Arranging Folk Music

Open for all instruments

Day 1 Wednesday 18|02

*FULL*

Chopping for Strings

Open for all string instruments

Day 2 Thursday 19|02

*FULL*

Cello Pizz(icato) Techniques

Only for cello players

Day 4 Saturday 21|02

*FULL*

Workshop 1 Arranging Folk Music

An non-exhaustive exploration of various tricks, ideas, concepts and tools to use in studio, on stage and in jam sessions, open for all instruments.

Workshop 2 Chopping for Strings

A deep dive into this powerful percussive–harmonic technique, open to all string instruments.

Workshop 3 Cello Pizz(icato) Techniques

This workshop introduces cellists to a rich world of chords, bass lines and fingerpicking techniques.

For players with at least intermediate instrumental skills. The “Arranging Folk Music” workshop is open to all instruments, the “Chopping for Strings” workshop is open to all string instruments, and the “Cello Pizz(icato) Techniques” workshop is exclusively for cellists.

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

Toby Kuhn

Spawned in classical music and left to dry on the streets of Europe, seasoned with the spice of Jazz, Folk and Funk, Toby decants an exploration of his instrument through wide-ranging improvisation, bringing his musical musings to the stage in an effort to intoxicate his audience with the soft beauty of the cello and his love of the ephemeral. His current projects are Wild Strings Trio, a duo with Hannah James, Old Salt, Bipolar Bows, Odd and other occasional projects.

Born into a multilingual artistic family, Toby was bathed in classical music throughout his childhood. He picked up the cello at 7 and completed 20 years of study, which culminated in a Bachelor’s degree in both Cello and Music Theory from McGill University.

Feeling somewhat unsatisfied by all that his education had left out, he proceeded to travel the roads of Europe, busking and discovering a new world of improvised music, freely exploring all the possibilities and techniques the cello has to offer, without limitations and with a deeper connection to the people and places he encountered along the way.

Soon he established himself in Ljubljana where he met and worked with musicians of all kinds. He developed a fascination for the folk music(s) of the Balkans and their intense, raw emotion. Through regular participation and mentoring in Ethno histEria and the attendant Floating Castle festival, he has come to live and work in the wider European folk scene, playing Old-Timey Americana one night and Balkan-Ethno-Jazz the next, while making time for British folk songs, fast Bulgarian showpieces, French dances and heart-wrenching Anatolian ballads.

photo © Karolina Maruszak