Welcome to Shivering Strings Canada
Due to COVID 19 restrictions, the five Shivering Strings in-person camps scheduled for January/February were cancelled. The camps would have been held in Abbotsford, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Nova Scotia – home of Gordon Stobbe’s original Shivering Strings. All camps follow the model designed by Gordon where sheet music and audio clips are available for registered campers before hand. The intent is for campers to be very familiar with the tunes before they come to camp so they can focus on playing music rather than learning notes. Emphasis during camp is on additional technique tips and embellishment.
This year, organizers from each of the five camps planned a Canada wide virtual camp following Gordon’s design. The team of instructors were chosen from each of the camps. Donna Turk, Alex Kusturok, JJ Guy, Kelli Trottier, Troy MacGillivray and, of course, Gordon Stobbe. Each instructor taught 3 classes on either Saturday or Sunday. There were also Clawhammer Banjo and Upright Bass classes. There were over 230 participants in all.
Comments from participants include:
Hopefully, we will be able to resume our in-person camps next winter!
This year, organizers from each of the five camps planned a Canada wide virtual camp following Gordon’s design. The team of instructors were chosen from each of the camps. Donna Turk, Alex Kusturok, JJ Guy, Kelli Trottier, Troy MacGillivray and, of course, Gordon Stobbe. Each instructor taught 3 classes on either Saturday or Sunday. There were also Clawhammer Banjo and Upright Bass classes. There were over 230 participants in all.
Comments from participants include:
- I was in a ‘Fiddle Funk’ and Shivering Strings got me playing again.
- Shivering strings weekend camps are a great way to improve your fiddle skills with some of Canada's best fiddle talent.
- The only way virtual fiddle camps work for me is I have to have music ahead, other wise the classes are too short to learn a tune and incorporate other instruction from instructors.
- It was very well done and a great way to pass the weekend. Gave me something to look forward to during this stay at home time
- This was a morale boost - being able to see everyone, do music again and we had excellent teachers
Hopefully, we will be able to resume our in-person camps next winter!
WHAT IS SHIVERING STRINGS?
What exactly is Shivering Strings?
Gordon Stobbe developed this concept many years ago - he wanted to get as much learning, playing and fun crammed into one weekend as was humanly possible! His idea has taken off and now there are Shivering Strings camps all over the country.
The central idea is this: You register EARLY, and then you will receive all of the tunes to be worked on EARLY. You will get both an audio recording of the tune and a PDF of the notes. You can listen to the tunes many times, and you play them as much as possible before the Shivering Strings Weekend (January 30-31, 2021). You can listen to them in your car, on your laptop, on your desktop during the day, or on your iPhone before you go to bed. You get to practice them often ahead of time, maybe with friends over Zoom, or maybe even in person, socially distancing of course!
The more you prepare, the more you get out of the weekend! We can’t emphasize that enough!
The instructors do not teach the notes, as you might have experienced in other camp settings. They will expect that you have prepared the tunes, and that way they are able to teach really fun and interesting techniques and tips that enhance the tune! (And enhance your playing!)
So please register early, and get to work on the tunes!
“Play more music, have more fun”
Gordon Stobbe developed this concept many years ago - he wanted to get as much learning, playing and fun crammed into one weekend as was humanly possible! His idea has taken off and now there are Shivering Strings camps all over the country.
The central idea is this: You register EARLY, and then you will receive all of the tunes to be worked on EARLY. You will get both an audio recording of the tune and a PDF of the notes. You can listen to the tunes many times, and you play them as much as possible before the Shivering Strings Weekend (January 30-31, 2021). You can listen to them in your car, on your laptop, on your desktop during the day, or on your iPhone before you go to bed. You get to practice them often ahead of time, maybe with friends over Zoom, or maybe even in person, socially distancing of course!
The more you prepare, the more you get out of the weekend! We can’t emphasize that enough!
The instructors do not teach the notes, as you might have experienced in other camp settings. They will expect that you have prepared the tunes, and that way they are able to teach really fun and interesting techniques and tips that enhance the tune! (And enhance your playing!)
So please register early, and get to work on the tunes!
“Play more music, have more fun”
