Intermediate Instrumental Music
July 18 – 25, 2024 (unstructured “free” day on July 22)
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. & 3 – 6 p.m.

with Zoë Aqua, Marine Goldwaser, Emil Goldschmidt, Tayfun Guttstadt, Sanne Möricke, Jeff Warschauer and Shaun Williams

Since 2022, we’ve been focused on Yiddish music vis-à-vis Greco-Turkish music in the framework of late Ottoman culture. For many of us, it comes as a surprise to learn that Moldova sits right at the center of this richly transcultural musical exchange. In this workshop we’ll explore Yiddish music in relation to Moldovan, Turkish, Greek and Western musical cultures, led by a team of artists who are both expert players and teachers in their fields.
What makes this an “intermediate” workshop? “Intermediate” refers to your level of experience with Yiddish instrumental music (klezmer), not to your level as a player, which can be intermediate through advanced. To participate, in addition to playing your instrument well, you should have a few years’ experience with klezmer music, along with any other kind of music you play (such as classical, jazz, folk etc.)  In an intermediate workshop, we spend about half the time on klezmer basics such as tune types, theory and interpretation, and the other half of the time on the special topic. If you would rather focus entirely on klezmer music, please consider taking the introductory workshop, even if you’re a very advanced player of some other kind of music. In this workshop, there will be plenary sessions as well as break-out groups for instrumental instruction, ensembles, and other special topics.

We’ll be teaching both by ear and using written music in this workshop. You should be able to read music well or learn by ear well or both. If you’re not very confident of your ability to learn by ear, please don’t worry! Our teachers are experts at guiding that process and the atmosphere of the workshop is supportive, not competitive.
This workshop includes one, unstructured “free” day for practicing alone or with others, reviewing materials, or just resting.

When you start to register online you’ll find a section that lets you evaluate whether this is the right workshop for you or not. If you have any questions, feel free to write to the YSW office, which will forward your email to the workshop leader.

The primary language of instruction will be English, but the multilingual teaching team will do its best to translate whenever necessary.

Is this workshop right for me? Take the self-placement test here (required).

Workshop fee: 530 € Standard / 355 € Reduced / 740 € Sponsor / 180 € under 18

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