The Harrison and Trad Academy are proud to present an Old Time fiddle workshop and concert with Brittanny Haas.

In this hour long workshop Brittanny Haas will teach old time fiddle by ear.  The “old time” fiddle styles of the Appalachian mountains are characterised by their syncopated bowing patterns and driving rhythms.  There’s some nice videos of old time players here.

This workshop is aimed at people who can already play their fiddle/violin but will be taught by ear so you don’t need to read music.

The workshop will be followed by a gig by Brittanny Haas and Lena Jonsson in the Harrison basement.

Biographies

California-born Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. She grew up honing her craft in fiddle camps nationwide, and came to her unique sound through the old-time fiddling of Bruce Molsky and the innovative stylings of Darol Anger. A prodigious youth, she began touring with Darol’s Republic of Strings at the age of 14. She simultaneously studied baboons in the evolutionary biology department of Princeton University (and minoring in music performance, composing with professor Dan Trueman) and joined seminal chamber-grass band Crooked Still. She has toured with them since, and also performed with Yonder Mountain String Band, Tony Trischka, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas (her cellist sister), Abigail Washburn, and The Waybacks.

Brittany played her fiddle on Steve Martin’s Grammy Award-winning CD, “The Crow,” and performed in his band on Letterman and SNL. She released her debut self-titled solo album at 17, produced by Darol Anger and featuring Bruce Molsky, Mike Marshall, Alison Brown and others. Currently residing in Nashville, she is the co-leader of the Brittany Haas/Dan Trueman band who released their debut record “CrissCross” in 2011. She also plays in a fiddle duo with Lauren Rioux, an all-girl indie old-time band called The Fundies, “4tet” with Cleek Schrey (hardanger fiddle/pump organ), Jordan Tice (guitar) and Nic Gareiss (percussive dance), a trio with Jordan Tice and Paul Kowert (bassist in the Punch Brothers), and a duo with Kai Welch.

“So here is a real roots musician in the most modern sense–Brittany Haas fiddles from a very deep and personal place, the way she feels it, the way she wants to hear it, with seemingly infinite facility, and a spirit that’s simply uplifting.” — Bruce Molsky

“…a major fiddling talent has emerged.” — Mark O’Connor

“She can shove the whole room around with her fiddle.” — Danny Barnes

“A joy to listen to…” — Alasdair Fraser

“There’s no one I’d rather listen to play the violin than Brittany Haas – her playing just slays me.” — Matt Glaser

“Britt opens the window, gets out of the way, and the music floods through in a tide of joy.” — Darol Anger

Lena Jonsson (concert only) is a fiddler of the new generation of folk musicians in Sweden. She was brought up in Hälsingland, a region in the middle of Sweden, and started playing the fiddle at the age of six. She has studied Swedish folk music performance at the Royal Music academy in Stockholm.

Lena is touring regurlarly in Sweden and Europe with her bands Duo Jonsson Coudroy, Skenet, Limbohofvet and as a solo artist. She is also a popular and inspiring teacher and has taught in the US, France and UK several times. The last years she received several prizes within the folkmusic genre in Sweden.