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Appearances and Events

 

Click on the title of any event in the 'Quick List' panel on the right to display the full details of that event. If you have any queries not covered by the full detail page, please use the contact link above to ask your questions.

 

Workshops

  

La Fuente de Musica

Residential Music Workshops in Andalucia, Southeastern Spain

 

Katelissauer.com is the main online location for information about this wonderful series of holiday workshop weeks.  You'll find a lot of what you need to know in the Events listings for specific weeks, and in the text below them.

Please visit the Media Gallery page and look at the La Fuente album to get a taste of what these weeks are like.  Click the Gallery symbol at the bottom left of the large picture for an album menu. 

 

Workshops for 2012/2013

May 11 to May 18, Saturday to Saturday, 2013

Dave Bing, Kate Lissauer, Johnny Whelan, Dave Pope, and others to be confirmed teach fiddle, banjo, guitar, singing, and beginner's instrumental workshops. The original La Funte teaching partnership of Dave and Kate is expanded to offer not only banjo and fiddle, but guitar, beginner's banjo, duet singing, and a new general beginners' class, taugh by Dave-EZ-method-Pope, aimed at any who want to begin learning any instrument!

September 28 to October 5, Saturday to Saturday, 2013

Alice Gerrard and Beverly Smith teach banjo, guitar, fiddle and singing.

These groups will include 12-17 students, the teachers, and several other staff.  Most of us stay on site, unless there is an overflow, and sometimes people prefer to stay in a tent on site.  

We are completely self-contained and private, located in a remote valley, roughly in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.  Although many places one might wish to explore are readily at hand, we often find that people are very happy and content to stay on site throughout the week.  All meals are provided, and use of all facilities (such as washing) is included.  We have a 20-metre solar heated swimmming pool, and the casa is set within exquisite gardens and beautifully landscaped grounds, and surrounded by hills perfect for walking and climbing.

Participants generally arrive on Saturday and depart on the following Saturday or Sunday, although arrival and departure dates are flexible, and people often arrive early or stay late.  Anyone staying outside of the Saturday to Saturday interval is asked to donate E15 per extra day.    

Classes begin on Sunday, and run through Tuesday.  Then we have a day off for excursions or whatever people want to do.  Then we have two more days of classes, which finish with a student showcase and a party.  We usually have a night out during the week as well.

Classes in October will be in fiddle, banjo, guitar and singing (individual and duet)  Each class is held each day, and lasts for about 1&1/2 hours.  They are scheduled so that you can choose three of the five topics on any given day.  The classes are progressive, so most people stick with their chosen classes throughout the week.  There is no obligation to attend a certain number of classes.  

The showcase is a great feature of the week, in which a partner for each participant is chosen by random draw, and these partners, with support from other students and staff, work on playing together and presenting something (two pieces, any medium, funny or serious)to the rest.  It can be daunting, but is always rewarding!  We learn to play with people we haven't worked with before, and try things we haven't ever done.  For some people, simply playing for someone else is a big challenge.  There is a lot of support and encouragement.

Travel is the responsibility of each participant, and is paid separately, but we help by giving information about good routes, possible sharing of taxis, and things like that. We have our own taxi service that can pick up from Almeria airport, and we organise transfers from other airports. Almeria is our closest airport, but if it is not a convenient one to fly into, alternatives are Murcia (2 hours away), and Alicante (2.5 hours away).

I hope this is enough informaiton to get you started.  If you could email me any further question, I will be very happy to reply.

 

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