10 Week After School Folk Ensemble with Oona Grady and James Gascoyne

After School Folk Ensemble with Oona Grady and James Gascoyne!

Sign up by clicking a class time below:

2:45 pm 3:40 pm 4:35 pm (each class is 45 min)

Music is a gift best shared with friends! Here is an exciting opportunity for youth 7-14 to learn music by playing together. The Youth Folk Ensembles at Caffe Lena meet weekly for 45 minutes for ten weeks, culminating with a recital/sharing session for family and friends. Three time slots are offered, and students are welcome to sign up for one or more. These ten week sessions run through the school year. Summer day camps are offered as well.

Each semester finishes with a recital for friends and family! (with Lena's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course!)

Need help with tuition or an instrument? Let us know how we can help by filling out this application for the Matt McCabe Scholarship Fund or email: [email protected]

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Learn music fundamentals:

-Develop strong and steady sense of rhythm

-Learn how to listen and hear musically

-Explore singing with your own authentic voice

Mixed ages and abilities:

-Open to any level of experience with music

-Learn through listening and participation 

Learning valuable life skills:

-Listening

-Working in a group setting

-Creative contribution and compromise

-Being part of a team and playing your part

-Building friendships

Experience music as a social pastime:

-Connect with new friends who love to share music

Develop Repertoire:

-Learn classic tunes from the folk tradition as well as favorite contemporary songs and a few originals created in the group

Explore string instruments and singing, learning basic skills:

-Opportunities to focus on guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, bass, and violin/fiddle*

(*for students interested in violin/fiddle it is recommended that they also be enrolled in private or school lessons)

Meet the instructors:

James Gascoyne is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and teacher based in Saratoga Springs, NY. Originally from Louisville, KY, James has been an active participant in the NYS Capital Region arts community since 2004. He has toured nationally with a variety of groups, at times performing on bass, guitar, drums, and vocals, all the while maintaining an active local performing and recording schedule as well as teaching privately when time allows.  James regularly performs with Oona Grady as their duo, Drank The Gold, specializing in traditional Irish and American fiddle tunes and folk songs, as well as original compositions and arrangements, plus newly formed bluegrass quintet The Millstone Rounders. With a passion for sharing his musical experience with others, he’s led various workshops at times on guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and bass for the Caffe Lena School of Music, Dance Flurry Festival, GrassRoots Culture Camp, and Winter Village Music Camp.

Oona Grady is a musician and educator living in Saratoga Springs, New York. She performs with the duo Drank The Gold, a band specializing in creative arrangements of traditional Irish and American fiddle music, folk songs, and original compositions, as well as other projects including The Grady Girls, Folk Club Kids and newest project The Millstone Rounders.  Oona grew up in Ithaca, NY, nurtured by a family and community with a deep love of music. After receiving a foundation in Suzuki violin and Irish fiddle, she began performing with her family band as a teenager, and moved to Ireland at age eighteen to continue her music studies at University College Cork, graduating with a B.Mus. in 2008.  Oona manages a private music studio focussed on teaching and recording and is a founding teacher at the Caffe Lena School of Music. She also works as a guest instructor for weekend workshops and summer programs, including GrassRoots Culture Camp, The Flurry Festival, and Winter Village Music Camp.