John Renbourn
Guitar Workshops
Summer 2024
Crete
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Booking for the Summer 2024 Renbourn Workshop is now closed.
Once again we filled all the places from our priority booking email list.
Send your name and email address through the form on the left of this page to be included in the advance mail-out next time.
2024 will basically be a re-run of the 2023 event because it was so successful. We are privileged to have as guest tutor Clive Carroll in addition to regular tutors Mike Walker and Dariush "Dario" Kanani.
The 2023 group at the end of a great week of music, sun, music, food, music, wine and music!!
The workshop content
John's family have graciously given us permission to use John's transcriptions and all the material which we have developed for the workshops. Work is still ongoing to add to this body of work by producing high quality, accurate transcriptions of John's repertoire and thanks to the Renbourn family we have access to all the manuscripts and files John left behind. We hope that these will be published at some point in the future.
Students have a say in what pieces we work on and the programme is always flexible. We try to allocate as much time as possible to material and topics brought along by the students.
There is a broad spectrum of activity from technique building and development, analysis of John's technique and approach through to note by note coverage of individual pieces. There are always plenty of opportunities to play and jam of course.
About Renbourn Guitar Workshops
The Renbourn Guitar Workshops were started by John Renbourn, Mike Walker and Remy Froissart and have been running since 2010.
John loved these workshops and was very clear on the approach he wanted - laid back, friendly, inclusive and totally focused on the students and what they want. After much consideration and discussion with John's family (and encouragement from students both past and aspiring) the team who worked with John to develop these workshops have resolved to try and keep the events going using the approach John used.
Typically the workshops run for a week and are held in inspirational residential locations where developing or experienced fingerstyle guitarists can immerse themselves in playing and learning through the music of John Renbourn in comfortable and conducive surroundings. Guitarists are encouraged to bring their partners as most of the venues offer plenty to do for the non-player while the sessions are in progress. Food and accommodation are included in the price.
All aspects of the wide-ranging Renbourn repertoire are reflected and the venues are carefully chosen to offer a perfect setting for a relaxed but productive week of fingerstyle guitar study based on the music of one of the founding fathers of the Folk Baroque style of playing.
The workshops run on a very informal and friendly basis in whole-group sessions but with plenty of opportunities for the students to benefit from smaller group work and one-to-one tuition on a specific tune or aspect from John’s repertoire.
We have a tradition of bringing in guest tutors when numbers permit and when we can book them. Friends of John - Wizz Jones and Clive Carroll have been particularly welcome and have added a further dimension to these workshops.
Current Resident Tutors
Mike Walker has been playing Folk Baroque guitar for 50 years and became a friend of John's back in the 80's (as senior mastering engineer at the legendary Trident Studios in London) back in the day working with John on the early digital re-releases of the Pentangle /Renbourn/ Jansch Transatlantic recordings - a special treat for a fanatical Folk Baroque player and sound engineer. Now assisting John's family and Newcastle University to establish an archive of John's musical legacy.
Dariush Kanani came to John Renbourn's attention as a teenager and John put his name forward to play at the Davey Graham memorial day in London.
Influenced by John, Davey, Wizz Jones and Bert Jansch Dariush has developed into a highly respected player and teacher of the Folk Blues genre. He has hosted numerous Bert Jansch teaching sessions and workshops, assisted at Stefan Grossman workshop sessions and co-hosted the 2022 Renbourn Guitar Workshop. In 2023 he toured with Clive Carroll on his music of John Renbourn tour of the UK and Ireland. Both Dariush and Mike feature on Clive's 2023 masterly collection of performances and interpretation of Renbourn music - a double CD titled "The Abbot" which has received much critical acclaim - John would have been delighted.
Dariush, Mike and our guest tutors aim to deliver high quality fingerstyle guitar lessons based on the Renbourn repertoire aimed at giving the developing guitarist the tools to play this demanding music (and have a great time too).
The workshops also often have a number of optional sessions, demonstrations and talks and discussions on specific topics (or tunes), harmony, technique and also an approach to home sound recording techniques using affordable kit and home computer technology.
The idea is to give the solo guitarist fresh directions on developing their playing and an approach to achieving their own high quality recordings whether for home use, distribution or as a valuable self-teaching aid.
