Romania and Serbia (intermediate)
Day 1 Wednesday 18|02
*FULL*
Romania and Serbia (advanced)
Day 2 Thursday 19|02
Bratsch & Chords Session
intermediate to advanced
Day 4 Saturday 21|02
*FULL*
Workshops Romania and Serbia
We’ll explore melodies and dances from Romania and add a Serbian kolo to our repertoire. Along the way, we’ll work on melody, ornamentation, second voices and rhythmic accompaniment on the violin. The first workshop is designed for intermediate players, while the second is aimed at advanced violinists.
Workshop Bratsch & Chords Session
This workshop welcomes bratsch players (Transylvanian bratsch with flat bridge, tuned G–D–A) as well as violinists and violists (you have to be self-sufficient in creating chords on the C and G strings). It is designed for musicians who are comfortable playing double stops and forming 3- and 4-note chords – major, minor, dominant, and diminished – along with their inversions.
In the morning, we’ll dive into characteristic chord progressions, working with the keys and rhythms typical of Transylvania and Romania (purtată, ceardaș, învirtită, hățegană, geampara, hora, sîrba…). In the afternoon, we’ll put these elements into practice through pieces from the Transylvanian repertoire, with possible excursions into other Romanian traditions.
For fiddle players with at least intermediate instrument skills. The first Romania & Serbia workshop is for intermediate players, while the second
is for advanced players. The Bratsch & Chords session is open to both intermediate and advanced players.
Workshops can be booked per day. You’re welcome to join multiple sessions with the same teacher, but it’s not required. Each day is independent, so you can mix and match freely.
10:00 – 12:30 & 14:00 – 17:00
Jean-Christophe Gairard
French violinist Jean-Christophe Gairard first discovered his passion for slavonic music through the work of composers such as Béla Bartók, Henryk Wieniawski or Antonín Dvořák. In addition to violin studies, he has also cooperated in the large-scale project on transcription and conservation of traditional Romanian folk tunes. More than 10 years ago Jean-Christophe travels for the first time to Romania, and stays for four months in Transylvanian Cluj-Napoca, where he meets Tcha Limberger and Marcel Râmba. The numerous human and musical encounters will have a tremendous impact on his musical life.
Every year since, he returns to practice and deepen his knowledge of the repertoire from the Transylvanian musical tradition, which is a mixture of Hungarian, Romanian, Jewish, Roma
(gipsy) and German influences. He collaborated and performed with numerous significant music groups. Currently, he is most active with his own
JC Gairard Quintet, as well as performing in a
quartet with Tcha Limberger,
Duo Mierlitsa and
Quarteto Rebolô. In the past, he has collaborated with the
European Symbolic Orchestra of Ljubljana,
Tchayok trio (Russian and gipsy music),
Troïka ensemble (Russian music), Big Band Outch Men Orchestra,
Clair de Lune formation in Romania and Tzwing quartet. For several years now, he has been teaching workshops at Fiddlers on the Move.
photo © Laure Melone
