Do Workshops Work?

[Ken_Coles]

 

Good info, Ken, thanks! Are pages like the ones you linked part of the legendary "old site"? I wasn't able to find links to that sort of content on the site currently, but it look like it's hosted here somewhere based on the URL.

 

This is OT so I don't want to drift the thread here, but Paul turned off the links to the old static pages after getting complaints about how out of date the Buyer's Guide had become. He is willing to have me repost/link some of the other useful material, but it is a big job...yours truly may get going on it when he finishes teaching the current school term!

 

Ken

[Azalin]

i'm also not a fan of paying to do classes that are nearly purely "ear-training." so-called "tunes classes." a lot of irish concertina players brought to teach these classes don't know anything about teaching, and pretend that that is "teaching." again--you can do this for free at home with a recorder and well-chosen traditional records, seriously. tim collins has said this straight out to his classes, and it is true. a box player in ireland who is a multiple senior all-iireland winner and a tech/science professional as well as a box teacher told me that workshops where they cram tunes into people by ear were "a 100% complete waste of your time," given that the human brain can truly assimilate about one new ear-learned tune a week, and i concur with this.

 

Yes agree 100%. The best workshop I ever had was actually with Tim Collins. He's the only teacher I had who focused highly on technique. A few years back I told the organizer of a festival that I'd sign up for concertina classes if Tim Collins was going to teach. The organizer got upset. But from my point of view, it's my money and I have the right to ask how I'm going to spend it. I won't spend $500 just to promote the survival of Irish Music festivals.