Joe Deninzon Effects Clinic, Thursday, September 9th 4:30PM -- only $10
Electric violinist Joe Deninzon has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has been called The Jimi Hendrix of the Electric Violin. He is currently writing a book for Mel Bay on improvising for the electric violinist. In addition to playing techniques, the book features a bunch of information about various gear for electric violins.
Joe will be offering a workshop at Electric Violin Shop on Thursday, September 9th. He and his band, Stratospheerius, will show you how to use effects pedals to fuel your creativity to improvise and to compose music.
Learning to play hot licks and maneuver your way through chord changes is crucial, yet mastering the art of using loops and soundscapes to color your music is another skill entirely. This clinic explores how to move beyond the notes to express yourself on a deeper level. Bring your instrument.
Stratospheerius
Thursday, September 9th 4:30 P.M.
Electric Violin Shop
5314 NC Hwy 55, Suite 102
Durham, NC 27713
$10 admission
Later that night, Stratospheerius will be doing a free all-ages show at Shakedown Street in Raleigh.
Information on the concert:
Stratospheerius LIVE
Thursday, September 9th
9:00 P.M.
Shakedown Street
2500 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27061
www.shakedownstreetraleigh.com
ALL AGES. FREE ADMISSION!
Report on DBR Workshop at EVS, November 1, 2009
Daniel Bernard Roumain's workshop at Electric Violin Shop on November 1st was a huge creative success, a hands-on master class in DBR's extended techniques. These new sounds take bowed strings into exciting new territory.
He started with electric guitar-like sounds made by light, consistent bow pressure, creating a range of harmonics and a growling, guitar-like timbre. This technique was combined with wide glissandos to mimic the "vibrato" of electric guitars, instead of classical string vibrato. This sounded great on acoustics, but paired with an amplifier and wah pedal, it easily evoked Jimi Hendrix.
Moving to percussion techniques, DBR taught drum kit sounds. Techniques included hitting the after length of the string with the stick and hair for a kick drum sound, striking the fingerboard with the bow while palm-muting the strings for a snare-like effect, and hitting the wood of the bridge with the stick for a sharp rim shot.
Wrapping (rapping?) up the session, we learned to make hip-hop style turntablist sounds, muting the strings with the left hand and making short, quick, rhythmic bow strokes with heavy right-arm pressure. This turns the tables on the scratchy noises we all made when we first took up the violin, taking them out of the "noise" box and moving them into an appropriate musical context. Then everyone jammed together, using all the extended techniques we'd learned.
Daniel's workshop was a revelation. He expanded our musical toolboxes, supplementing classical technique with exciting new sounds and timbres, revealing new worlds for bowed string players to explore.
Report on the Christian Howes Workshop, Nov. 14, 2008
Christian Howes, world famous jazz violinist and Professor at Berklee College of Music, had almost 20 people in the EVS event room for his clinic. The majority were teenagers, including a "busload" brought by teacher Eulalia Van Fosson from Kinston, NC, and a mother and daughter all the way from Columbia, South Carolina. Because of the enthusiasm from the young people, Chris went past his expected stopping point, and took another hour to expand the participants' hands-on improvisation. What a gift! He did incorporate licks from a variety of fiddle styles - jazz, blues, bluegrass, reggae, rock - and all players left with more confidence that improvisation is something that they can do!
Report on the Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and Earl Maneein Master Class on Oct. 6, 2009.
DBR
It was inspiring to see two amazing players discuss their musical ideas and influences, riffing off each other's styles, and showing us some of the cool things an inspired player with an open mind and a broad range of musical influences can do with the violin. DBR showed us some amazing bow percussion, getting more drum-like sounds out of his violin and bow than looked possible. Then Earl rocked the audience with precise power chord rhythms and lightning-fast shredding -- proving the violin is just as much at home on the heavy metal stage with Metallica as it is in concert halls with Mozart.
Earl Maneein
But coolest for us had to be seeing the almost child-like delight of Earl, Daniel, and Jessie Reagen (cellist with DBR & The Mission) as they explored Electric Violin Shop. DBR definitely had the best quote of the evening, "This is the toy store of all toy stores! " They tried almost everything in the store, from a seven-string Jordan to the CodaBow Joule, which DBR bought on the spot because it made playing his 6 string violin so much easier. A local customer drove over an hour to help out, bringing her Jordan StringAmp violin so Earl could try out its magnetic pickup -- thanks, Marta!