The cello is an increasingly welcome instrument in traditional music circles but for many players it is hard to know where to begin.  This workshop will focus primarily on how to adapt the cello as both a melodic and accompanimental instrument in traditional styles from the Appalachian mountains and Great Britain.  With a focus primarily on the bow, participants will learn how to quickly provide a strong and rhythmically supportive backup voice for tunes even if you haven’t heard them before.  We will also look at ways to play tunes themselves with an agility that matches well to other melodic instruments.

About Nathan Bontrager

Nathan is a unique and versatile musician with his musical chops rooted firmly in the traditional old time and folk genres. As well as being a world-class cellist, he has performed throughout Europe and the US as an old time fiddler, clawhammer banjo and guitar player. Nathan has collaborated with musicians like Brian Slattery, Aaron Jonah Lewis and Harry Bolick, and regularly plays with the Ol’ Timey Messengers in Paris and the UK/US traditional band, Root & Branch.  Nathan hails from the North-Eastern USA but currently lives in Germany, where he has studied Baroque Cello and Viola da Gamba in Masters programs at the Essen and Koeln conservatories.  In addition to Appalachian and other traditional folk forms, Nathan is quite active in the improvised and new music scenes throughout Europe. Recent and upcoming projects include touring with Marc Ribot and the Young Philadelphians, concerts with Gerry Hemmingway, a world premier of a new composition by composer, Glenn Branca, with the cello quartet, the Octopus, and frequent concerts organized through the improv collective, Impakt, of which he was a founding member. Nathan plays and sings Old Time Appalachian music with great creativity, but with both feet firmly planted in the historical tradition.