John Spiers Melodeon Workshop, Lewes Saturday Folk Club

About

Lewes Saturday Folk Club Workshop No 325 - JOHN SPIERS MELODEON WORKSHOP

Known for his playing with Bellowhead, Spiers & Boden and more recently his work with Peter Knight, Jackie Oates, and the Gigspanner Big Band, John is now one of the busiest and most in-demand melodeon players on the folk circuit.  Having cut his teeth playing around his native Oxfordshire for Morris-dance, ceilidhs and barn dances in the late 1990s, he then transitioned to professional musician via stints as melodeon salesman/repair-man and busker in the early 2000s.

John's love of English traditional dance music is at the centre of his playing with a distinctive stompy rhythm at the heart of it.  Melodeon-geekery has never left him and came to the fore during lockdown when he led the online Isolation Pub Sessions from his shed followed by the Advent Calendar of Squeezeboxes on YouTube.

The workshop will be about using the melodeon as a harmonic instrument, covering chords on both the left and right hand sides of the instrument and developing that by letting it govern the approach to playing several hopefully well-known tunes on the instrument.  The workshop will be taught based on a 2-row melodeon in D/G and music will be available in advance.

Provisional Timetable 10:45 Registration & coffee; please order lunch at the bar (refreshments not included) 11.00 Learning some chord shapes on left & right hand 12.30 Lunch 13.30 Learning/going over the tunes and considering alternative fingerings 15.00 Tea/coffee break 15.15 Fitting the tunes to the chord shapes we want 16.45 Finish N.B. Booking is recommended as numbers are limited. Maps & accommodation lists will be sent on request.

https://johnspiers.co.uk/

Places £45 (£22 for two under 25-year olds) Email valmaigoodyear@aol.com to reserve tickets, bring the right money in cash on the day.

John Harvey Tavern, Foundry Lane, Lewes BN7 2AN IN THE EVENING JOHN SPIERS & JACKIE OATES PERFORM AT THE ELEPHANT & CASTLE (£15: email valmaigoodyear@aol.com to reserve tickets, bring the right money in cash on the night)