Visit my performance calendar (on a different website)
Click ahead for information on my early music classes for kids who play an instrument
Financial aid is available for most classes; please ask.
New class announcements usually go out by email before I post them here,
so please drop me an email if you want to be added to my mailing list!
Early Music for Youth returns!
Ensemble classes for music students aged 8-12. New participants welcome.
Weekly Saturday afternoons:
Session 1: Sept 12, 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17
No class Oct 24 (gig), Nov 7, Nov 26 (Thanksgiving weekend)
Session 2: Oct 31, Nov 14, 21, Dec 5, 12, 19
Final class of each session will include a demo for parents.
Saturday afternoons, 2:30-3:30pm.
If there is sufficient demand, there will be another section 1:15-2:15pm.
Where: Shula's teaching studio on Phinney Ridge, near Phinney Center, Red Mill Burgers. Directions when you enroll. One class per session may be a dance day, to take place at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 4 blocks away, instead of my studio.
$120 per 6-class session. Financial aid may be available; please ask.
This new program welcomes students of a wide variety of skill levels to learn and perform music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I have a special fondness for bringing these eras to life for and with young people!
Some of the most exciting and satisfying music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance is technically accessible and straightforward enough for students in the early stages with their instruments. For more advanced players, there is infinite room to explore more deeply, with improvisational and compositional techniques, stylistic articulation, and the chance to try historical instruments from percussion to viola da gamba. The captivating historical eras behind the music are a special draw. We'll learn enough background to appreciate how the music was enjoyed in its own time.
This class is for kids aged 8-12, who play Western classical melody instruments and harp. (Modern instruments are fine; no keyboards at this time.) Everyone should be able to play reliably in G and D major and should have at least some basic experience reading music. Additional opportunities will be available for those who know more. For those who are interested, some singing and dancing opportunities will be available as well as just playing. Once everyone's comfortable together, we'll work toward some fun performance opportunities in the community -- perhaps with guest soloists from Seattle's professional early music scene! And perhaps in costume...?
Past classes -- Summer 2009
July 20-24, 2009
Shakespeare's World
Ages 8-12
The kids in our last two Renaissance Arts classes have enjoyed putting on short Shakespeare skits for a parent performance. In this class, Shakespeare becomes our focus, and we'll choose scenes from the plays to work on as a group. We'll also explore other elements of Shakespeare's world, from the humorous street cries of the vegetable sellers at the market to the elegant (and energetic) dances that all the men and women knew in Queen Elizabeth's court. Our guest fencing teacher will make an appearance, and as usual, we'll do our own historical music-making, with instruments and dances for everyone to try. On Friday, we'll perform for the parents.
Aug 3-7, 2009
Music and Dance of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Ages 7-12
Medieval and Renaissance music and dance repertoires are a natural fit for kids of all playing levels. A lot of the most wonderful, exciting, and satisfying material from these eras is technically accessible and straightforward even for students without a lot of experience. There is also infinite room for more advanced students to explore more deeply. The captivating historical eras behind the music are a special draw for many of us, kids and adults alike! All the kids will leave the class with songs to sing, tunes to play, and dances to dance. We'll divide the class when there's a chance to teach specialized techniques to the more advanced music students on their own instruments. We'll all learn some tunes by ear at a very relaxed pace, and we'll work up our own arrangements as a group, in which everyone can contribute at their level and collaborate with me and Jacob. (Non-instrumentalists will be able to sing or play percussion.) Everyone will have a chance to play historical percussion instruments with the group, and to try our instruments from hurdy-gurdy to viola da gamba to vielle to harp to recorder to harpsichord. We'll perform a selection of our class favorites for the parents on Friday.
Aug 17-21, 2009
Arts of Colonial Days
Ages 5-11
This is our usual, time-tested, wide-age-range, one-room-schoolhouse format, but with a brand new topic! We'll explore Arts of Colonial Days, from crafts to dance to music to storytelling to cooking, to costume for young men and women. There will be historical instruments for everyone to try, and a special guest performer will visit. We'll weave and spin. Maybe we'll even churn our own butter....?
Summer 2008
Medieval* Arts Week: July 28-August 1
Renaissance Arts Week: August 4-8 (Note: This class is full.)
These programs with co-teacher Jacob Breedlove are some of my best loved. With stories, songs, dances, and crafts, we'll enter the world of centuries past. Knights, queens, and clever fools share their lives in portraits and perhaps a play. This hands-on workshop includes early social dance and a menagerie of string, wind, and percussion instruments for everyone to try. (No musical
background is necessary.) Everyone will be able to try their hand at arts from calligraphy to cooking with period recipes!
The workshops can be taken together or separately. We'll be back with new
projects this summer so that returning kids can repeat the classes.
Class size is limited to a total of 12 kids with two teachers. The small size is the secret to our successful age-mixing -- no one is underengaged or overextended. Jacob Breedlove returns as my popular teaching and performing partner. He's a multi-instrumentalist and craftsman whose music, stories, puppet shows, and theater sets have been enjoyed at Camlann Medieval Village in Carnation, WA for 19 summers.
Both workshops will run M-F, 9am-noon, at the Phinney Neighborhood Center in Seattle. Full tuition is $150, and kids aged 5-11 are welcome to attend. Until I learn how to post a downloadable registration form, please get in touch and I can send you one by email or paper post.
* Not sure about the middle ages for kids? Check out my blog posting about kid-friendly medieval arts.
Summer 2007
A Week in Medieval England - Portland, OR
June 25-29 2007, presented by the Portland Revels
The Middle Ages come to life in this hands-on exploratory workshop for children. Try your hand at arts and crafts of the period, from weaving and calligraphy to dance and song -- and cooking from medieval recipes! Instructors and musicians Shulamit Kleinerman and Jacob Breedlove bring a menagerie of medieval percussion, wind, string, and keyboard instruments for everyone to try. (No background in music is necessary.)
Renaissance Arts for Kids - Seattle, WA
July 30 - Aug 3 2007
Discover Renaissance culture through stories, music, arts and crafts of the period. This hands-on workshop includes early social dance and a menagerie of early string, wind, keyboard, and percussion instruments for everyone to try. (No musical experience is necessary.) Everyone will be able to try their hand at arts from calligraphy to cooking with period recipes, and we'll take a look at how Renaissance science shaped the courtly arts of the time.
Multi-instrumentalist and craftsman Jacob Breedlove, who joins Shula for this class, has been entertaining at Camlann Medieval Village in Carnation, WA as a musician, storyteller, and puppeteer for 18 summers.
Fall 2006 to Spring 2007
Shakespeare's World
Music and Dance of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Arts of Colonial Days
Medieval* Arts Week: July 28-August 1
Renaissance Arts Week: August 4-8 (Note: This class is full.)
The Middle Ages come to life in this hands-on exploratory workshop for children. Try your hand at arts and crafts of the period, from weaving and calligraphy to dance and song -- and cooking from medieval recipes! Instructors and musicians Shulamit Kleinerman and Jacob Breedlove bring a menagerie of medieval percussion, wind, string, and keyboard instruments for everyone to try. (No background in music is necessary.)
Early Music for Youth
Thursdays October 19-Dec 14 (except Thanksgiving), 6-7pm
Phinney Neighborhood Center
$60 *special rate for the first run of this new class!
This class is for music students aged 8-14, who...
- have a year's experience or more
- can play comfortably in (at least) C, G, and D major.
- have at least a beginning familiarity with note names
- have a private teacher who will be interested to spend some lesson time on the material if necessary
Students at a variety of technical levels should be comfortable in the class, since we'll be learning tunes and working out arrangements that make comfortable use of individual skills and instruments. Class size will be capped at 8 kids to keep it relaxed and rewarding.
We'll focus on a few medieval tunes for the first half of the session, mostly by ear/rote, moving into some basic renaissance consort repertoire from the page in the second half. We'll also venture into improvisation and renaissance dance, and there will be opportunities to try as many instruments as possible (viola da gamba, percussion, medieval fiddle, and recorder at least). Early percussion specialist Peggy Monroe will visit to introduce instruments and techniques, so that everyone can take turns playing percussion throughout the class.
Students need not have experience with historical instruments. There may be space for one or two keyboard students, pending the availability of an instrument -- please ask.
Mozart’s Magic Flute
Yule Week
December 18-22, 2006
Festive projects and pastimes from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to celebrate the changing seasons – and we’ll explore the science behind the shortest day of the year. Special guests include costumed Renaissance dancers Katie Gibbons and Toivo Rovainen of Seattle Early Dance to demonstrate and teach courtly dances.
Behind the Scenes at the Puppet Opera: The Liberation of Ruggiero
Saturdays March 24 and 31, 9am-1pm (bring a bag lunch)
Northwest Puppet Center
$75
Ages 7-11
This spring, the Carter Family Marionettes are performing Francesca Caccini’s early seventeenth century opera (the first opera written by a woman) about Ruggiero’s escape from the island of Alcina. We’ll meet one of the singers, and go backstage with Dmitri Carter to see how the puppets are made and used. Meanwhile, try your hand at the music, art, and manners of early Baroque Italy.
This class is scheduled so that participants and their families may attend the performance of Ruggiero later in the spring.
On Vacation with Handel
M-F April 9-13, 9am-noon
Phinney Neighborhood Center
$150
Optional extension until 1pm (bring a bag lunch), $25
Ages 7-11
What was London like in the 18th century, when Handel wrote music there? We’ll explore tales of the place and time along with period arts and crafts. Special guests include Seattle Baroque Orchestra artistic director Ingrid Matthews with her violin, dancer Ines Andrade of Seattle Early Dance – in costume – to introduce Baroque dance and manners for gentlemen and ladies, and historical fencer Cecil Longino of the Academia della Spada to offer an introduction to the art of fencing (with soft foam swords).
This class is scheduled so that students and their families can attend the Seattle Baroque Orchestra Handel concert a few weeks later, with dances performed by Seattle Early Dance.