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Instructional Recordings

VIDEO

Paul Anastasio's Swing Fiddle Instructional Video Ridgerunner PA-60
	In preparing this instructional video, Paul studied scores of methods and found numerous approaches to teaching swing and other styles of jazz. Some authors composed new tunes as etudes - tunes that no guitar or piano accompanist would know. Others used well-known standards, but this approach tied the authors to pre-existing melodies, which precluded their writing tunes demonstrating specific improvisatory techniques. Paul decided to "split the difference," writing new melodies that used the chord changes to some of the best-known standards, just as Charlie Parker, George Shearing and others built new tunes over existing chord progressions during the bebop era. In this 60-minute color VHS video, Paul plays new melodies using the chord changes to: Blues in Eb Blues in G Honeysuckle Rose Sweet Georgia Brown It's Only a Paper Moon I Can't Give You Anything but Love I Found a New Baby Exactly Like You Swing techniques showcased by these new melodies include single and double neighboring tones, swingy syncopated rhythms, chromatic movement, forcing, and Joe Venuti-style off-beat bowing. Often the same melodic or rhythmic riff occurs several times within a tune, with each appearance of the riff marked in the very readable manuscript that accompanies the video. Following along with the manuscript while hearing and seeing Paul play the tunes gives students three types of input simultaneously, an invaluable aid to learning. As each tune is first played slowly, then faster, students from early intermediate to advanced levels have the opportunity to play along. Ridgerunner's founder Slim Richie accompanies Paul on guitar in this well thought-out foray into the world of swing violin, and the Swing Cat invites you to join them on their journey.
The Weiser Workshops Buy the set of three cassettes for only $25. Order Swing Cat #W-3
	For the last five years, Paul Anastasio has offered fiddle workshops during the third full week in June - fiddle contest week - in Weiser, Idaho. The best of these workshops are presented here on cassette. These are primarily spoken word recordings, with Paul demonstrating ideas and licks on fiddle throughout each tape.
Volume One: Swing Rhythm and Syncopation Cassette: Swing Cat #1511
	A discussion of the rhythm magic that makes swing such danceable, listenable music, with examples of Joe Venuti and Johnny Gimble-style licks.
Volume Two: The Transformation of Spaghetti Rag Cassette: Swing Cat #1512
	Paul demonstrates what he did 20 years ago to make this 1910 piano rag into a Texas-style fiddle rag, changing it stylistically while keeping the essence of the tune intact.
Volume Three: How To Play in a Band Cassette: Swing Cat #1513
	The tricks that can make a jam band sound like a well-rehearsed unit. How to pick up on unspoken cues for stops and endings, and how the pros divide up backup and solos on stage.
Paul Anastasio's Folklife Improvisation Workshop #1 Cassette: Swing Cat 1498
	Paul has taught dozens of workshops over the past twenty years, many of them presented as part of the Northwest Folklife Festival, a mammoth explosion of folk and ethnic music, art and culture held each year on Memorial Day weekend in Seattle. For the 1995 festival, Paul chose to discuss improvisation, that will-of-the-wisp-ish art of composition on the fly. This is primarily a spoken word recording, with musical examples played on violin with guitar accompaniment throughout. As a generalized discussion of improvisation, it is suitable for players of all instruments and contains information that is helpful for everyone from beginners to advanced performers. What Paul has to say transcends style, as the general principles of improvisation apply equally well to bluegrass and bebop, western swing and Baroque improvisation. This tape, close to sixty minutes in length, includes the entire well- presented workshop, with additional material Paul recorded later to flesh out some ideas that time constraints prevented him from covering fully at Folklife. Some of the topics discussed with clarity and humor are the "I meant to do that" factor, pentatonic scales, "dissonance light," and the use of single and double neighboring tones. He lets you hear how each note of the chromatic scale sounds against a major chord and explains how they all can be used as part of a successful improvisation. Paul's teaching reveals his unique ability to open doors, shedding light on the structure that underlies improvisatory playing regardless of genre, and he speaks with an authority that comes from over a quarter century of improvising in a multitude of styles.