Scottish Session Tunes Intermediate Fiddle Course with Anna-Wendy Stevenson.
Fee $72 (approx £38). Buy this teaching course.*

*When you purchase this course we will email you a secure link to the teaching with a user name and a password. This will happen within 24 hours of your purchase. if you have any questions please contact us.

Anna - Wendy takes 6 well-known session tunes and teaches you not only how to play them (we mean really play them!) with the techniques, bowings and ornamentations as used by the great players giving you the tools to create the sound of your favourite traditional fiddlers. This is an invaluable course for learning the tricks of the trade, boosting your know-how as a player, and, one which can set you on the path to becoming a fine and more confident fiddler in those sessions. Included in this fantastic package is all the written music for download plus the unique opportunity to chat and discuss issues with the teacher through scheduled live web chats; what’s more, there is unlimited access to lessons and live text chats for 1 year so that you can learn at your own pace.

Course objectives:

• Learn some great tunes
• Learn how to sound like your favourite traditional fiddlers
• Learn bowings
• Learn ornamentation
• Play the tunes you learn in 2 sets.

Listen to a FREE sample of Anna-Wendy playing some of the tunes you will learn.

Lesson Plan
Lesson 1: Jenny Dang the Weaver. This is a very popular session tune in Scotland. In the key of D major, it is also a single reel lasting 16 bars. This tune can be found with words in Gaelic Horo Ghoid Thu Nighean.and in Scots the song Jenny Dang the Weaver was recorded by Jock Tamson’s Bairns. This tune is a great one for practicing crispy triplets. I also take you through some simple bowings and a couple of variations.

Lesson 2: The Famous Bridge (also known as The Twisted Bridge) – probably one of the only times you’ll be playing in the time signature of 6/4. This catchy number written in the pipe scale of A is an old tune played all over Scotland today. Very repetitive, it is a great one for looking at bowing and grace notes in order to make it swing. I will show you some bowing that I use as well as some tips on triplets.

Lesson 3: Snug in a Blanket. I teach this jig in D major. Sometimes you will hear it play in G major – that’s no problem just shift down a string – same fingering. This is an old pipe jig and very popular today – great for playing for the dance Strip the Willow. I will teach you how to swing a jig with the use of some simple slurs. I will also show you some pipe influenced grace notes and excersises to help them get under your fingers.

Lesson 4: The Battle of Waterloo – this march is a session winner in the key of a minor. A pipe tune played the country over by most instruments, some people repeat the A part, some do not. If you are in a session you just have to listen out to whoever is leading it – it’s their choice. In this tune I’ll teach you the key grace notes to make this march swing.

Lesson 5: The Ale is Dear. Ale is Dear is a catchy tune in B minor, often heard in Scottish sessions. This is a single reel – the tune lasts 16 bars – many reels are the standard 32 bars in length. In this tune we are looking at clean string crossing in the A part as well as the use of a couple of simple grace notes throughout. I give some bowing that I may use which is good practice for gaining good control of the bow for both up and down bows. I also introduce the grace note which I like to describe as the “lazy note”.

Lesson 6: Highland Whisky – this strathspey is great for looking at rhythm and variation. It’s a well-known tune in the key of A major. I teach you what a scotch snap is and give you some ideas for variation. I also demonstrate some bowing possibilities, which I use to help keep the rhythm steady and springy at the same time.

Anna-Wendy Stevenson is the third generation in a line of composer/performer, from her grandfather Ronald Stevenson through Savourna Stevenson to Anna-Wendy herself. After winning a scholarship to lead an orchestra in Texas, Anna-Wendy returned to her native Edinburgh to pursue her love for Scottish fiddling. Quickly snapped up by globe- trotting folk group Anam, Anna-Wendy has toured the US, Japan and Europe's major festivals. She has since helped form all girl quartet Calluna (who's pure sound of flute, clarsach, fiddle and voice has graced many a festival) and trio Fine Friday with whom she has enjoyed great success: BBC 'up and coming' nominees, many tours including Australia's major festivals and extensive work with Yehudi Menuin's "Live Music Now' scheme.

Also a respected and sought after teacher, Anna-Wendy has been a senior tutor for all of Scotland's educational organizations (Adult Learning Project, Glasgow Fiddle Workshop, Lochgoil Fiddle Workshop, Feis). And, in 2005 she was invited to teach and lecture at the prestigious Swannanaoa Gathering in the USA. Anna-Wendy's distinctive sound is a product of classical expertise and traditional passion. These two strengths have opened many doors to Anna-Wendy both as an orchestral leader and as an internationally traveled ‘fiddler'.

Her CD Gowd and Silver with her grandfather Ronald Stevenson of his arrangements of traditional Scottish music for fiddle and a solo album were both released in 2005.

Fee $72 (approx £38). Buy this teaching course.

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Download Anna-Wendy's albums.

For our online teaching to work you will have to have Windows Media Player installed on your computer. This comes with Windows. If you are a Mac user you can download it here. You will also need a fast internet connection (adsl, broadband), and speakers connected to your computer so you can hear it (these can take the form of computer speakers (connected from your sound card) or headphones). These lessons are not downloaded to your computer - they are streamed from our internet servers. If you have any questions please contact us.