Classes and Schedules

Cascadia 2026 offers classes in the instruments listed below. Click on your instrument for an overview of the classes on offer and the instructors for each instrument. If you have questions about the classes please email Randal Bays.

Concertina Fiddle Flute

Daily Classes

We'll have a morning class and an afternoon class, two hours each with a 15-minute break
- Concertina and flute students will be in their respective classes for both periods.
- Fiddle students need to choose classes.
- We may limit class sizes. Drop-ins are not allowed.
- Lecture/group discussions by members of the teaching staff will take place right after lunch.

Evening Activities - Sessions, Concerts, Dancing

We want everyone to get to play in sessions as much as possible, so we offer lots of session possibilities:

GUIDED SESSIONS will be led by teaching staff and guest session leaders.

Tempos will be slow to moderate
Repertoire will be chosen from our list of around 50 tunes (coming soon).
We will post recordings of some of the tunes on the list

"FREE RANGE" SESSIONS will also be led by teaching staff but without constraints on tempos and repertoire.

OPEN SESSIONS: We'll have several spaces where spontaneous sessions can happen and additional session leaders.

LISTENING SESSIONS: On some evenings we'll have "listening" sessions featuring only the teaching staff.

The Aural Tradition

The Irish musical tradition is an aural tradition, so we put a high priority on learning by ear, a developable skill that's important no matter what kind of music one plays. Some teachers may offer written music in their classes, but others will not. It's a good idea to bring an audio recording device. (Please note: No video recording is allowed in any classes. Audio recording allowed if the teacher permits it. Outside of classes video recording is fine if not intrusive.)

Playing Levels

Due to the reduced size of this year's event we're not breaking the classes out into "advanced", "intermediate", etc. Please be aware that the assumption is that you already know how to play Irish tunes, as the classes won't address the needs of beginning players. If you're not sure if a class fits your level of playing, email Randal Bays.

We reserve the right to reassign students to specific classes in order to balance the numbers if necessary. Dropping in on classes for which you're not registered is not OK.

Schedules

The Weekly and Daily schedules below will help you get an idea of how things work.

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