A Cello, A Fiddle, & An Irish Island
Wed, 11/01/2017 - 12:00am
Prominent American Scottish Fiddler, Hanneke Cassel, joins forces with her husband Mike Block to perform the "Cape Breton Medley". The Cape Breton Medley is a combination of 3 popular tunes, commonly played in Cape Breton.
Let's Circle Back: Mike Block's New Cello Lesson
Mon, 10/30/2017 - 12:00am
What if your Cello playing could sound as fluid and uninterrupted as a never-ending circle? Mike Block wants to teach you how to create continuity in your sound and make bow changes without pauses and breaks. Thinking of your Cello differently could unlock an entire world of sound you never would have thought possible. Check out what Mike has to teach here.
Bluegrass All-Stars Live at RockyGrass
Fri, 09/08/2017 - 2:44pm
Topics: andy hall, bluegrass, bryan sutton, darol anger, mandolin, michael daves, mike block, mike marshall, missy raines, Tony Trischka
Good News: We have some exclusive new videos for anyone in our bluegrass schools. It's the ArtistWorks Bluegrass All Stars performing live at RockyGrass 2016!
The two songs are played back to back: "The Puppy Belly Dance" and "Fox Chase". We also uploaded their performance of "State Line". There's a fun impromptu dueling guitar portion between Michael Daves and Bryan Sutton in that one, very entertaining! After that Mike Block leads the gang in "Johnny B. Goode". Next we have their performance of "Chief Sitting in the Rain". For anyone who plays mandolin, Mike Marshall teaches a great version of this in his school.
We added "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome", a classic bluegrass tune that Bill Monroe wrote with Hank Williams a long time ago. Michael Daves teaches how to sing both the lead and tenor vocal parts in multiple keys in his intermediate curriculum for those interested in adding this to your jam list.
Next we added another classic: "Way Downtown" by Doc Watson*. It's sung here by Bryan Sutton and Michael Daves in this lively performance. For the fiddlers out there, Darol Anger teaches this tune in his Beginner and Intermediate curriculum. For Mandolin pickers, Mike Marshall teaches this in his Beginner curriculum.
Then Darol Anger kicks off a great fiddle tune titled "Cherokee Shuttle". There's some fantastic soloing by Darol, Mike, Tony, Bryan and Andy in this installment and another all around team effort from the All Stars as they rock another tune with only minutes of prep time before taking it live to a full house. Next we added the classic "John Hardy" - don't miss it!
Update: Thought the show was over? Not yet! After the crowd erupted in cheers and a standing ovation, the begging for one more tune convinced the Bluegrass All Stars return to the stage for this awesome encore performance of "Deep Ellum Blues" lead by Andy Hall on vocals (who also teaches this tune in his Intermediate Dobro lessons).
You can find all this great exclusive content +Music section of the Learn area!
ArtistWorks Live: Talking Cello with Mike Block
Thu, 03/09/2017 - 11:03am
For anyone that missed it, here's a great edition of ArtistWorks Live we did recently. This time we talked with the great cello mind (and recent Grammy Winner) Mike Block. We do these once a month with different teachers and special guests, and anyone with a 12 month subscription can tune in and ask questions. It's always different but always a lot of fun getting to know our teachers a bit more outside of the lessons.
This last one was no exception, there were a lot of great questions sent in by many of you. Here’s some of what we talked about:
- The most efficient use of your practice time
- Managing stage fright/performance anxiety
- How Mike got involved playing with Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble
- What is it about the cello that made Mike want to learn
- How to stay motivated to keep making music
We also got to hear some beautiful cello playing, including a special piece that was composed for Silk Road Ensemble by one of their members from Syria.
Enjoy it and be sure to check the YouTube playlist here for past episodes with more of our amazing ArtistWorks teachers!
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