A Hands-on Autoharp Workshop with BRYAN BOWERS

Saturday , February 12, 2005
10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($35.00)

Bryan Bowers is not only "just about the best there is" at playing the Autoharp; he's also an excellent teacher of the stringed instrument known generically as the "chorded zither" and more commonly recognized as the "Autoharp," thanks to maker Oscar Schmid.

In this two-hour hands-on workshop intended for both Beginning- and Intermediate-level players, you'll learn finger-picking and playing the appropriate rhythm chords at the right time, how to back up vocals with the harp in a manner than enhances the lyrics, key-checking in order to determine the best key for the vocals, and more. Attendees are asked to come to the workshop with their instruments tuned and to bring pen and paper or tape recorders with extra batteries. Tuning will be addressed at three levels.

Bryan last offered a workshop in 2000 when he played the Ten Pound Fiddle during its 25th season. It's been five years since he has graced us with his presence and space is limited, so sign up early at (517) 372-7880 or toll-free at 888-473-5810. Bryan's playing the Fiddle again (for its 30th Anniversary season) on Friday evening, February 11, and he'll be here at ten sharp for the workshop Saturday morning.

Bryan was raised in Virginia where as a child he tagged along with the gandy dancers and field workers, learning the old call-and-answer songs. In addition to his unique finger-picking style of playing, he's also an excellent singer-songwriter. He was inducted into Frets Magazine's First Gallery of the Greats, alongside artists like Chet Atkins, David Grisman, Stephan Grappelli, Itzhak Perlman, and Tony Rice. In 1993 he was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame, an honor he shares with Maybelle Carter, Kilby Snow, and Sara Carter.

For nearly three decades, Bryan has been to the Autoharp what Earl Scruggs was to the five-string banjo. He consistently presents instrumental virtuosity combined with eloquence, expression, and a consummate professionalism, all the while easily warming and charming his audiences, often inviting their participation with call-and-response work songs and the like.

Perusing his numerous recordings recently, we couldn't help but be impressed with the way Bryan breaks down "genre" boundaries. In a single album you'll find the traditional bluegrass "Blackberry Blossom" along with "Golden Slippers," or "Four Wet Pigs" alongside "The Scotsman," "Grandfather's Clock" and a Stephen Foster medley, or "Bill Cheatum" paired with "Hard Times," or "Old Joe Clark" preceding "White Coral Bells" and "Sitting on Top of the World." He imparts an amazing musical spectrum.

"...Bowers has evolved a five-finger right-hand technique whereby he can keep rhythm, melody and three harmony lines interplaying simultaneously, like children weaving ribbons around a maypole." - The Washington Times

"Bowers is widely regarded as the leading virtuoso on the autoharp.... He uses a five-finger picking technique across 36 tightly wound strings, bathing the listener in ethereal, joyously resonant major chords in the folk idiom." - People Magazine

"This man makes more music from an Autoharp than you can imagine from a 12-string guitar and a harpsichord combined. He has more stage presence and charisma than any stage performer in recent memory." - The Washington Times

"Playing instruments may be Bowers' great love, but performing is his career. A lifetime of playing in all kinds of venues...has made him adept at projecting his music and personality onstage." - Sing Out! Magazine

Check out recordings we carry featuring Bryan Bowers