A Mandolin Workshop with Kentucky Colonels' Maestro Roland White

Saturday , December 04, 2004
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($60.00)

Roland White had exchanged his $2.50 "tater bug" for a $25 F-style Kalamazoo-brand mandolin when he first heard Bill Monroe's version of "Pike County Breakdown" on Grand Ole Opry radio. "This is really fast," he'd said, frustrated, trying to break it down. A few years later, on Christmas Eve of 1956, he saw Monroe on the "Town Hall Party" television show and got his "eye opener" watching the hands of the Father of Bluegrass.

Ever since then, Roland has taught mandolin (and guitar) lessons and workshops all around the country--in addition to offering eye-opening performances as a member of some of the world's greatest bluegrass bands: The Kentucky Colonels, Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass, The Blue Grass Boys, Country Gazette, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, which won two Grammies, and The Roland White Band, which earned a 2003 Grammy nomination for the CD Jelly on my Tofu....

Roland's four-hour hands-on workshop (five hours with an hour-long lunch break from 12:30 to 1:30) is aimed toward beginning and intermediate level mandolin players, although "advanced players also have benefited greatly" from attending the workshop, Roland explains. He tailors the instruction to the needs of the students, covering right- and left-hand technique, chord shapes and how they work together, how to make up a break to a song, double stops, playing back-up, mandolin set-up, tremolo picking, acquiring speed, ensemble playing, learning arpeggios, improvisation, and more, depending on the students' preferences and needs. Handouts will be provided to everyone.


Roland will instruct the class as a whole and will also spend time with each student individually while everyone's "working."
Following the 12:30-1:30 lunch hour, novices will get special attention. He has had considerable success over the years in teaching students how to play in a more relaxed manner and with greater musicality.

That Roland White has become one of the legends of bluegrass mandolin isn't surprising--he followed his mother's advice!
According to an article by Joe Romano in the September 1996 issue of Bluegrass Now, it all started when Roland was barely eight. Helping his mother in the kitchen as they listened to a country radio station, he asked her question after question about the artists he was hearing, then told her that he hoped to sing on the radio someday. "Practice," she told him, "and you might be able to earn your living just like the folks on the radio."

In 1963 after a two-year stint in the army, he toured with The Kentucky Colonels, and the next year the band was well received at the Newport Folk Festival (where Roland's brother Clarence was invited to a guitar workshop hosted by Doc Watson). That same year, The Colonels recorded the critically-acclaimed album Appalachian Swing, which was subsequently reissued on Rounder. Recorded without vocals in order to cut costs, the album became a "centerpiece in many bluegrass instrumentalists' collections," according to Romano in Bluegrass Now.

"As long as I know that Roland has a voice in the inner-circle, I know that everything's going to be all right concerning the tradition and future of bluegrass" - Marty Stuart, cited in
Bluegrass Now

Space is limited, so sign up soon. Call (517)372-7880 or 888-473-5810, or stop in, reserve a slot at the counter, and check out Roland's popular instructional book and bluegrass recordings.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Roland White