• Tristan Scroggins to Lead Virtual Mandolin Skill Builder Workshop

    Tristan Scroggins

    GOODLETSVILLE, TENN.
    — Nashville Acoustic Camps has announced a Virtual Mandolin Skill Builder Workshop led by Tristan Scroggins starting February 6. The Zoom course includes 4 classes and will be ongoing in four-week blocks with a break of a week or two in between each block. All sessions will be recorded so you can learn and play along on your own schedule if you can't make it to the live class. The class will air live every Saturday at 9:00 P.M. Eastern and cost $70 for each four-week block.

    For the past decade, Nashville Acoustic Camps has been known for offering intimate learning experiences with some of the top performers and educators in bluegrass. In 2018, NAC was awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association Momentum Award for Industry Involvement. In 2019 camp co-hosts Megan Lynch, a seven-time national fiddle champion, and Adam Chowning, an award-winning banjo and guitar player and Acoustic Instrument Specialist at Carter Vintage Guitars, hosted nearly a dozen music camps at their house in Ridgetop, TN just outside of Nashville.

    Nashville Acoustic CampsWhen concerns about COVID-19 rose and it became clear that limiting travel and not gathering in large numbers was necessary to help slow the spread of the virus, these in-person camps were some of the first events to be canceled or rescheduled. Generally, camps were instrument-specific with around a dozen students each and 3 or 4 teachers who would work with the campers over a long weekend. Despite these challenges, Megan and Adam have found a way to continue to safely offer a space for community and education online.

    After seeing the positive response from the community, Megan and Adam knew there was a way to bring this experience to more of their campers. In January they began presenting an online flatpick guitar class featuring instruction from Adam Schlenker. Adam is the Coordinator of Bluegrass Studies at Denison University and a regular teacher at the Nashville Acoustic Camps guitar workshops. Adam’s "Time to Level Up" Zoom Workshop is similar to Megan’s fiddle class but focuses more on improvising and ear training. This workshop series will be ongoing, in four-week blocks with a week or two in between each block. Each class will last about an hour every week, Thursday evenings at 8:30 P.M. Eastern. The cost is $25 per class or $90 for each four-week session. All sessions will be recorded so students can learn and play along on their own schedule if they can't make it to the live class.


    About the Instructor

    Nashville Acoustic Camps has partnered with Tristan Scroggins, 2018 recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year, to present a weekly online mandolin workshop. Tristan has been involved with many of the in-person workshops doing everything from teaching to picking people up from the airport. Megan and Tristan also played together on the John Hartford Fiddle Tune project Vol. 1 which is currently nominated for a Grammy. Tristan's Bluegrass Mandolin Skill Builder Workshop will focus on the role of the mandolin in a bluegrass setting focusing on things such as kick-offs, phrasing, double stops, and rhythm broken down into their fundamental building blocks.

    Additional Information