We are pleased to welcome TradTöchter to Halsway Manor. Vivien Zeller and Ursula Suchanek present a guided tour of traditional music, beautiful melodies, groovy tunes and breath-taking dances from Germany. There will be spotlights on various instrumental aspects such as working on second voices, harmonies and danceable accompaniments, playing together as an ensemble and of course some dancing. All instruments welcome.
Who is it for?
Instrumentalists of all levels of experience welcome. You need to be comfortable with your instrument to get the best from this workshop. Intermediate level recommended.
The Team
TradTöchter (meaning Daughters of Tradition) are two German violinists who love traditional dance tunes as much as newly written dance music, and play both for the joy of dancers and listeners. Stirring compositions join with virtuosic arrangements of traditional tunes and songs.
Ursula Suchanek grew up in Bavaria as a classical musician, involved in various projects with renowned orchestras in Germany, Lithuania and Poland. Having loved Jazz and free improvisation all along the way, she finally encountered traditional dance music in her twenties and found her new musical home there. She studied with European fiddle masters such as Dave Shepard, Julien Barbances and Janusz Prusinowski, but most of all Vivien Zeller to whom she owes her love for and knowledge of Northern German dance music. In order to explore the inseparable connection between music and dance further, she studied dance at the Eric-Sahlström-Institute in Sweden.
Vivien Zeller is a musician, singer, dancer and composer from Berlin. She has been playing and dancing to traditional music since the age of 16, with a particular focus on tunes and dances from Germany. Her work as a performer in many different contexts brings together her reinterpretations of German folk songs with her own compositions and a dedication to playing dance music with a compelling groove. As a teacher, Vivien runs dance workshops and instrumental courses in arrangement, improvisation and playing for dance. Her ongoing research into archived historic manuscripts has produced a wealth of material which she co-curates as the online collection www.tanzmusikarchiv.de and the German traditional music youtube channel “TradTanzMusik”. She is involved with the Centre for Traditional Music in Schwerin and is one of the organizers of the festival Klangrauschtreffen.