Description

Date: March 18, 2025; 5:30 – 7:00 pm CST (online)

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner and above. Students should be comfortable playing with both hands and should have a working knowledge of a few standard chords (A, D, G, C, Am, Em, etc.). Reading music is helpful but not required. No prior knowledge of music theory is necessary.

Class Registration Fee:  $20

Explore English Country dance piano techniques, including melody, harmony, accompaniment, and improvisation. Learn to develop a broad spectrum of moods – lyrical, stately, exuberant, whimsical – while providing stimulating and danceable rhythm.

For these sessions you will need to be able to set up a device to show the student at the piano, with keyboard visible.

Amy McFarland has been playing piano since she was a young child, with a focus on traditional music, dance music of many styles, song accompaniment, ragtime, swing, and more. She has played for traditional  dancing for over forty years, has taught lessons and workshops, and has composed music. She has taught Piano off the Page to nearly 100 students for over a decade.

 

Hear Amy play English Country Dance piano (with Earl Gaddis and Maria Terres) for the Country Dance & Song Society “Dance Music & Spice Week.”

And here’s a lovely, solo English Country Dance tune, “Chestnut” from 1651: