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Cape Breton-Baroque Integration (CBI)

Creating living moments on the violin


“One of the great thresholds in reality is the threshold between sound and silence. All good sounds have silence near, behind, and within them…. Music is, perhaps, the art form that brings us closest to the eternal because it changes immediately and irreversibly the way we experience time. ” ~John O’Donohue

 

UPDATES

  • If you’d like to be notified about future offerings of this or other courses, please email me.

ABOUT THE COURSE

Cape Breton-Baroque Integration (CBI) is a 3-week course devoted to creating living moments on the violin through the art of "keeping it swirly.” This course feels more personal than my other courses because I teach aspects of my own playing style, drawn from Baroque and Cape Breton techniques and esthetics, which combine to reveal beautiful, expressive, and surprising possibilities.

You can hear excerpts of my playing style (featuring CBI techniques) in this YouTube demo video.

In the CBI course, we will start with tangible techniques that are easily understood by our analytical mind. Then we will transform them into intangible qualities that can elude analysis and only be felt. We transform them by allowing what I call "the living musical moment" to direct how these techniques are applied, which simultaneously affects us emotionally and primes the atmosphere for the next moment to come alive. This way of playing connects powerfully to our senses and emotions, like a conduit to music's healing, nurturing, and energizing qualities.

Some of the swirly CBI techniques we’ll explore:

  • the feeling of bending time through spontaneous rhythmic adjustment

  • experiencing the magical place between sound and no sound

  • using nonstandard pitch & tone to better reflect emotions

  • continuing momentum through silence

  • expanding space through chordal arpeggiation

  • talking with the fiddle using speech-like articulations

  • adding swirl and life through multi-speed bow strokes

This course is geared toward advanced players who have at least a little experience playing Baroque and/or Scottish 18th-century music. CBI course repertoire is drawn primarily from Baroque, 18th-century Scottish, and my own compositions. We will be working from a combination of written, audio, and video learning resources. Having access to a Baroque violin and/or bow is a plus, but not necessary.

 

COURSE INFO & FEATURES

  • Three 2-hr workshops (Zoom), held on 3 consecutive weeks (usually Sundays at 11:00am-1:00pm Pacific Time).

  • Tune-learning resources (both audio and scores).

  • Tutorials to practice course concepts (written, audio, and video).

  • Two 20-minute private lessons (Zoom), scheduled during the two weeks between the first and last workshop.

  • Access to other exclusive resources, including an edited video recording of each workshop. (This is especially useful if you have to miss one of the classes.) These resources will be updated and expanded frequently during the course, and will be available to participants for at least 2 months after the course ends.

 

COURSE FEE

  • $325 USD for first-time CBI participants.

  • $300 USD early-bird rate.

  • $275 USD for returning participants.

See Payment page for payment options.

To sign up, or if you have any questions, please email me.