New(ish!) for 2024!
Our accordion weekend has had a bit of a refresh in response to guest feedback – this popular course will be aimed at Level 1 to Level 3 players in 2024. If you consider yourself to be a Level 4 player, please take a look at Murray Grainger’s Advanced Accordion Weekend in September.
Perennial favourite Paul Hutchinson will be joined for the first time by Scottish accordionist Valerie Barr and Tamsin Elliot, multi-instrumentalist, composer and film-maker.
The weekend offers workshops honing technique, repertoire and interpretation of folk tunes and accompaniment. There will be time for informal evening sessions and a Saturday night tutors’ concert.
Who is it for?
This course is for Beginner to Intermediate players. These are the course levels that we are using.
You’ll also need to be able to read music, and in the higher levels, know your way around your instrument with some degree of confidence. If you consider yourself to be Level 1, a willingness to learn is key! You’ll also need to have your own instrument.
The Team
Paul Hutchinson studied piano and church organ before being persuaded at the age of 17 to take up the accordion and form a ceilidh band. Since then he’s become one of the best-known and in demand players on the folk scene. In the UK and beyond he was one half of duo Belshazzar’s Feast, a trio Hoover the Dog, Pagoda Project (with Karen Wimhurst), and PLF. Paul is a regular tutor and musician at Halsway Manor, and the accordion tutor for EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House.
Scottish accordionist Valerie Barr has been playing accordion since she was four and studied with world renowned accordionist, Djordje Gajic, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she graduated with a Masters in Music Performance in 2020. She and Paul Hutchinson have been working together recently on education projects in the North of England. Her new trio, Triskelion, draws on its members’ shared cultural history of Ireland and Scotland to present their home traditions of music and contrast this proud heritage with original arrangements of classical favourites and new music.
Tamsin Elliott is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and film-maker with roots in the traditional dance tunes of the British Isles. Her solo debut album ‘FREY’ (Penny Fiddle Records, 2022) established her as a rising star on the folk scene, with The Guardian praising her “beautiful, filmic compositions for accordion, harp, whistle and voice”. Tamsin’s cross-cultural collaboration with oud player Tarek Elazhary, which explores Egyptian and English folk traditions whilst celebrating connection and friendship, was nominated for a Songlines Music Award. Delving into themes of personal struggle and grief, her music offers a poignant reflection on the human experience.