A "Parlor Guitar" Fingerstyle Workshop with JOEL MABUS

Thursday , November 17, 2005
06:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
workshop ($40.00)

A note for fingerstyle guitar players: if you're contemplating attending Joel Mabus' November 17 fingerstyle guitar workshop, please also be aware that on Saturday, October 8, Joel will offer a free 2 pm in-store concert in which he'll share a number of instrumental tunes from his newly-released (October 4) CD Parlor Guitar, including tunes that he'll teach during the workshop.

Joel's fingerstyle workshop will address "parlor-era" music, popular songs from the Gay 90s to the Roaring 20s, characterized by Joel as "songs popularized by Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley before there was music on the radio and before electrical recording." The pieces to be covered in the workshop are all from his new instrumental Parlor Guitar album. Four or five instrumentals will be covered in detail during the workshop. Arrangements will include (subject to change) "Paper Doll," "After You've Gone," "April Showers," "I'm Just Wild About Harry," and "Aura Lee." Handouts of the arrangements, consistent with the album, will be printed in music notation alongside guitar TAB.

Intermediate-level skills are required; the selected arrangements will range from fairly moderate to fairly challenging. "Intermediate skills" as they apply to this workshop include facility with first-position chords, keeping a rhythm in a fingerpicking style, some experience playing a melody line over a chord position, and an understanding of either guitar tablature or standard music notation.

Performance tips and tunes will be discussed. Bring any size guitar in good repair and ready to play in standard tuning. Tape recorders are encouraged. Sign up soon, as workshop space is limited. Four sign-ups guarantee that the class will go.

Despite a large national following and having gained the respect of his fellow musicians across the country, Joel is no stranger to Elderly; on the contrary, he's an Elderly "staple." He worked at Elderly in the old East Lansing store around 1975 and was Elderly's senior instructor for 25 years--until his move from Lansing to Kalamazoo a few years ago. Many of the area's fine musicians have benefited from Joel's teaching acumen.

In addition to his successful performing career, Joel has taught guitar and other instruments (and topics) at numerous esteemed institutions, including the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, UMass' Summer Acoustic Music Week, the California Coast Music Camp, the long-established Augusta Heritage Camp in Elkins, WV, Pinewoods' Buffalo Gap, and the University of Milwaukee's Stringalong Camps.

In the last 30 years, Joel has offered a number of free in-store performances to celebrate his recordings (we count 17 CD titles including Parlor Guitar) and has presented several workshops covering a variety of instruments. In addition to his annual Lansing Area Folksong Society concert, he shares his talent and sensitivity regularly throughout Michigan for various worthwhile causes: he has recently played for the benefit of peace efforts and for Habitat for Humanity in addition to other valued fundraisers, and he spearheaded the Ten Pound Fiddle's September 14, 2001 World Trade Center benefit concert.

"It's hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess." - Musichound, Folk Music Catalog

"[His playing] boasts a relaxed yet propulsive feel, unfailingly beautiful tone, and fine, ever-graceful ornamentation." - Guitar Player Magazine

Check out recordings we carry featuring Joel Mabus