Jigging And Gigging: Folk Music Teacher

Meet Finlay Allison, a busy tutor of musical instruments in a folk music style. As an experienced folk musician over many years, he knows that people want to have the joy of playing music together. He understands that playing an instrument really well can take a lifetime. He wants to get people playing as quickly as possible, so he teaches by ear, without them having to learn formal music notation.

People learn, individually or in groups, to play their instrument in little bite-size phrases and exercises. These are then pieced together to build up fluency. Finlay teaches fiddle, ukulele, mandolin and guitar, and mostly teaches Scottish folk music. He works as a Senior Tutor for Glasgow Folk-Music Workshop.

Finlay plays a Scottish tune on the fiddle, slowly. He has previously sent the students a recording of the tune. In class, he breaks it into small sections. He explains and demonstrates how to bow and finger the fiddle.

The students listen to Finlay demonstrating a section of tune. They play it over and over. This is called learning by ear. They become more confident and familiar with the tune. They slowly build up their knowledge of the tune and improve their control of the instrument as they go. 

To their surprise and delight, they find that they can play very quickly and begin to join in with others. Here he is with some students at the college where he teaches Scottish folk fiddle.

Finlay has a dedicated music room where individual students come to learn. He is determined to keep it informal. They talk about how to improve their playing, laugh, learn new techniques, play through songs and do exercises to develop their skills.

John is left-handed so everything Finlay knows has to be reversed to make sense from John’s point of view. They discuss exactly where to put fingers to make a C7 chord sound its best. Finlay demonstrates and John mimics him.

They sit together so that Finlay can observe what John is doing and advise him on how to overcome any problems with technique and fluency. Correct repetition builds muscle memory, which enables musicians to develop flair and style.

Finlay uses songbooks and writes sheets with unique fingering and strumming charts to help John get the most out of his playing. He gives John specially targeted homework to help him improve his strumming.

Finlay leads a Glasgow Folk-Music Workshop class where they learn a new song to help improve their ukulele playing. They enjoy making music together.

Finlay leads the singing and demonstrates the strumming pattern for the song. A strum is where the forefinger plucks the strings of the instrument. Strums can be quite complex, but Finlay always says that “down-down-down” is fine too!

Because Finlay creates simple worksheets with the lyrics (left), easy chord windows (top right) and the number of strums in a yellow box (bottom right), learners are able to play straight away. It’s a liberating and clever approach.

Finlay likes setting his learners free from music stands and paper so they can just look up, mimic him and see the worksheet onscreen behind him. His system is an incredibly speedy way to learn.

Finlay likes to do research. Folk music has a deep and rich tradition, stretching back into prehistory. He finds old versions of songs and tunes and adapts suitable material to meet the specific needs of each student.

One of the most vital tasks, when you teach dozens of classes and hundreds of students each week, is keeping material for exercises up to date, while devising lessons tailored to a student’s stage of learning.

Finlay is preparing material by playing it, thinking through the pitfalls of a tune for a new player, and being aware of useful teaching points. He does this in advance of meeting with a student. Usually around 25–40% of a tutor’s working week will be taken up by this preparation.

Finlay can’t just take ready-made lessons from the internet. He may use the internet, but Finlay always shapes the information to make it relevant to a particular student. That’s the folk way – we are all different, so he adapts his style.

Before classes begin, Finlay leads people in a slow run-through of the tunes they have been learning. He likes to encourage people to play in public as much as possible. This helps them to learn faster and simulates the ultimate goal of being on stage and entertaining people.

In the Atrium of the college, Finlay encourages people to play their tunes together 30 minutes before classes begin. A warm up allows their fingers to become nimble and their minds to focus. Playing is a perishable skill: it quickly falls away without constant practice.

Finlay says you should take your instrument with you wherever you go. It’s important in folk music to see the instrument as a means to access your inner self, and to let the good and bad things about you out through music. 

This is not formal teaching. The students are at different levels and have different tutors. Finlay leads them playing Rocking the Baby, a traditional folk piece. They mimic his hand movements. The early stage people just listen but they are inspired to progress.

Finlay entertains his group by explaining that the tune they are learning is for a particular dance. He demonstrates it, hamming it up! He has discovered that laughter increases learning. People learn best when they are relaxed.

Putting the bow down is important. It is hard to concentrate all the time on playing phrases over and over. People learn better by having a variety of things to attend to and by taking breaks. This helps to reduce the cognitive load of the learners.

Scottish fiddle music is often used for Scottish ceilidh dancing, so Finlay demonstrates the dance steps that go with the tune the class is learning. 

Finlay notices that students are getting frustrated – the cognitive load is too high. He amuses them with a joke and then plays a beautiful piece called Elizabeth’s Great Coat. Students learn better if they are happy and humor keeps the energy level high. 

Elizabeth’s Great Coat

In a hugely popular session, learners from Glasgow Folk-Music Workshop play in public twice a month. Finlay feels that it is good for them to take their music out of the classroom. This has earned him a reputation as a great leader in the folk community.

A chance to play the music in public is exciting and nerve-wracking for students. Finlay calls them slow sessions – the tunes are slowed right down so everyone knows that the music will be manageable, even for people who have only just started playing.

It’s clear that a lot of fun is being had. Playing alone at home can be lonely and sometimes confidence-sapping as you can see how much you still have to learn. Playing together makes the musicians feel powerful and confident.

The group play Flatwater Fran, a fun waltz. It’s important that inexperienced players have someone confident leading the playing, keeping everyone together, in time and in tune. So, Finlay plays loudly on the guitar as they play through the very slow chords.