Live Workshops — what to expect!

Fiddle-online.com has pioneered a mix of live online workshops with interactive sheet music — if you haven’t tried a live event, here’s what to expect.

We use Zoom to connect; you can learn more about it at this link. It’s high quality and easy to use. Once you sign up for an event, you’ll have access to a link, as well as learning materials. At class time, you’ll simply click to join the group.

Types of Live Events

There are several kinds of live events on fiddle-online.com — the monthly Sunday guest concert/workshop featuring top players from around the world, the Thursday tunelearning workshops with Ed Pearlman, which are centered around a monthly topic (see the past workshops page for a list of monthly topics), and the Wednesday classes which are 8-week sessions aimed at particular levels (starting with beginners in Sept and progressing to Intermediate level 2 in the spring). When a new session is available for signup, there is an info button on the Current Workshops page.

Live Event vs Materials-Only

Learning materials for workshops are available 24/7 online, starting from the moment you sign up and lasting until at least 30 days after the live event. After a live workshop is over, a teaching video is posted for review, and for those who missed the live event. A performance video is also available from the concert/workshop. In addition to these videos, of course, you have access to

unique interactive sheet music, boxing phrases and providing self-repeating audio of them so you can work by listening as well as, or instead of, reading the music. There’s also a playalong track and a listening track to get a good feel for the tune, and often other info (sometimes pretty extensive) on the workshop page.

The nice thing about the live event is that the discussion and teaching is more complete than you’d get only with the online materials, and you get to interact with the teacher and other students. One student wrote that she loved these events because “I look forward each week to spending this time with my fiddling peers from all over the country.”

The Sunday guest workshop can be taken on its own, or is included if you sign up for the three Thursday workshops for the month. If you miss the first one, the price is discounted for the remaining ones but you still get access to the online materials for the all the Sunday and Thursday events of that month.

The Sociable Part

You can sign in as early as ten minutes before the workshop and chat with others who have signed in. Once class is going, there are often chances to play a phrase for the teacher or hear another student play something, and get comments useful to all, keyed in specifically to your playing.

You can ask questions, make comments; you can even type in a chat box to everyone or anyone in particular.

The Learning

The workshops are relaxed, in part because everyone’s at home, and during teaching moments, student mikes are muted, so you can play with the teacher but you don’t hear everyone else. One nice benefit of this is that all levels can take the same class; nobody can be put off by a faster or slower learner because you can’t hear them while you’re playing — that is, unless people offer to play a phrase for everyone for teacher comments, which is fun and welcome.
The learning during class is followed up by all the materials mentioned above, plus the teaching highlights video posted after class is over. Tunes learned in one class are reviewed in the next, and a new tune learned in each workshop.

The Basics Series

These start in late September and run for 8 weeks in each session, building from bare-bones beginner to intermediate over the course of the year. Some who are not beginners take the Basics or Advanced Basics classes just to fill in gaps; some even take the course again the following year. Lots can be learned especially when you are at home and working with online materials. You often are ready to pick up more information and ideas the second time around! The Basics classes cover a lot of ground but it’s all appropriate for each level, and includes access to Technique Video Groups, Tune Groups, and written materials to help explain and support what we do in class.

Private Lessons

In the Store, you can purchase a private lesson with Ed to touch base about any specific questions you have on how the tunes or techniques work for you and your own style of playing and learning. These lessons can be an hour, a half-hour or even a 15-minute focus lesson. Ed will work with you to schedule your lesson at a convenient time.

If you have any questions about any of these workshops, feel free to contact Ed at any time! Hope to see you online.