Celtic music lovers and musicians at all levels are invited to attend the Almonte Celtfests Celtic Music Workshops that are being held in the air conditioned comfort of the Almonte Old Town hall on Saturday July 12, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:30.

There are many different workshops for musicians to choose from with exceptional instructors for each. The Fiddle Camp Workshop will be running through the entire session for a reasonable fee of $20.00. Instructors include Terri-Lynne Mahusky, a native of Renfrew and much sought after fiddle camp teacher, workshop instructor, and judge at fiddle and step dancing competitions, Kyle Felhaver, the sizzling fiddle champion from the Ottawa Valley and Matt Pepin the accomplished and imaginative fiddler from Northern Ontario, and a highly regarded instructor at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

Pepin states that growing up a little further North up the Valley meant he didn’t have many restrictions to the style he could play. From Quebecois and Valley tunes to Cape Breton, Irish or modern Scottish it didn’t really matter, people would listen. That is how Pepin says he developed his own personal style and what he enjoys most about teaching now.

“I want to show people that it’s alright for them to borrow stuff from other genres they enjoy and come up with something new,” said Pepin. “That being said it’s also very important that you dive into a certain style, one at a time, to keep some integrity to what you do.”

Pepin who has been part of the Almonte Celtfest for five years now loves the feeling of community. “I’ve been to festivals all over the place and really haven’t seen many places band together as much as Almonte,” said Pepin. “The volunteers are second to none.”

Other exceptional volunteer instructors include the talented Paul Hawtin, who will be contributing a Guitar Accompaniment for Celtic Music Workshop and Bruce Barton who will follow up with an exciting Introduction to the Celtic Mandolin Workshop. There will also be two segments of a Celtic Flute and Whistle Workshop presented by the Ottawa Folklore Centre, a Celtic Dance Workshop offered by the dancing sensation Clare Dwyer and an interesting Bodrhan and Bones in Celtic Music Workshop set forth by Alistair Dennett.

Dennett who has been a drummer since high school finds that players using drum kits take away from the beautiful fluid phrasing of the tunes played on the fiddle, flute or pipes. He feels that the bodhran is really the best instrument for accompanying traditional Celtic music. He has several goals in mind for the workshop but mostly hopes to introduce the drum in a positive way to people who are thinking of learning to play as well as encouraging intermediate and advanced musicians to develop by giving them a challenging toolkit of practice and playing techniques. Dennett would like to see the teaching aspect of the festival developed to the point of being able to bring in world class musicians and dancers from abroad. Not because there aren’t enough great players locally who can teach but he believes it’s important to see whats happening in the great ‘out there’.

“A good teacher can leave even advanced players enough new ideas to think about and develop to keep them going for months,” said Dennett.

During the last half hour there will be an all participants session where musicians can dawn their new skills for all to see as well as a Grad presentation.

Tickets for the workshops which are new to Celtfest this year are available at The Miller’s Tale (613-256-9090), Couples Corner (613-256-1171) and The MusicWorks (613-256-7464). The extended fiddle workshop is $20.00 and all others are $10.00. A complete schedule can be found at www.almonteceltfest.com or by contacting the Mississippi Mills Chamber of Commerce at (613) 256-7886.