician for the last 12. Over that time he has established himself as one of the leading mandolin players working in the UK, touring with two bands; Jaywalkers and 4Square combined with regular session work with singer Janet Devlin. In 2018, he set up an online teaching website www.mandomike.com which publishes two free lessons on YouTube every month and also provides one to one lessons via skype. The MandoMike website has grown significantly over the last 5 years and he now teaches students from Hawaii to New Zealand and everywhere in between. He is an experienced workshop leader having run several ‘Mandolin Days with Mike Giverin’ over the last few years, as well as ‘Winter Mandolin Gatherings’ and a previous visit to SFSS in 2015.
The main focus of any Mando Mike workshop is enjoyment! Mike’s lessons - whether in person, via skype or the Free Lessons - will all be centred around having a great time with the mandolin, in conjunction with improving your playing by learning tunes and techniques.

Website

Trevor Hyett - MUSIC DEVELOPEMENT

Trevor's bio will follow soon. But in the meantime, here's a bit about this class that has run on four occasions with maestro, Andy MacKenzie. The idea is to progress form the technique students have been learning on their instruments to forging forward and getting into a little theory and opening the doors to new creations or new arrangements to existing material and make it more exciting. And your ambition is to compose new and original material, then this class will set you on the way.

The approach is gentle we know many don't know much theory and could be put off. But, you already know more then you think you do and Trevor will clarify this. In other words, explain the theory behind what you already know instinctively.

It was Trevor's idea to run this class and a bright one that was. It's been pretty successful and he will be aiming this slightly lower than Andy an aiming to introduce the students to the secrets of good composition, harmony, scales, etc.
If this is a direction you are interested in, then take the plunge and go on to the full course at Easter!

Mitch Depew - OLD TIME BANJO

Mitch is a New Jersey-born fiddle and banjo player currently residing in Granada, Spain. He stays connected to the Old Time Scene back home in the US by making annual pilgrimages to visit several Old Time festivals over the summer months. He has made his mark in the competitions being placed third in the Banjo contest at the Santa Barbara Fiddler’s Festival 2022 and coming second on in the Fiddle contest at Clifftop in 2022, no mean feat.
You could say that being somewhat isolated from Old Time Music on a daily basis from his home in Southern Spain, he might lose touch. But not a bit of it. Mitch has always relied heavily on recordings of great musicians, listening, dissecting, slowing down and analysing the detail of these master player’s techniques and quirks that set them apart.
An encouraging method as it opens things up for anyone and Mitch has found the process liberating and has had the freedom to develop his style around his studies of recordings and from the influences those wonderful players would bring to bear.
Mitch was soon discovered on this side of the Atlantic and has participated in several European events including the “Barcelona Bluegrass Camp” and the “Old Time in the Alps” weekend in Switzerland. He’s appeared and run workshops at many festivals including Gainsborough in the UK and similar festivals and gatherings all over Spain and Europe where he appears a member of his band, the Granada based “Bib-Ramblers”.
Mitch comes to us recommended by some of our top draw Old Time players and from what they tell me, Old Time Banjo players are in for a treat. It’s his first time at Sore Fingers and let’s give him that traditional Kingham Welcome

Emily Smith - OLD TIME FIDDLE

Emily Smith’s love for American fiddle styles was ignited 20 years ago by an early Stringbean Akeman recording of Little Maggie with Chubby Wise on fiddle. Since then she has been a regular student and teacher at Sore Fingers, learning from the great American and UK players and sharing her own knowledge at our October weekends.
Emily regularly performs as part of Firecracker who have trod the boards at many of the Uk festivals. It’s a musical partnership that has led her to explore the endless treasure trove of Old-Time fiddle tunes which she loves to share through teaching and performing.
The course is aimed at players who can already play their fiddle/violin at a basic level. Emily will teach Old-Time American fiddle tunes, breaking down each tune phrase by phrase and focussing on the tunings, bowing patterns and inflections that make the unique sound of Old Time fiddle music. The tunes will be taught by ear so you don’t need to read music. Emily and Andy will develop some shared repertoire across the fiddle and banjo courses to liven up the evening’s jamming!

Roland Emmanuel - SINGING

Roland is no stranger to Sore Fingers having been the driving force behind the Easter Scratch Band sessions. And very successful he has been with this initiative with many student experiencing the “stage”, many for the first time in their lives.
There no doubt that his background in education has helped him pitch things and make into one of the most successful camp experiences anywhere.
But, we must no forget that Roland is also a consummate performer fronting many bands and singing lead vocals. He has expressed his vocal skills in many different environments and one of his latest venture has been to help build a choir who sing Bluegrass influenced material. They performed a triumphant set at the Gower Bluegrass Festival.
So, who better to take on the singing class this autumn. It isn’t the first time and many who joined his class on previous occasions have comments as to how much fun Roland makes a couple of days of learning to sing lead and harmony.
One of his passions is to make folk do it. You won’t be listening to a history of Bluegrass singing, you will be doing it, for real, which is something we very much believe in at SFSS.

Sue Pomeroy - SONGWRITING

With harmonies and Song Writing at the heart of her performances, Sue Pomeroy has always been steeped in bluegrass, old-time and country music. She has hardly missed an opportunity to soak up influence from the masters herself by attending workshops with the likes of Val Mindel and Alice Gerrard. It was the quality of vocal harmonies in her previous band The Woodberrys which won them the band competition for Ely Folk Festival in 2012. Sue now performs widely on both the Bluegrass, Old Time and Folk scenes in a duo The Rye Sisters with versatile singer Ishani Siriwardena. The Rye Sisters won the ‘BBC Song for Lincolnshire 2016’ song-writing competition. As a result of this, and their growing reputation from their busy gig schedule, they are becoming known for beautiful singing arrangements and harmonies in American music with wide appeal.
Sue is behind the many original compositions the Rye Sisters perform and Sue will impart her sources of inspiration and creativity to get you into the art of writing original material. Her compositions have brought her a few awards so she must be doing something right! Come and share this fascinating skill with her!

Website

Percy Copley - UKULELE

Percy Copley performs solo, or accompanied, using different types of ukulele - tenor, soprano, resonator, uke-banjo - singing a variety of songs from 20s/30s to more modern too. Jazz, blues, country, etc all with energy and fun! Songs, chords, strums, right hand rhythm... Music theory for ukulele. Fingerpicking, chords and solos... Learn new techniques, improve your own style - take the uke beyond the group session for more personal enjoyment and playing.
Percy’s first instrument was ukulele, playing old songs from the 20s and 30s. At a young age he played in many places doing George Formby numbers and magic tricks! He has an infectious sense of humour but behind the façade, there is a real professional at work. His class is guaranteed to be fun but expect to meet a dedicated master of his art. This is a man of many talents who is equally adept on Mandolin, Banjo (tenor and five string) Guitar and Bagpipes! He has taught several times at Sorefingers (on other instruments too) as well as many other workshops/camps in France and beyond. Percy is flying the Uke flag for us at Sore Fingers and he’s doing a great job.

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