Teaching
“Professional, dedicated and truly insightful, Cohen offers highly effective teaching carefully targeted at the particular needs of the individual student.”
Drawing on two decades of musical experience and with a great passion for sharing knowledge and ideas, Cohen is a highly respected teacher. Cohen offers tuition in all manner of settings, from one-on-one instrumental tuition to large group workshops and just about everything in between, with students of all ages. Anyone interested in arranging tuition with Cohen or just wanting advice should get in touch using the contact page.
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One-on-One
Since 2015, Cohen has worked with countless students across the world, delivering over 400 hours of one-on-one lessons each year.
Cohen offers tuition on Anglo concertina or Melodeon, either online or in person. Tuition is tailored to each student’s needs is offered to all abilities, whether you are an experienced player just looking for a few new ideas, or you’ve just picked up the instrument, Cohen is sure to have something for you!
What can we learn?
- Starting out on the concertina; finding your way around the keyboard and learning some basic tunes and exercises.
- Learning how to apply some basic accompaniments to your tunes.
- Learning how to ornament and decorate your tunes.
- Learning how to use the concertina to accompany songs.
- Taking the concertina to a more advanced setting; exploring new key signatures; adding more complex chordal accompaniment and counter melodies; exploring classical repertoire on the concertina.
I can create concertina tablature for students if desired – click here for a sample.
As standard I offer lessons on the C/G Anglo concertina, I also offer tuition on G/D instruments, and I also have concertinas in the bass and piccolo range for students that want to explore more unusual instruments.
- Starting out on the melodeon; finding your way around the keyboard and learning some basic tunes and exercises.
- Learning how to accompany using the left hand.
- Learning how to ornament and decorate your tunes.
- Learning how to use the melodeon to accompany singing.
- Taking the melodeon to a more advanced setting; playing outside of an instrument’s home keys, learning about right hand harmony, looking at more complex bass lines and accompaniment patterns.
I can create melodeon tablature for students if desired – click here for a sample.
As standard, I offer lessons on the 2 row D/G melodeon, I also have single row instruments in D and G, as well as C/F and A/D two row instruments and these can be used based on the student’s requirements.
Online vs in person
I offer lessons either online or in person each of these two settings pose their own unique set of benefits and challenges.
One-on-one lessons in person are great for those that like personal touch and immediacy that is harder to achieve through online lessons.
I am currently based in North Wales, however as a travelling musician, I regularly visit almost all corners of the country and I have delivered lessons in person in across the UK. For more details, please get in touch.
Online lessons are a great way for me to connect virtually with students across the world. In my time teaching online I have worked with students from throughout the UK and across Europe and North America.
I deliver these online lessons using Skype and the process is much simpler than you might think, here are a few tips to make the process as smooth as possible:
- All video chat programmes suffer slightly from delay issues - this means that it is not possible for us to play together in the way that we would in a conventional one-on-one lesson. With these lessons, I generally demonstrate and explain an idea or technique and ask you to repeat is back to me, and I will offer guidance from there.
- Your set up can make a huge difference to how well these lessons work - make sure that your internet connection is performing as well as it can and close any un-necessary browser windows or streaming programmes that may be eating up your bandwidth.
- Use a pair of wireless headphones if you have them - these can virtually eliminate the background noises and echoes that plague video chat software.
- Use a good external mic if you have one - these usually capture the sounds of musical instruments far better than an internal computer mic.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any further questions related to online lessons.
Pricing
| 1 hour one-on-one lesson | £33 |
| 2 hour one-on-one lesson | £61 |
| 6 hour block booking | £171 |
FAQs
Online lessons work in much the same way as conventional face-to-face lessons. There are a few compromises that need to be made to work within the limits of the technology (don’t worry, I will explain these in our first lesson). I usually use Skype for these lessons, though I have used other programmes and am happy to use alternatives if you would prefer. For further details regarding online lessons, please get in touch.
If you are based in the UK, you have the option of either having lessons in person or having lessons online. Each system has its own advantages (outlined below); ultimately every student is different and if you are still unsure after reading the advantages of each system below, why not send me a message for more details.
Advantages of lessons online:
- There is much more flexibility in online lessons, it is much easier for me to fit online lessons into my daily schedule.
- It is easier to have more frequent lessons online.
- You will not need to pay additional fees to cover travel expenses.
Advantages of lessons in person:
- We do not have any of the technical constraints that are posed by online lessons.
- It is easier for you to closely study my playing and for me to closely examine your technique and provide in the moment feedback.
- We can play together in real time - this opens the option of exploring student/ teacher duet pieces.
1 hour one-on-one lesson: £32
2 hour one-on-one lesson: £59
6 hour block booking: £162
I am always happy to consider requests from people looking to book a lesson or a set of lessons as a gift for a family member or friend. These are charged at my usual rates. Get in touch to find out more.
My standard approach to teaching is to use a combination of written music and learning by ear. I believe that both techniques are very valuable and can complement each other. Where students wish, I can also provide advice for improving the music reading ability. However, I am also happy to teach entirely by ear where students prefer this. I make personalised recordings for my students to aid in learning tunes by ear, I can also make resources using melodeon and concertina tablature systems if desired. My approach is tailored to your needs as a musician and student.
I have worked with beginners that have only been playing for a matter of hours, right through to experts that have been playing for most of their life and all ability levels in between. Whatever level you are, I'm sure that we can find some new ideas to explore that will help you develop as a player.
I offer lessons of an hour as standard. For lessons in person, I often recommend two hour lessons, particularly if we are meeting less regularly. Lessons of other lengths are available on request.
Workshops
As a teacher, Cohen has delivered countless workshops and talks on folk music, focusing on instrumental technique, repertoire development, singing, music theory, composition, and arrangement.
Cohen has worked at numerous festivals and residential courses, led day long workshops in collaboration with several folk clubs and concert venues and delivered workshops to schools and youth organisations.
Recent clients have included EFDSS, Halsway Manor, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Ark Schools, People Express, West Country Concertina Players and Bradford Music Hub, along with folk festivals including Broadstairs, Sidmouth, Whitby and Gower. These workshops have delved into all areas of English folk music and melodeon and concertina playing and have taken all manner of forms. Below are just three examples of the workshops that Cohen offers.
The workshop focuses on tunes that fit nicely on squeezeboxes of all kinds and uses these as a tool to discuss technique, ornaments, variation and other musical skills related to all things squeezable. The workshop in its original form was designed for an hour long session but can be adapted to almost any length. See below for a sample handout of tunes that I have used in these workshops.
The workshop, designed with concertina clubs and organisations in mind, focuses on playing tunes and songs arranged for treble, baritone, and bass concertinas of all systems. Using these pieces, we look at a range of playing techniques, musical decorations, and performance considerations. See below for two examples of pieces that I have explored in these concertina band workshops.
This workshop was first devised for the 2017 Soundpost Old Adam Singing Weekend and has since been delivered at numerous festivals and events and has been adapted both for use with young people and for teaching overseas. This workshop has been condensed down into sessions of just an hour and stretched out over weekend residential courses.
This workshop is based around the creation of a performable version of a traditional song using a variety of sources. We discuss the history of various sources (both written and audio) for the song in question, charting over 400 years of source material. This is used as a catalyst to discuss where to find source material and how to approach and interpret it. Following this, we will use these sources to build a piece of music, taking fragments from each source and in some cases writing new verses or sections of melody. On some occasions we have then gone on to the more practical element of how we can perform this song, essentially showing the full arrangement process from source material to a finished performance.
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