Irish Mandolin, Intermediate & Advanced
This workshop will build on the basics of playing Irish music on the mandolin, focusing on repertoire, technique and musicality. We’ll look at phrasing and ornamentation, as well as using dynamics and variation to best apply the unique qualities of the mandolin to the music, respecting the core of the tradition on this ‘newcomer’ of an instrument. We’ll learn tunes together (by ear) and explore different ways to give those tunes life and lift, applying the concepts and techniques that we learn in class. Bring a recording device!
About Marla Fibish
Marla’s is a distinct voice of the mandolin in Irish music. She brings her own musical sensibility to the tradition on one of its lesser heard instruments. With very few role models on the instrument, she developed her approach on her own, focusing not on the mandolin itself, but on the music she loved so dearly. Her influences come, quite naturally then, from favorite fiddlers, pipers, flute and accordion players, and her style one that aims to capture the movement and flow of the music on those instruments, while highlighting the particular beauties of the mandolin. Over the years, and as the instrument has gained popularity in the tradition, she has become a respected and sought-after teacher, and loves nothing more than nurturing newer players and helping them find their own voice on the instrument She teaches online at Peghead Nation , and has been on the faculty of many music camps including The Swannanoa Gathering, The Mandolin Symposium, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, Portal Irish Music Week and others. Her discography includes Playdate, a duo project with fiddler Rebecca Richman, her 2020 solo album The Bright Hollow Fog, and The Morning Star—a duo CD with legendary Irish singer and bouzouki player Jimmy Crowley. Her songs are featured in the duo Noctambule, her longtime collaboration with guitarist and husband Bruce Victor. Together they have released 4 albums, most recently Every Migrant is My Fellow in 2021. Some of the best mandolin playing in Irish music.” —Dennis Cahill, Guitarist