2024 Programme

Friday Evening

1900
Sessions and Social at the Plough

Saturday - Wolvercote Primary School

0845
Doors open
0900
Arrival, registration, tea / coffee (inc 9:30 welcome)
0945
Workshop 1, includes 20 min tea break
1245
Lunch
1415
Workshop 2, includes 20 min tea break
1715
Finish

Saturday Evening

1930
Concert in St Peters Church, Wolvercote.
Later
Session in the Plough for those who wish

Sunday

0900
Doors Open, tea/coffee
1000
Workshop 3, includes 20 min tea break
1300
Lunch
1430
Workshop 4 - Group teaching of tune, includes 20 min tea break
1600
Final Tune
1630
Workshop close

Timings are subject to change.

Workshops

All of the workshops will take place in classrooms in Wolvercote Primary School. The tutors will rotate to different teaching rooms, so that each group: Improvers, Intermediate and Accomplished; have one workshop module taught by each of the tutors. A workshop module is approximately 3 hours including a break. You will need your DG melodeon with you for the workshops.

Notation & recordings of the tunes will be provided to the delegates at registration, however if the tutors feel that it will be beneficial for delegates to have this information before the event we will send it out by email as soon as available. This is entirely at the tutors discretion.

The Beginners and Absolute Beginners workshops will run independently of this rotation for the whole weekend. If you need to borrow a DG melodeon for the duration of the workshop please indicate on the booking form. These melodeons will be on loan from Acorn Instruments, who are sponsoring the event.

Absolute Beginners Workshops

Want to play melodeon but not sure how to start, or perhaps you’ve got your first melodeon but aren’t getting anywhere with it? These accessible workshops follow a proven step-by-step tutor system to get you off to a flying start. We’ll be using an intuitive tab system to find our way around the melodeon and no music reading ability is necessary. We’ll also focus on developing foundations of good technique, equipping you with essential tools to support your continued progress.

Improver Workshops

Hazel: We'll learn a couple of tunes in different time signatures and look at how to get more confident at left hand accompaniment. We'll look at general technique and make sure we're playing in a way that will allow our playing to continue to develop.

Intermediate Workshops

Hazel: We'll learn a couple of tunes and focus in on technique and stylistics that will help us to bring out the character of tunes. We'll look at our left hand accompaniment and experiemnt with different rhythmic patterns to get away from relying soley on oom pah style.

Accomplished Workshops

Hazel: We'll learn a couple of tunes and then really hone in on technique, all those little details that may seem small but can really take your playing up to the next level.

Ability Levels

To ensure that you select the appropriate workshop for your playing ability please could you match your playing ability to the word models below, and indicate this on the booking form.

  • Absolute Beginner - This is for those who may have tried melodeon or just fancy having a go with guidance from an experienced tutor. Loan instruments will be available.
  • Beginner - This refers to anyone who has just started their melodeon playing journey. You may be able to pick through a couple of tunes slowly.
  • Improver - Players who have some understanding of the D & G keys of their melodeon, some note and left hand chord names, can play a few tunes and have started to add left-hand chords to their playing.
  • Intermediate - Intermediate players could be considered to be those who know their way around the standard keys of their melodeons, where the right hand notes are, and the bases and chords on the left hand side. Control of rhythm and loud / softness and a basic understanding of harmonies and ornamentation would be usual, with an increased portfolio of tunes.
  • Accomplished - Fluent melodeon players, who understand the instrument, notes, chords and ornamentation, and who have also experimented in style, rhythm and can keep fair pace with an expanding portfolio of tunes.