a California Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation – EIN 99-3474773
a California Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation – EIN 99-3474773
Instructor(s): Molly Tenenbaum
Each day’s class will take a tune or tunes to explore in several layers, including essential melody, complex melody, rhythmic variation, and style choices. Along the way, we’ll practice techniques of good tone, drop-thumb, changing tunings, and the musical choices involved in playing solo or with others.
We’ll listen to older sources for background knowledge and inspiration, and to hear the choices these players made in creating their own styles. Students will leave class with some new tunes, more choices for creating a personal banjo style, and, hopefully, generally having more ease and fun in playing the banjo
Molly Tenenbaum has been playing old-time clawhammer banjo since she was a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, inspired first by tradition bearers living and passing through LA, and later by travels in the Southeastern U.S. Known for her traditional and rhythmic approach, she has played for dances and festivals around the Pacific Northwest with The Queen City Bulldogs and Dram County, and as a duet with Karen Celia Heil. She enjoys creating atmospheric banjo accompaniments for songs, joining with the fiddle for a spirited banjo-fiddle sound, and blasting it out for square dances with the big old-time band sound. She lives in Seattle where she gardens, writes, draws, plays music, and teaches banjo through Dusty Strings Music School.
Molly has been teaching clawhammer banjo for over 40 years, in private lessons, in classes through Dusty Strings Music School, and at camps, including American Banjo Camp, Augusta Old-Time Week, Bluff Country Gathering, The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and Midwest Banjo Camp.