Music Camp
21st - 26th July 2025
Event Information for 2024. Soon to be updated for 2025
Monday 19th - Saturday 24th August 2024
Immerse yourself in a week long intensive music programme in the West of Wales with world class tutors. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced player you will gain immeasurable benefits from spending a week with your tutor.
We focus on learning tunes by ear and listening skills, building confidence either to play in front of other people, performing or joining a session (we run slow jams for those just starting out). Students are encouraged to form scratch bands and there is plenty of time to rehearse ready for the big Friday night student concert where participants demonstrate what they have learned with their tutor groups or as a band.
All players have the opportunity to stretch themselves, maybe learning new techniques, maybe trying out new tunings, maybe playing unfamiliar styles of music or playing in groups but most importantly playing together, eating together and having fun.
The camp focuses on folk music from around the world but mostly from the Americas: Old-time, Cajun and some Klezmer.
The week can be intense and challenging but most of all new friendships and confidence are built and the joy of playing social dance music stays for ever.
Expect Courses in (booking happening now!))
Banjo
Fiddle
Guitar
Mixed Instruments
2024 Courses:
Travis Stuart (USA) - Banjo Intermediate/Advanced
Amelia Powell (USA) - Guitar - focus on style and technique
Emily Smith - Fiddle Beginner/Improvers (not complete beginners)*
Ed Hicks - Mixed Instruments - learn how to join in with sessions and groups
Jerry Bloom - Fiddle Technique
Owen Spafford - Fiddle - Tone and Groove in English/Irish Fiddle Music
Dirk Powell (USA) - Banjo (Advanced)
Vera Van Heeringen - Guitar (picking and singing)
Jock Tyldesley - Cajun and Old Time fiddle (intermediate)
Steve Blake - Banjo (Beginners/Intermediate)
Class sizes limited to 10. If you want to swap courses once new tutors are added please do get in touch. camp@fireinthemountain.co.uk
* We cannot help complete beginners on fiddle. If you have found one in your granny’s attic, or do not yet have the ability to play in tune or have never picked one up then we suggest you get some basic lessons in advance or book camping only on this occasion.
Camping Only Ticket
If you would like to come and enjoy the camp and the beautiful farm without taking the full time tuition, you can. Take part in all the evening workshops and dances, and relax during the day.
The Daily Schedule
9 am - 12 pm Morning Tuition
12 pm - 2 pm Lunch
2 pm - 4 pm Afternoon Tuition
4:15 pm - 6 pm Drop in Workshop Sessions (open to all) / Scratch Band Rehearsals.
6 pm to 7 pm Slow Jam for Beginners /pop up sessions/Various Locations
7 pm - 8 pm Dinner
8 pm - 9 pm Honky Tonk Choir
9 pm - 11 pm Evening Gathering and Dance in the Main Marquee
The Camp - The Basics
The site consists of 3 areas; a large camping field available to all who attend, The Courtyard and surrounding outbuildings where the tuition happens, and the "Dell", a magical space in the valley where we have showers and a sauna (free to use).
The campsite has compost loos and plenty of space for all. There are 2 water points and a washing up station. Both campervans and tents are welcome.
The Courtyard is a covered area within a marquee. The camp convenes here in the evening for folk dances and performances. It is also the location of our "closing concert" on the Friday. There is an adjacent bar in one of the barns, serving delicious local ales, ciders and locally produced spirits.
Tuition occurs in the buildings, in yurts and tents set up around the farm buildings.
Other Activities and Happenings
Late Afternoon Drop in Workshops. 4:15 - 6 pm daily there will be drop in workshops in the "classroom" yurts open for all... In the past these have included Flatfoot Dancing, Klezmer, Jazz Chords, Music Theory, Improvisation, Scruggs Style Banjo, Dance Calling and more.. we are confirming these workshops now.
The Slow Jam, 6 pm -7 pm everyday. Hosted by faculty member Julian and a guest tutor, we host a "Slow Jam" - a session where we play popular session tunes at a slightly slower pace, allowing anyone of any ability to join in. We play the tune through for slightly longer than normal, so everyone has a change to master the melody. It's so much fun!
The Evening Folk/Barn/Ceilidh and Cajun Dance Everyone is welcome to jump on stage and play music for our nightly barn dances - whilst our in house callers teach social dancing from the American, English and Scottish traditions. Thursday Night is always "Cajun Night", where tutors Jock and Vera perform with their band The Flatville Aces, and teach the camp the Cajun Waltz and Two Step.
The Closing Concert and Scratch Bands. To close the camp, we arrange a concert on the Friday Evening. We encourage students to form "scratch bands" during the week to perform a number - if you choose to form a band, you will be supported by tutors to rehearse a piece to perform. In addition to any scratch bands, each tuition group also perform a piece they have learned during the week. We also welcome students with hidden talents to perform at the concert - in the past we've had some wonderful performances from musicians from all over the world!
Catering
We offer full or partial catering to all attendees, served and prepared from our Central Kitchen, The Red Kite Kitchen. We procure and prepare local seasonal produce, and cater for all dietary reqs. You can let us know these when you sign up.
We recommend you order your meals in advance so we don't sell out. You can pre-order full catering at the time of ticket purchase or purchase any mix of meals per day on site (Breakfast only, Lunch only, Dinner only etc). Most people end up getting full catering as it so delicious and there is so much going on!
Our chefs have requested 2 days notice for additional food requirements after you have booked, so they can order appropriately and reduce food waste. Please plan carefully if you are considering self-catering, as we can't guarantee you can rock up at meal time and there be enough food.
Costing
£350 for full tuition and 5 days camping. You may wish to come along just for the evening fun - the Camp Only ticket. Either use the booking form to book for the week (£100) or pay £20 a day on site. You can either book catering in advance or purchase individual meals with tokens (from the site office). We prefer pre-booking as it helps with meal planning, shopping and food waste
The camp is open for friends and musicians to come for the week without taking the full time courses. Relax in nature during the day and then join in with the group activities in the evenings. It’s a mere £20 per day/night to attend.
Refund policy
We recognise that the unexpected can happen so we will refund (no questions asked) your payment less the banking fees (variable) up until 12th August 2024.
Get in Touch
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions: camp@fireinthemountain.co.uk
Work with Us
Fire in the Mountain supports the local economy wherever possible with our local procurement policy and with tourism income
Employment: We have a few paid roles for these events and we offer these to the local community first and foremost. The roles are Site Set Up, Office support, bar work and Food Preparation Work. Please contact the camp on camp@fireinthemountain.co.uk if interested.
Subsidised Tickets: In acknowledgement of income inequality nationwide, we would like to extend a 5% discount on tuition fees to those who live in the county of Ceredigion. Please write to camp@fireinthemountain.co.uk so we can verify your address prior to purchasing a ticket. We cannot apply the discount after you have purchased tickets.
This camp is now sold out for 2024!
A work in progress matrix to assess level of playing, to work out which tutor and class is best for you and a helpful video below from tutor Steve Blake about beginner Banjo clawhammer basics
-
I have only just picked up my instrument, and have played for less than a year.
Guitar: I have to put each finger down individually when making a chord. I can’t change chord in time to music.
Fiddle: I can’t play any scales and have no intonation.
-
I have played for over a year. I can change chords without looking at my fingers, and know at least 3 chords. I can bow a fiddle and play in a few keys. I have the basic clawhammer strum down. I can play at least 3 tunes.
-
I am proficient in my instrument: can play in multiple keys, can bow and have good intonation. I can do the clawhammer strum in time to fiddles. I am ready to put work in to become advanced!
-
I can play my instrument well. I gig, I record and practice. I want to sit with a tutor and learn 2 -3 tunes a day. I don’t expect the tutor to pause and explain basic techniques.
Meet the Tutors for 2024
Owen Spafford - Fiddle
Tone and Groove in English/Irish Fiddle Music
Owen Spafford is a fiddle player whose musical life orbits the world of traditional, experimental and improvised music. Growing up, Owen learnt Irish music from Leeds-Sligo fiddler Des Hurley and later Co. Kerry legend Seamus Begley alongside learning English fiddle music from the likes of Sam Sweeney and John Dipper. This grounding in traditional music enables a thoughtful and inventive fiddle style firmly rooted in Owen's musical heritage. As part of a duo with Louis Campbell Owen has supported Martin Hayes; been nominated for the BBC Young Folk Award; released their critically acclaimed debut album, ‘You, Golden” and had national airplay on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 alongside RTE1 in Ireland and BBC Scotland. Martin Hayes described their debut album as “a beautiful, moody and tasteful recording that defies classification. The arrangements and playing are truly subtle and the sounds are pristine.” Alongside the duo, his band ‘The Weaving’ with Méabh Begley and Cáit Ní Riain explores Owen's deep love for traditional Irish music.
As part of this course Owen will look at developing tone and groove in English and Irish fiddle styles as well as giving a grounding in technique that will help students to access and explore their individual musical expression.
Dirk Powell (USA) - Banjo (FULL)
Dirk Powell is a musician with deep roots in both Appalachia and Cajun country. He originally learned old-time banjo from his Kentucky grandfather, J.C. Hay, in the "overhand" style of that region. Dirk built on this foundation, which also encompassed immersion in fiddle and guitar, and went on to create a career founded in these rural roots but aspiring to far-reaching artistic goals. His solo records, digging into the deep emotional possibilities of the tradition while creating original music inspired by the ups and downs of modern life, have been influential in the world of American roots music since the 1990s. He has worked extensively in the world of film and television, collaborating on films such as “Cold Mountain" and "In the Electric Mist." He has toured and recorded with artists such as Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Eric Clapton, Irma Thomas, Loretta Lynn, and many others, and was artistic director of the legendary Festival of American Fiddle Tunes for five years. He is also known as a producer — his studio on Bayou Teche, in rural Louisiana, is in demand as a center for roots music in the US.
Travis Stuart (USA) - Banjo (Intermediate/Advanced)
Travis will be teaching mainly 2 finger and up picking style banjo from Western North Carolina where he has been performing old time music for over twenty years.
The backbone of bluegrass, old time string band music carries a legacy that is inescapable, and from his earliest days growing up, Travis was steeped in that legacy. Brought up in a rich musical community and family, Stuart learned to play banjo from local musicians like Avery County’s Red Wilson, recipient of a 2003 North Carolina Heritage Award. Playing his great-uncle Austin Stamley’s banjo, Travis has mastered a local old time style and shared it around the United States and Europe, touring and recording alongside his twin brother, Trevor.
As far as his music takes him, Stuart remembers to bring it on home, working to preserve and pass down Western North Carolina’s old time music to the next generation through teaching and mentoring. He has facilitated workshops and classes for Junior Appalachian Musicians and East Tennessee State University’s Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies program..
Amelia Powell (USA)
Amelia Powell grew up playing hard-grooving Cajun and Old-Time Music, styles in which the guitar provides the essential rhythmic foundation. Her class will focus on both styles, with an emphasis on the rhythm and feel that can help bring the music to life. Most attention will be put on the right hand and the subtleties of getting the drive and lift that sets these rural American styles apart
Vera Van Heeringen (FULL)
Vera will be working on flatpicking and cross-picking techniques, playing mostly American guitar and fiddle tunes. With an emphasis on confidence and strength in both lead and backup playing, she'll be exploring how to put the groove into tunes with rhythmic melodies. (For guitar in standard tuning, this course requires a plectrum).
www.veravanheeringen.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8tzMlMOUzM
Vera van Heeringen is an accomplished and highly acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. She was part of the brilliantly comedic New Rope String Band for five years and has toured with several Cajun and Old time greats such as Dirk Powell and Sheryl Cormier. In recent years Vera has been performing with her own trio and she released her third album 'Won't be Broken' not long before lockdown which has been described by the press as her best yet. Vera has taught guitar for over 10 years and is known for her inclusive approach which aims to inspire in a laid back and enjoyable way.
Jock Tyldesley (COURSE IS FULL)
Jock Tyldesley is perhaps best known for his fiddling in Cajun bands such as The Flatville Aces and the Bearcats, as well as more off-the-wall antics with The New Rope String Band and The Chipolatas. He also nurtures a long-time passion for Southern Appalachian old time fiddling for many years and has spent more time concentrating on this, whilst touring worldwide with his regular bands and US acts such as Eddie LeJeune, The Dirk Powell Band, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, Martha Scanlan, Beverly Smith and Carl Jones and Balfa Toujours.
He is much in demand as a private and workshop tutor and has taught for several years at Folkworks Summer Schools and The Burwell Bash, as well as being a visiting tutor at Blazin' in Beauly, The London Fiddle School and the Folk Degree course at Newcastle University, plus many international festival workshops.
Jock is an instinctive tutor, teaching by ear and concentrating on the feel and rhythm of the music as much as the tune, and trying to bring out the drive in people’s playing. He will also be exploring bowing patterns and different fiddle tunings during the course.
Steve Blake (Course is Full)
In his own words: I am thrilled to soon be teaching a banjo class at MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAIN, a week of tuition, friendship, dances, partying and all round bliss in the mountains of Wales. Here's a banjo take on one of the latest fiddle tunes I learned SWEET MARIE. Steve Blake is a great banjo player of nearly 20 years, and will be focusing on Clawhammer Banjo only, aimed at improvers/intermediates and beginners. He will be focusing mainly on learning session tunes as well as "playing by ear".
https://youtu.be/oBj0gTrQqMI
Biography: Steve has had a long background as a saxophonist, drummer, composer/musical director for dance theatre (Cholmondeleys & Featherstonehaughs), and dance accompanist (Trinity Laban Conservatoire Of Music And Dance) alongside his passion for American Old Time music.
He is an experienced teacher (fiddle/banjo/guitar/ukulele) and currently plays in the bands CUT A SHINE / THE OLD TIME WASTERS / and THE OLD TIME CONTRA BAND.
Emily Smith - Beginner Fiddle
Emily Smith’s love for American fiddle styles was ignited over 20 years ago by an early Stringbean Akeman recording of Little Maggie with Chubby Wise on fiddle. Since then, she has been a passionate fiddle student, learning from great players on trips to the US and from visiting artists in the UK. As her understanding of American fiddle styles has deepened, she has shared her own knowledge at fiddle camps, festivals and Sore Fingers Summer Schools.
Emily regularly performs with The Firecrackers, the Ragged Out String Band and Emily Smith and Ed Hicks. Her passion for American fiddle styles has led her to explore the endless treasure trove of Old-Time fiddle tunes which she loves to share through teaching and performing.
The course is aimed at players who play fiddle/violin at a basic level. Emily will teach fiddle tunes, breaking down each tune phrase by phrase and focussing on the tunings, bowing patterns and inflections that make the music. The tunes will be taught by ear so you don’t need to read music. The course will run at a pace that works for everyone within a supportive and safe group environment where everyone can learn together over the week.
nice video here :)
Ed Hicks - Playing Folk Tunes for mixed instruments
How does a session work? How can I work out the chord to a tune? How does everyone know all these tunes? How can I learn when everything’s played so fast?
Lots of people want to learn how to play music with other musicians, but the way we often learn to play our instruments is a remarkably isolated and atomised experience. During this course we’ll learn folk tunes from range of folk traditions but we’ll also learn how to make music in a group.
All learning will be done by ear and there’ll be a strong emphasis on pulse, groove and making music together. There’ll be information about how to back up tunes for chordal instruments and we'll unpick the relationship between melodies and chords.
Over the course of the week we’ll learn folk tunes and how to accompany them. The emphasis will be on ear learning and we’ll do lots of playing but we’ll also cover some music theory. We’ll talk about the common modes that are used in folk music, how to harmonise tunes, what people mean when they talk chords I, IV and V, how to know what key a tune is in and what keys work well for folk instruments.
By the end of the week you’ll be a more confident musician, with at least five more tunes under your belt and one step closer to the goal of jamming for hours at folk sessions.
About the tutor
Ed Hicks is an experienced music tutor with over ten years experience of teaching people how to play folk music. Primarily a banjo player specialising in old time music, Ed also also plays fiddle, guitar, mandolin, sings and has a working knowledge of a range of other folk music instruments (accordions, whistles, string basses etc).
Ed has worked as a banjo teacher and folk music workshop leader for the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) for ten years and was a lead tutor on their Full English project. He has trained in music workshop leading with Spitalfields Music, EFDSS, Music for Change, Musicleader, Sing Up, Folk Arts England, Platform for Arts and the Discover Centre.
In 2012 Ed set up the Trad Academy, a folk music school based in London designed to help anyone and everyone make music. The Trad Academy organised many music classes in areas as diverse as Sea Shanties to Swedish Gammeldans. For two summers the Trad Academy ran a residential Folk Music Summer School for Kids.
Jerry Bloom - Fiddle Technique for Improvers
What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle ? A frequently asked question that this course will try to answer in detail, covering such topics as;
*phrasing
*tone production
*rhythmic bowing
*intonation
*ornamentation
*tune learning/repertoire
*improvisation
as they apply to Oldtime and Irish fiddle styles, and should be particularly suited to those who have a background learning classical violin but want to explore the world of folk fiddle.
We'll work towards a performance, and learn some tunes, but the focus will be on fiddle technique in general.
THANK YOU / DIOLCH YN FAWR
You amazing lot.
2023
