Neal Walters Folk Music At Weatherbury Farm

February 3 - 5, 2006: Weekend Intermediate Autoharp Workshop
Level: Intermediate
Tuition: $100
Course Description: This workshop will focus on developing skills for playing both accompaniment and lead. We'll work on basic strumming patterns for accompanying traditional songs and tunes as well as some more contemporary folk songs. We'll learn the basics of playing melodies -- both pinch-pluck and thumb lead -- on the autoharp and some techniques to make melodies stand out clearly. We'll apply these basic techniques to some great songs and tunes and also work on learning what to do to fill those spaces when simply strumming the chord sounds too boring as well as techniques for arranging your material, and for getting started with instrumental breaks to spice up your basic accompaniments.

February 5 -10, 2006: Weeklong Intermediate Guitar Picking Workshop
Level: Intermediate
Tuition: $250
Course Description: This workshop will cover beginning fingerpicking techniques, particularly the alternating bass style of playing. We will use the the classic country blues styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, Elizabeth Cotton, and others as our models and apply these techniques to a variety of traditional and contemporary folk material. Our goal will be to get our thumbs under control using simple and straightforward exercises and tunes as our starting point and moving along to more advanced techniques by introducing syncopation as the week progresses. Students should have a basic knowledge of guitar chords in the keys of C, G, A, and E and each student should bring a capo. Time permitting, we will also cover monotonic bass and simple arpeggiated styles along with some introductory use of open tunings.

Neal Walters has been playing and performing for more than 30 years. He loves to sing and typically accompanies himself on the mountain dulcimer, guitar and autoharp but he also plays fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and bass. He was a member of the Mill Run Dulcimer Band for over 20 years and recorded eight albums with that band. Currently he is a member of Doofus joining his wife, Coleen, and Connecticut residents John and Heidi Cerrigione. Doofus has released three albums. Neal and Heidi have also collaborated on a repertoire book for dulcimer and autoharp called 30 Old Time Songs and Tunes which features a companion cassette tape, as well as a number of repertoire books in their "occasional" series.
Neal is also the editor of Music Hound Folk: the Essential Album Guide to Folk Music, published by Visible Ink Press, which is currently in its second printing. He is an experienced teacher who has taught dulcimer, autoharp, banjo and guitar for nearly twenty years in and around Washington and at camps and festivals like Boone, Augusta, Kentucky Music Week, Black Swamp, Autumn Hills, Cranberry, String-A-Long, Housatonic, Dulcimer Daze, Swannanoa and others.
Neal's wife, Coleen Walters, is a nationally known artist in her own right. She has been a quilter for over 30 years and was most recently a member of Fiberworks, a cooperative studio located at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. Her teaching credits include the International Quilt Festival, Quilt Surface Design Symposium, NQA Annual Shows, and Quilter's Heritage Celebration, as well as numerous guilds and stores. Her work has been featured in several national quilt magazines and her quilts and clothing have been in exhibits in many states and countries. She plays bass and sings harmony and will be present to help us out in song and jam sessions.
Neal and Coleen recently released "Snowbirds", their first album as a couple.


Weatherbury Farm Vacation 1061 Sugar Run Road Avella, Pennsylvania 15312 Autoharp, Mountain Dulcimer, Hammered Dulcimer, Clawhammer Banjo, Bowed Psaltry Workshops and Concerts. Mountain Dulcimer is also known as an Appalachian dulcimer, lap dulcimer or fretted dulcimer. Some folks call Hammered Dulcimers Hammer Dulcimers	(724) 587-3763 (Dale or Marcy Tudor; location questions) (330) 332-4420 (Bill Schilling, music questions) email us! www.folkmusic.weatherburyfarm.com