Karen and Alastair are bringing us two original tunes : Molly Reay’s Dream and Sandy & Ethel MacDonald’s Golden Wedding March. The tunes were chosen as a set for New Hampshire Scottish Fiddle Club because they are contrasting in tempo and also provide a change of key. Ornamentations and bowings are provided for the slow air, allowing musicians to practice these in advance of the workshop. Listen to Karen playing the slow air here. Alastair and Karen will provide plenty of stylistic features to both tunes. While the group will have the sheet music in advance, tuition on the day will be by ear.
There will be an emphasis on interpretation and Scottishness. We will discuss arrangement. Alastair will focus on chords and chord types – possibly sustained chords for the air, building up the tension in the tune as we approach the transition into the march. We will make use of dynamics. There will be options for natural dynamics by instruments dropping out and coming back in. The set will end with a traditional clean note and chord to finish.
As per the previous workshop, Karen will lead off by teaching the melody. Alastair will call the chords for the accompaniment instruments – keyboards, guitars, accordions. More experienced players can focus on melody, techniques and harmonies, while lesser experienced can concentrate on getting the melody. There will be plenty of opportunity to make the tunes sound Scottish.
Everyone please arrive in time for a prompt 1 p.m. start. Workshops typical run for two hours, then a coffee and tea break followed by a less formal jam using tunes from our session book.
If you are coming for the first time, note that the rear parking lot off of Fayette St. provides the easiest access. We always try to have extra copies of the music for newcomers.
Questions? NHScottishMusic@gmail.com
About the workshop presenters
Karen & Alastair both hail from the far North of Scotland, where they grew up learning amongst some well-known musicians such as Addie Harper (of The Wick Scottish Dance Band), Bobby Coghill and Ian Sinclair who led the folk group, Mirk.
Karen has a strong, rhythmic style of fiddle playing, influenced by her highland dance training. With the bagpipes traditionally accompanying highland dancing, Karen was exposed to a strong repertoire of strathspeys, jigs, and reels, long before she started learning the fiddle at the age of 13.
Alastair also started learning the accordion when he was 13 and was soon playing regularly for dances across Scotland and the North of England with Addie Harper’s Scottish Dance Band.
The twinning of the Highlands of Scotland with Cape Breton Island, Canada, in 1986 enabled both Karen and Alastair to travel to Cape Breton performing on a tour of the island and this gave them exposure to some of the great players and groups such as the Barra MacNeils and The Rankin family.
This trip marked a turning point for Karen - A number of scholarships to attend The Valley of the Moon fiddle camp in California followed. It was there that Karen was introduced to the phenomenal playing and teaching of Alasdair Fraser, Buddy MacMaster, Martin Hayes (Ireland) and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (Altan).
A 1997 scholarship from The Cross Trust enabled Karen to return to Canada to carry out the research for her degree dissertation. Other opportunities have included playing for former president of the USA, Bill Clinton at Carnegie’s Skibo Castle in Scotland and teaching at Norway's mid-winter dance festival, Trondheim. Teaching opportunities alongside Alasdair Fraser, at Celtic Connections festival, Glasgow and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye, as well as performances and workshops at The North Atlantic Fiddle Convention in 2001, 2006 & 2018 have been particular career highlights.
Karen has composed many tunes and has published a book with 51 of her compositions. Many of these are featured on CD’s that she has available. One of her more recent compositions “Angel Boy” was used to help fundraise for a children’s hospital in Scotland. The music and video features 38 musicians from the UK, Sweden, Canada and the US.
Alastair left the Caithness to study Engineering but remained active in the music scene, most recently supporting Brandon McPhee – a recent Scottish accordion champion – on concert tours and CDs. Alastair has been living in Canada for 4 years. In recent months, Alastair has a been working on a CD album, with the Ottawa Valley band, Traditional Fare, featuring Dan Schryer on Fiddle and Paul McClelland on pipes & whistles. The band enjoys playing for dancing and listening at venues and for events around The Ottawa Valley region. Look out for the release of their new album in 2023.
Karen will be bringing copies of her book to purchase: Nudged…A journey from music career to brain surgery and back again.
“…I have just finished reading it (NUDGED) and really wanted to congratulate you on producing such a fantastic book in such an effective way, your writing style is so direct and inclusive, what an open and honest account of what you have encountered…”
Check out Karen’s website: https://www.karensteven.co.uk/