{"id":8519,"date":"2018-02-12T11:07:04","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T11:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=8519"},"modified":"2018-02-13T12:29:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T12:29:18","slug":"folk-wisdom-learning-with-fara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2018\/02\/12\/folk-wisdom-learning-with-fara\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk wisdom: learning with Fara"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the award-winning folk group, Fara, came to perform in Colyer-Fergusson Hall; before the gig, they held a workshop which several string-playing students attended, including third-year Law student and Music Scholarship violinist, Lydia Cheng<\/strong>. Here, Lydia reflects on the day…<\/p>\n

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When we were first invited to participate in an Orkney folk music workshop, I think it\u2019s safe to say we were all more than a little bit skeptical. It certainly didn\u2019t help that when we showed up, being a group of classically-trained violinists, we were told that we wouldn\u2019t be getting any sort of sheet music and that we would be learning it all by ear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Once the workshop began though, I began to fully appreciate the art that is folk music. The members of Fara took us through four eight-counts of a jig and while it was no easy feat to remember it all, I\u2019d like to think we did it at least some justice. I loved that we were able to move past the routine of reading sheet music and playing whatever was put in front of you and become more creative with our music-making, from just swinging rhythms to adding ornamentation. Never in a million years did I think something I learned in a folk workshop could be applied to classical playing. But yet I found myself making notes of how to improve my playing using folk techniques.<\/p>\n