to schedule : email me at arobertsgevalt at gmail
or : pick a time on calendy : https://calendly.com/arobertsgevalt/one-on-one-lesson
ONE ON ONE LESSONS :
sliding scale : $45-80/ hour
on zoom or in person (brooklyn*).
i offer lessons in singing, fiddle, guitar & banjo! scroll below for more about each.
we’ll start our work together by making a list of goals + things you want to learn, and a general timeline, and then we’ll work towards that together!
goals can range from --- the technical (“how to hold pitch better in my voice,” “how to make my fiddle less scratchy sounding,” “i want to play guitar while singing a dolly parton song” ) --- to the philosophical or emotional (“i want to know my voice more,” “i want to feel better about how i sound,” “i want to be more confident when i play,” “i want to connect with music my ancestors sung”).
*please note that if we do in person, we’ll make a clear plan with each other around covid safety!
SINGING
emphasis on : embodied practice, finding your own voice, learning about it, becoming curious. i like to balance work on technique (mechanics, breath work, projection, timing, articulation, etc) with the emotional/philosophical (how to tell a good story, how to get to know your instrument, finding confidence, how enjoy it, how to be a truthful storyteller)
i have over 15 years of touring and teaching experience singing folk and traditional music; i learned from a combination of self-teaching, and time spent with a series of incredible appalachian singers. i have a large knowledge and experience around traditional folksongs and ballads, as well as early country music styles and working on harmonies. i can teach this repertoire, but am also excited to work on songs you bring, and songs you write (i’m a songwriter as well). i love working on how to make a song “your own.”
BEGINNING/INTERMEDIATE FIDDLE
beginning can mean : never once picked up the fiddle but have always wanted to; OR, have played classical violin music and want to learn fiddle tunes, techniques and style.
my specialty is old time fiddle, which i’ve been doing for the last fifteen years . i can also teach more general intro to fiddle and overview cajun/irish/english styles, as well as country fiddle (+backup fiddle playing for bands). also -- singing + fiddling, and improvisation (from the country solo to the strange and twisted free improvisation).
FOLK / BACKUP GUITAR / GUITAR FOR SINGERS
i’ve always been drawn to guitar for a sole purpose — being able to accompany songs (some examples : black eyed susan, little black train. if you’re looking for someone to teach advanced chords or virtuosic solos, i’m not your gal (but isa might be!) but i love to focus in on rhythm, making interesting lines of melody with simple chords, and finding arrangements that the song needs, that support our singing.
OLD TIME BANJO
i can teach clawhammer style and two finger picking; we can focus on banjo playing as backup for singing, or on playing fiddle tunes! what i love to focus on as a teacher (and player) : rhythm rhythm rhythm !!! how to focus on the broad brush strokes of a fiddle tune, and slowly add details while you’re playing the rhythm.
i’ve been lucky to learn banjo from a group of great pickers in appalachia — and from the experience of accompanying a host of incredible fiddlers, including the late greats lester mccumbers to paul david smith.
GROUP SINGING CLASSES
offered seasonally : Class will meet weekly for one month
daytime Sundays or Mon/Tues evenings .
Cost is $60-150, sliding scale.
Drop a line to get on my mailing list, to get news when they are announced :
“MENTAL PICTURES” : SONGS OF TEXAS GLADDEN
texas gladden was a grandmother, mother, homemmaker and singer from southwest virginia. from a musical family, she was a skillful ballad singer with a wonderful repertoire that ranged from mournful love songs, old ballads, and funny tales of the devil.
this class will be a survey of some favorite songs of mine that she sang, and a study of her style (through recordings) and her philosophies on storytelling and singing. this class will feature a visit from a special guest — texas’ granddaughter vicki, an incredible storyteller, who will share stories and answer questions about her granny.
NORTHEAST BALLADS (two sessions!)
love songs + ballads of irish, scottish, and english origin brought by settlers to new england. we’ll listen to, and learn some beautiful songs sung by elders in vermont, new hampshire, and maine in the 1930s, recorded by folklorists including helen hartness flanders and anne and frank warner.
we’ll listen to the singing of hanford hayes (maine), asa davis (milton vermont), belle luther richards (northern new hampshire), carrie grover (midcoast maine), lena bourne fish (southern new hampshire) and margaret shipman (the berkshires). in addition to learning the song -- we’ll learn a bit more about the singers, the recordings themselves, the archives that hold the recordings, and discuss some of the dynamics of ballad collecting in this era -- and its connections to white supremacy.
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? MOUNTAIN SONGS OF RESISTANCE
this class has a limited number of scholarships available. no one turned away for lack of funds.This class dives into the incredible legacy of truth-telling songs in Appalachia; from old ballads with hidden messages, to strident songs written for rallies and marches, to story-songs about struggle and injustice by those who lived in them. Together, we’ll learn a group of these songs, with some time spent on its history, and about the struggles and injustices that inspired it, including songs from sarah ogan gunning, florence reece, aunt molly jackson, jean ritchie, hazel dickens.
SICK SINGING
$5-20 sliding scale. or spoonie barter. truly no one turned away for lack of funds. those who are able to pitch in, just supports me being able to do with more frequency. i am chronically ill myself.
a workshop geared towards chronically ill people, of any experience. can offer as one on one, or a group setting. topics can include; working with grief at sounds that can’t be made any more. improvisation within limitation. bed music. tired singing. horizontal singing technique. self-soothing songs and the powers of humming and vibration. for more experienced musicians, can offer peer to peer support working through thinking and processing re-shaping musical practices, practicing while sick, adaptation, and showing up (and staying home) in “professional” situations ?
testimonials :
“I had the class Anna taught during the Winter Cowan sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and would take it again. She is a very kind, understanding, talented, and professional person.”
- Zelma F.
“Our class involved both singing and research, and it was such a friendly, interesting forum for both. Like a library study group where noise is encouraged. I thought Anna put real effort into making the class a place where learning is a natural/"obvious" necessity and a pleasure, a social lift.”
- Josephine S.
I took Anna's class, Kentucky Songs, Hard Times and Resistance during Winter Cowan Creek Mountain School. This class was a true community of support during dark times, with a perfect balance of technical teaching for finding the strengths of your voice and learning tons of songs.
- Carmen R.
Anna’s class really helped me. She’s a great musician and teacher. Even when we were exploring music I knew, I felt I was experiencing it in a new light.
- Heidi H
ABOUT ME :
my love of (and definition of) folk musics is the embrace of the music anyone can make in their home! an interest in accepting our voice and definitions of musical “excellence” that don’t involve perfection, or “mastery”! and the embrace of joining multi-generational traditions of resistance.
as a teacher, and musician, i enjoy balancing work with the technical skills of music — repertoire, technique, style — with the other skills/layers of this music. which, for me, include -- its history, politic, and about the people and communities who it comes from. and, finally learning how to honestly and in an embodied sense that’s true to you, hold and experiment with something that is passed on.
i grew up mostly in the northeast, and am classically trained but i turned to the “dark side” and spent my 20s in appalachia, learning oldtime and folk music. i’m lucky to have learned from a line of incredible musicians, including pete sutherland, paul david smith, jimmy mccown, john harrod, lee sexton, roger cooper, sue massek, ginny hawker, jerry holland, bruce greene, john haywood, brett ratliff, karly dawn higgins, jesse wells, rich kirby, … I’m also an archive/history nerd and have spent hundreds of hours there, listening to old songs, and visiting with descendants of ballad singers and musicians (who don’t necessarily play music themselves, but have generously shared stories about their ancestors).
i’ve been a performing musician for over 15 years; my duo with the great virginia ballad singer elizabeth laprelle released music on smithsonian folkways, and have been presented by carnegie hall, npr’s tiny desk, the bbc, and performed at theaters, living rooms, and festivals across the us and europe.
i have a lengthy experience teaching music, one-on-one, and in groups, and am glad for a huge community of wonderful students who’ve helped me become a better teacher
I’ve taught private lessons off and on for the last 15 years, and have taught group classes at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School (KY), Swannanoa (NC), Augusta (WV), Voice Works (Port Townsend WA), Blackpot Camp (LA), Old Town School of Folk Music (IL), the Jalopy Folk School (NYC), as well as folk schools in France and the UK, and been a guest teacher at seminars at universities across the US and in Holland.