Participants should already know how to hold the instrument and the basic scale push-pull patterns. In addition, participants should already have some experience playing simple songs in proper rhythmic timing. This course will focus on what kind of playing techniques make the instrument produce uniquely Cajun sounds such as octaves (and when and how to use them), grace notes, other button combinations (chords), and trills. The workshop will cover accenting the rhythm with the right hand, and how to accent the rhythmic feel with the left hand bellow pressure. Participants will learn how to begin to use the bass accompaniment buttons in proper rhythm while also playing the right hand melody. Participants will compare old time waltz rhythm vs. a more modern feel. Participants can familiarize themselves with Chris’ layered teaching approach by searching for “Chris Miller, Love Bridge Waltz” lessons on YouTube. Chris has many other examples and lessons on YouTube as well. Those who preview the lessons will most likely get the most out of the week by laying some groundwork in advance. Chris will poll the participants to find the most useable tune and the most common tune to all current camp goers. He will break that tune down for instruction in layers and then reassemble it adding the various elements. There will be time for question and answer sessions as well as tune requests. Participants are encouraged to bring recording devices to aid their study.
Instructor Bio
Chris was interested in music from the time he was born. His parents recall that he made a habit of waking early so that he could hear the “French Music” on KLFY’s morning show “Passe Partout.” As Chris approached his teens, he began to devote himself more and more to Cajun music and to teach himself Cajun accordion, guitar, and later fiddle. There were many other local influences besides his closely-knit extended family. Raul and Reoul LeBlanc played the old style of Cajun accordion that Chris grew to love. Harris Leger also provided hours of inspiration at family gatherings and camping trips. The Vanicors provided Chris with many opportunities to play and to learn from veterans of Cajun music’s early years. In 1999 Chris helped to form Louisiana’s Kingfish, which in 2000 released the CD Life in a One-Horse Town. Chris has played throughout the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. and France with Hadley Castille and at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio with Rodney LeJeune and the Texas Cajun Playboys. His most recent CD Chris Miller and Bayou Roots received CFMA awards for “Recording of the Year,” “People’s Choice,” and “Band of the Year.”
Check out Chris Miller at Augusta 2021: