Suffolk county fiddler here, looking for a mandolin teacher to help me get started on my new mando. Do any of you know a good teacher here on the Island?
Good question. I'm not aware of a mandolin teacher in Nassau or Suffolk counties though some violin teachers might pretend with beginners, but I started taking lessons from well-known musician Andy Statman who lives in Brooklyn who is amazing. He has a limited number of students, and I don't know what level he prefers to teach when he's not touring, but he did pass the word on the Cafe a while back that he was seeking some students. As a fiddle player, there's a lot you can teach yourself by transfering what you know to Mandolin (not a far stretch in terms of the basic fingering) and listening to role models in the style that interests you with a focus on the right hand and chords will help you as it did me. There's a lot of great online resources too, the Cafe being the place to find the others. So are you a pro on the fiddle? I was an all-state violinist in high school, but I can't play a note on violin these days. I've lost all that muscle memory which would take months to revive-- yet I could play my mandolin out of the box when it arrived UPS (in tune) because it is fretted and thus more forgiving on the accuracy of fingering. So what kind of mandolin did you buy?
You might try Buddy Merriam in Sound Beach. He used to give lessons, and is a great player. http://www.buddymerriam.com/contact.html I believe he teaches other styles than bluegrass too.
Thanks for the replies and advice-Mandolin is so similar to violin, but I just need some help with right hand technique and a teacher to crack the whip as far as practicing chords and runs- I guess I got used to that from all those years of studying violin. I think I am not disciplined enough to do it on my own... I did get a book with DVD yesterday; we'll see how that works out for starters. I have a Big Muddy mandolin- a simple, no frills instrument, but very nice tone. I studied violin for 13 years, did all the allstate stuff, and played in the New York Youth Symphony for many years. Then did not touch the instrument for 10 years. Now I play in a Gypsy rock band, and don't do classical music at all anymore. Have any of you gone to the BCLI jams?
Very similar to my story. I've heard great things about the Big Muddy (formerly Mid Missouri) mandolins. They're well made and a good value. Perhaps if you found some local jams you could pick up some of that stuff from more experienced players rather than lesssons , though there isn't a lot of jam activity on Long Island per se.
