Advanced Hymns for the Mountain Dulcimer (Intermediate/Advanced) – Hymn arrangements of some classic hymns that offer a little more of a challenge for experience players. Hymns include “A Mighty Fortress,” “Steal Away,” “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” and others. (Instructor: Joe Collins)

African American Songs of Freedom (Intermediate) “Oh Freedom!...And go home to my Lord and be free.” The month of February was Black History Month. This workshop will focus on songs of enslaved African Americans, some familiar and some new. (Instructor: Carol Crocker)

Basic Mountain Dulcimer I – Getting Started (Beginning Beginner) A workshop that covers all the basics one needs to get started on the instrument. Before the end of the workshop, you’ll be playing some tunes! (Instructor: Carol Crocker)

Basic Mountain Dulcimer II – Getting Started (Beginning Beginner) Continuation of the workshop above. (Instructor: Carol Crocker)

Bringing Out the Irish in You, Volume 2 (Intermediate/Advanced) - Popular, rollicking tunes that will make you believe in leprechauns, fairies, and Irish luck. These traditional songs include “Irish Rover,” “Whiskey in the Jar,” and a couple others still prominent on the streets of Dublin today. (Instructor: Joe Collins)

Climbing Out of the “Strum” Hollow (Novice-Intermediate) Use some techniques to add variety to your playing, including flatpicking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, switching octaves, and executing some cool runs and “licks.” (Instructor: Mark Willingham)

Cornwall – (Intermediate) Learn this beautiful tune by the late, great Albert d’Ossche. This song works well both as a flat-picked or finger-picked tune, and it is a wonderful exploration of two-finger (or double-stop) chords. DAD int. and up (Instructor: Butch Ross)

Fiddle Tunes Frequently Played at Jams (Novice) We will start learning a basic fiddle tune and add chords and speed as we advance.  We will also practice playing just the backup chords to provide accompaniment when others play the tune (or if the rest of the jammers are playing too fast for you to keep up with the melody).  We will use tunes commonly played at jams. A selection of tunes will be available, so that hopefully we can choose three new fiddle tunes for your repertoire.  (Instructor: Nancy Galambush)

Follow the Crooked Line with Crooked Tunes (Novice and Up) So, what makes a tune crooked? A tune is crooked if it has uneven or extra beats or measures. This workshop will feature some fun “off the beat” tunes for you to try. (Instructor: Carol Crocker)

Getting Jiggy with It (Intermediate/Advanced) – 3 basic dulcimer techniques and strumming rhythms for playing Celtic jigs. You’ll be amazed at what you can do with those fast Celtic tunes (Instructor: Joe Collins)

Just Five Notes (beginner and up) Five simple notes that seem to be in every song. Let this be your launching pad for learning new tunes (Instructor: Butch Ross)

No, You Don't Need More Notes (Advanced) We got all the notes we need on our dulcimer already. Here’s how to find them. (Instructor: Butch Ross)

Reverse Slant Chords (Advanced) We all know what I call “thumb-leading” chords (the L-shape, slant and extended slant shapes), what about their opposites? These chords, in addition to being closer in voicing to standard piano chords (root-third-fifth) sound better and are more versatile than their well-worn cousins. (Instructor: Butch Ross)

Strumming Along (Novice) Strumming is surprisingly difficult when you first start playing, yet it is the most important part of playing any instrument.  A steady rhythm is essential. In this class we will work on improving rhythm and using the “Bum-dit-ty” and other rhythms to make our tunes more musical and interesting to listen to.  Get with the rhythm and make yourself and everyone else in the room happy! (Instructor: Nancy Galambush)

Using a Capo to Play in G and A (Novice) Do you feel like a deer in the headlights when someone calls a tune in a key other than D at a jam?  Would you like to be able to play tunes in keys other than D to make your concerts more interesting for your audience?  It’s easier than you may think.  All you need is a capo and a good look at your dulcimer’s fretboard.  In this class, we will work on using the capo, both to play back up chords and to play the melody in the keys of G and A.  Bring a Capo, or you can borrow one at the festival. (Instructor: Nancy Galambush)

What Women Want (Intermediate) So many songs about men!  Old Joe Clark, even Lil’ Liza Jane and Angelina Baker are sung from a man’s point of view. Men working, men sailing the seas, men lusting after women, men killing women.  Where are the songs from a woman's point of view?  I came across one and was inspired to look for more. (Instructor: Nancy Galambush)

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The Foothills Dulcimer Club want our workshops to meet the needs of all workshop attendees; therefore, we try to provide for players with a wide variety of skills. The definitions below are rough estimations of what we mean by each designation.

     Beginner: I'm brand new to the instrument or I'm so new that I still need more practice and instruction in basic playing skills.

     Novice: Still relatively inexperienced, but I know how to play a few songs and know how to figure out how to play a basic song with tablature. I am in the process of learning chords and expanding my ability to vary my strumming and/or picking to match the song I am playing.

     Intermediate: Pretty proficient at using tablature and/or playing by ear to learn a variety of music. Understand and can apply chords relatively easily in my playing.

     Advanced: Understand and can apply chords and often adapt different chords to music. Feel comfortable flatpicking, strumming, or finger-picking in a wide variety of rhythms, speeds, and dynamics.

You are free to sign up for any workshops you desire, even one that is above your present skill level. However, please realize that the instructors will be teaching each workshop assuming that students have skills at the designated level for that workshop.

	Butch Ross is perhaps the only dulcimer performer to have shared stages with Homer Ledford, a classical string quartet and a death metal band whose name he won't repeat. He has been gleefully smashing disparate genres of music together for nearly twenty years. Treating the mountain dulcimer like a prism, he has used it to conquer everything from Bach to Beethoven to the Beatles to Metallica. Most recently, he covered Radiohead's wildly oblique album "Kid A" with a dulcimer, uke & a loop pedal. His restless musical curiosity, virtuosity, and innate ability to break complex concepts into simple ideas have made him an in-demand teacher and performer at many folk and dulcimer festivals in the US and abroad. He is a live-looper, producer, and remixer, a regular contributor to Dulcimer Players News. He plays bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, electric & acoustic guitars, ukulele, can play banjo (but doesn’t), and the Kazakh dombra. Tho' his first and only love is the mountain dulcimer.
	Joe Collins began playing the dulcimer in the late 70s and has been a popular instructor/performer in festivals around the country for decades.  He has seven recordings and fifteen popular tab books to his credit as well as several championships, including the 2007 National Mountain Dulcimer Championship.  He plays various genres of music but is best known for his chordal/melody style on the dulcimer. He considers himself a folksinger who plays the dulcimer although he does both well. Joe is a professor emerita of Religious Studies at Gardner-Webb University. He still loves teaching and finds the opportunity to do so in the dulcimer world and in a couple of Bible studies each week. Links:  Joe's Website
	Nancy Galambush, a Mountain Dulcimer instructor from Snow Hill, North Carolina began playing in the 1990’s when her husband, the late JC Bradshaw, asked her to learn to play a dulcimer he had built.  Almost from the beginning, Nancy has enjoyed teaching others to play, and watching them experience the joy of playing traditional music.  She learned much about teaching by taking classes from some of the best-known dulcimer instructors in the country and studying teaching at Western Carolina University’s Dulcimer U program.  Perhaps her most important teachers have been her students without musical experience, who have helped her find teaching strategies that meet their needs.  She has taught dulcimer workshops across North Carolina, in Virginia, Georgia and in Cordova, Alaska, in addition to private students.  Nancy has a special interest in the history of the mountain dulcimer and enjoys sharing that history during concerts and through East Carolina University’s Lifelong Learning Program. Nancy’s goal for beginning students is for them to experience the excitement of finding that they CAN play, even if they have no musical background, and to be eager to learn more. With more advanced students, she uses a variety of approaches, whether teaching skills or tunes, recognizing that students have differing strengths and therefore differing needs. Website: https://www.nancygalambush.com/
	Carol Crocker’s first introduction to mountain dulcimer was at a school Heritage Day program. For over 20 years Carol has enjoyed sharing her love of the dulcimer with children, adults, schools, churches and senior homes as an instructor and performer. She has been an instructor at various dulcimer festivals and events including Dulcimer U, Winston-Salem Dulcimer festival, the Stephen Foster Dulcimer Retreat, North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Festival, QuaranTUNE, Mt. Dora, New Mexico, and various other events. She is also a regular song leader on the Saturday Send In the Music Virtual Jam, and has a Send In the Music songbook “Tunes From Zoom”.  Other books include “Songs of the Spirit” Book 1 and 2, African American spirituals arranged for the mountain dulcimer with a CD and digital download of “Songs of the Spirit”; “Beginner’s Guide to Mountain Dulcimer”, and “Dulcimer in The Schools”. Her website is www.Carolcrockermusic.com   Carol holds a BS degree in Music Education from Western Carolina University, a MM degree in Music Education from UNC-Greensboro, and  Level III certification in Orff-Schulwerk. She is a retired music teacher from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband Joe.
	Mark Willingham is a dulcimer player as well as a builder from Charlotte, NC. He built his first dulcimer in college and has been hooked on the instrument ever since. In past years, he has helped lead the Charlotte Dulcimer Club and has performed at the Billy Graham Library, the Southern Christmas Show, Festival in the Park, and various church and club events. In addition, he has taught several dulcimer-building classes through the Charlotte Woodworkers Club. As "Dulcimer Doctor" at this event, he well be available to help with minor repairs/modifications, string changes, questions, etc.