Lois Hornbostel and Ehukai Teves present a wide range of instructional classes in mountain dulcimer and ukulele. These can fit into time schedules from 1 hr. to semester courses and accommodate all skill levels of students. They are taking joint bookings and can teach both individually or as a "tandem" team!
Cincinnati Dulcimer Society: "Lois Hornbostel and Ehukai Teves were the featured artists at our Society's '12 Spring Festival, and many of our members felt their music and teaching made it the most successful one we've had in its 33 years."
Lois Hornbostel Workshops:
Lois has been at the forefront of mountain dulcimer playing and teaching since the 1980s. An author of 6 mountain dulcimer instructional books published by Mel Bay, she continues to develop and refine new techniques and exciting music that she shares with her students. Lois's classes are usually taught in the DAD tuning she helped introduce to many in her books, but she can also show students the new "voices" of other dulcimer tunings. Here are some of her popular mountain dulcimer classes:
. Beginner Mountain Dulcimer Skills - no experience necessary.
. Beyond Beginner Skill Building - for folks who are "getting a handle" on playing.
. Intermediate Skills.
. Advanced Master Classes.
. Using Your Skills to Develop Your Playing Style - for more experienced players.
. Traditional Music from the Southern Appalachians - Advanced Beginners & up. This is the "native" music of the mountain dulcimer. Lois will teach several pieces like ballads, hymns, playparty songs, and old-time string band dance tunes.
. "No Tablature Necessary" - Advanced Beginners & up. A class on playing by ear and memorizing.
. Teaching Children to Play Mountain Dulcimer - Lois has taught over 20K elementary school children to play the mountain dulcimer in over 20 years of arts-in-schools residencies. Whether you are a music or general school teacher, a homeschooler, or a proud grandparent, Lois will share tips for sharing the fun of the instrument with youngsters.
. Cajun Good-Time Music - Advanced Beginners & up. The simple melody structures and great rhythm of Cajun waltzes and two-steps make them ideal to play on the mountain dulcimer. More advanced players will receive instruction in ornamentation and variation.
. Irish Music for Mountain Dulcimer - Advanced Beginners & up. The author of The Irish Dulcimercan teach simple slow airs, waltzes and songs to playing dance tunes like jigs, hornpipes and reels.
. Playing in the Galax, VA Fiddle Tune Style - Advanced Beginners & up. Lois, who won the competition at the Galax Fiddle Convention, will teach the special music and noter-style playing technique for this lively style.
. Flatpicking the Mountain Dulcimer - Advanced Beginners & up. This style of playing single strings clearly picks out melody notes with a delicate touch. We will also cover including some strums with the individual string playing so that harmonies are added to the music.
. Beautiful Waltzes for Mountain Dulcimer - One, two three, One two three...Advanced Beginners & up will learn sweet waltzes from different music styles using different playing techniques.
. Jamming with the Mountain Dulcimer - Advanced Beginners & up. Lois learned to play mountain dulcimer in jam session settings. She will cover the following skills that will lead you to many wonderful hours of playing with other instruments: determining key and playing in different keys, finding chords and core notes of melodies being played, dealing with volume of the dulcimer, rhythm, and stylistic advice to add your dulcimer's voice to Old-Time, Celtic, Cajun and other styles of jam music.
. World Music for Mountain Dulcimer - The mountain dulcimer's voice adapts beautifully to many styles of traditional music from around the world. Lois's first recording, "Vive le Dulcimer," featured colorful music from around the world played on the instrument and was a finalist for an "Indie" award in World Music. Come and enjoy this delightful music on your dulcimer.
. Doo-Wop Music for Mountain Dulcimer - Advanced Beginners & up can return to those "thrilling days of yesteryear" and learn to authentically play chords and sing in the style of the early rhythm & blues groups!
. Ornamentation and Improvisation.
. Smoothing Out Your Playing.
. Rhythm and Strumming.
. Old-Time Repertoire.
. Celtic Slow Airs.
. Playing Duets.
. Using a Capo.
These are a few of the workshops Lois presents. Contact her if you have other musical technique or repertoire needs!
Ehukai Teves Workshops:
Ehukai has played and performed on many stringed instruments since he was a child. He holds a Batchelor of Arts degree in Music Theory and Voice. Learning mountain dulcimer from Jean Ritchie, he has applied all these skills to his playing and teaching of the mountain dulcimer. Throughout his life Ehukai has also performed traditional Hawaiian music with his parents, and offers workshops in this repertoire and contemporary styles on the ukulele (end of this list).
MOUNTAIN DULCIMER WORKSHOPS - Ehukai ... Some examples: Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced skills & repertoire.
. "KILLER" Techniques - Add life to your playing with riffs and licks used by professionals and add spice to your playing. Includes tips on economy of movement and finding chord inversions and harmonies you may never have tried before!
. Music Theory for the Mountain Dulcimer - Music theory is the study of how music works. It covers the fundamental elements of music - rhythm, harmony, melody, structure, form, texture, etc. In a class for people who are new to theory the class is an introduction. Intermediate level theory class gives a deeper understanding of the principles of theory and how they are used. Advanced covers deeper application theory and its use.
. Hawaiian Slack Key Music for the Mountain Dulcimer - Intermediate skill level, in DGD tuning. Learn to play a new repertoire with authenticity. Your dulcimer can replicate the sounds of a Hawaiian slack key guitar in the DGD tuning when you explore the strumming and picking styles with Ehukai. He will teach you a handful of Hawaiian songs, including the importance of playing a "vamp" - an important ingredient in this music.
. Play Chords in SIX Keys in DAD Tuning! - Advanced Beginners who know what a chord is or players of higher levels will especially benefit from this new technique from Ehukai. Using Ehukai's "Home-Middle-Outside" system you'll be able to play the I, IV and V chords in the keys of D, E, G, A, B, C - in a very accessible way without looking at your hand or using a capo! Great for playing songs in your singing key and for playing with other instruments.
. Singing with the Mountain Dulcimer - Advanced Beginners & up. Ehukai will coach you on using your voice to improve pitch and tone and will give you exercises to practice and strengthen your singing. On the dulcimer you will learn to find keys that will be comfortable for your vocal range. He will teach you chords and harmonies that you can play to accompany your voice.
. Intros, Fills & Outros - Intermediate & up. DAD tuning. Have you ever wished you could add special touches to the pieces you play? One stylish way to do this is to add musical "introductions" to prepare the listener's ear for the piece to come. Another is to "fill in" complementary notes when you have a long tied note (waltzes often have these). And at the end of a piece you can polish it off with an "outro" (fiddlers call them tags). Ehukai will give musical examples of these enhancements, will explain how they are built, and will give you suggestions on pieces you can spruce up with these techniques!
. Songwriting - Beginner players & up who want to write a song). Songwriting is arranging with intent. Starting tuning DAD. Ehukai will cover selecting subject matter for a song, constructing a melody (options like verses, choruses, etc.), matching words to your m usic and matching music to your words, and how to use your dulcimer to help you write and accompany your song. If we have a long enough session we will write a simple song using all of the above elements.