Adult Music Courses
The School of Music is taught by some of the folk world’s top teachers
Each online session consists of four weekly lessons. Local students are encouraged to participate in Caffe Lena’s jams and open mics in order to further develop skills and become part of a folk music community.
To ask a question about the Caffe Lena School of Music or learn more about scholarships please email musicschool@caffelena.org
Four week Courses
Beginning Guitar with Marcy Marxer
Time: The course will take place on Mondays from 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Dates: Sept 14th, and 21st (no class 9/28 for Yom Kippur) Oct 5th, & Oct 12 (reserving Oct 19 as a make-up day).
Each class will start with gentle warm-up exercises. We’ll work on chords and a song or songs. Each class includes a chord chart and a practice track of backup music.
Songwriting with Dan Navarro
Tuesdays from 7:00pm – 8:30pm ET
Dates: September 22nd, 29th, Oct 6th, and Oct 13th.
Dan will lead you in four classes exploring the basics of song structure, the dynamics of story arc, the role of repetition, the elusiveness of originality, and how-when-why to break the rules, all in the quest for a connected and satisfying form of expression and communication.
Blues Guitar with Guy Davis
Wednesdays from 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Dates: October 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th
Guy will weave this workshop experience together with laughter, compelling story and song as well as clear instruction in technique. This is a guitar-based workshop but singers, harmonica players, and others are welcome to attend.
This course is for advanced beginners.
Clawhammer Banjo with Bruce Molsky
Wednesdays from 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Dates: September 16th, 23rd, 30th, and Oct 7
We’ll look at a couple of classic tunes and focus on the important elements, like phrasing and rhythm, and work on techniques such as pull-offs, drop thumbs and rolls.
Suggested experience level: If you have at least a small repertoire of tunes and feel comfortable learning short phrases by ear, then you’ll be fine.
Old-time Fiddle with Bruce Molsky
Thursdays from 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Dates: September 17th, 24th, Oct 1st, Oct 8th
Tunes are taught a phrase at a time, first melody, then bowing, and then piecing things together. We’ll dig into old-time music’s unique phrasing, rhythm, syncopation and intonation.
Suggested experience level: If you have at least a small repertoire of tunes and feel comfortable learning short phrases by ear, then you’ll be fine.
Irish Tunes for Clawhammer with Allison DeGroot
Saturdays from 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Dates: November 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
In this course we will learn a repertoire of tunes, work on getting comfortable with the 6/8 feel, and develop a process for adapting tunes on your own.
Suggested experience level: This class is designed for intermediate and advanced players and control of the drop thumb technique will be needed.
Individual Workshops
Slide Guitar with Robin O’Herin
Saturday, September 26th, 3:00pm
Learn right and left hand technique, alternating bass lines, beginning slide guitar techniques, how to use open tunings–chord shapes, slide licks and runs, as well as repertoire by Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Fred McDowell and more.
Instructors
Marcy Marxer: Beginning Guitar
Two-time Grammy winner Marcy Marxer is a master guitar player whose love of teaching makes her an awesome teacher for all levels. She has over 50 recordings to her credit and has been honored with 8 Signature Model Instruments.
Dan Navarro: Songwriting and Accompaniment for Songwriting
Dan Navarro’s journey began as a songwriter, often with the late Eric Lowen, for artists as diverse as Pat Benatar, The Bangles, Jackson Browne, Dave Edmunds, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick, The Triplets, Dutch star Marco Borsato, and Austin outlaw legend Rusty Weir. In the 1990s and 2000s, Dan and Eric recorded and toured as the acclaimed acoustic duo Lowen & Navarro until Eric’s retirement in 2009 (and passing in 2012). Dan has transitioned smoothly into a busy solo career over the past dozen years, touring nationally almost constantly.
Guy Davis: Blues Guitar
Guy Davis has spent his musical life carrying his message of the blues around the world, from the Equator to the Arctic Circle, earning him the title “An Ambassador of the Blues”. His work as an actor, author, and music teacher earmark him as a renaissance man of the blues.
Bruce Molsky: Old-Time Fiddle and Clawhammer Banjo
Bruce Molsky is one of the most revered “multi-hyphenated career” ambassadors for America’s old-time mountain music. For decades, he’s been a globetrotting performer and educator, a recording artist with an expansive discography including seven solo albums, well over a dozen collaborations and two Grammy-nominations.
Allison DeGroot: Irish Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo & Beginning Clawhammer
Allison de Groot combines love for old-time music, technical skill and a creative approach to the banjo forming her own sound – unique and full of personality. Her collaborations with Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, Bruce Molsky’s trio Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, The Goodbye Girls and Nic Gariess provide spaces to explore the role and depth of clawhammer banjo.
Robin O’Herin: Slide Guitar Workshop
Robin O’Herin has been a touring Delta and Piedmont blues and gospel musician since 2004, specializing in bottleneck blues and gospel. Her concerts are historically rich, often interactive events that include original and traditional American music. She has played festivals, coffeehouses, & house concerts. Song selections may include Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson and Robin’s own original blues and fingerstyle ballads.
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