[ From Butch Ross ] QuaranTUNE 3.0 Registration closes this Saturday.

[News, info and tourdates for Butch Ross]

At 8pm Eastern Standard Time this Saturday registration closes for the
QuaranTUNE Dulcimer Festival 3.0.

Classes have been selling out and now time is running out too.

Personally one of the challenges of the virtual festivals of 2020 (and I
have been very fortunate to be a part of many) is its non-geographic aspect
of it. It used to be, If a workshop went well in Albany, I could teach it
again in Kentucky or in Berkeley or Albuquerque or wherever. But now that
folks can be anywhere at any time, Albany folks take classes with Berkeley
folks at an online festival in Albuquerque.

At one virtual festival this summer I had a student from Portland Oregon
and one from Vienna Austria in the same class. Literally the breadth of the
Western world was represented in a single session. It's awesome, but it
also cleans out my teaching repertoire. Back in the day, a comedian who got
his 5 minutes on Johnny Carson couldn't tell those jokes in the
nightclub anymore, 'cuz everyone had heard them on TV. I feel like there's
a little of that happening here as well.

BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING! Quite the opposite!!! Not only have the online
festivals been a lifeline in a year that could have been
fiscally devastating to full-time musicians like me (and actually was to
many of my friends) it's forced me to dig deep and come up with new
workshop ideas, ones that I'm very excited about. Ones that I'll be
teaching in Albany and Albuquerque and Berkeley for years to come....if
we're ever let out of our houses again.

So here's the list of what's still available with some more commentary on
what I'm teaching this time around.

Friday, Session 2 - Almost Crooked Tunes
Want to know a dirty little secret? "Crooked" tunes really aren't crooked
AND they really are a lot of fun.

Friday, Session 5 - Rhythms Beyond 4/4
So you know how to play a Jig. But do you really? What about odd time
signatures? What about funky ones (like the hand jive)? We'll take some to
explore them. Not just what they are, but how to play them and how YOU can
figure them out on your own.

Friday, Session 6 - Just 5 notes
There are a ton of tunes with just 5 notes (as opposed to 8) but more
importantly with these five you can play just about anything with just
about anybody.

Friday, Session 8 - Throw A Wrench In There
Learn how to properly, and cooly, mess up a tune; THIS IS FROM THE
DESCRIPTION BUT I CAN'T SAY IT ANY BETTER.

Saturday, Session 1 - From Cabbage to Cab Calloway
You know those guys just know what chords to play even tho' they've never
played the song before? Come find out how they do it.

Saturday, Session 6 - Pinkies and Thumbs
...or how to own three finger chords. It's one of the very first things I
learned to do on the dulcimer and it made all the difference.

Saturday, Session 7 - Musical Hiccups
How come one person plays a tune and it's boring, but if someone else plays
the same tune it sounds fresh and exciting? THIS! This is why.

Not a lot of repertoire classes this time around (and the ones I'm teaching
are sold out) but I leaned into technique because I find it works best in
the virtual format, and has wider-reaching possibilities. I mean we're
learning HOW to fish! just a little over 48 hours left for registration as
of the time of this writing. I hope you can come.

C-ya in here.

--Br
www.butchross.com

"Now I know what a dulcimer is supposed to sound like" —Jake Shimabukuro