1st lesson free
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Leon
- Rate £50
- Response 1h
£50/hr
Contact
1st lesson free
- Banjo
With 40 years’ experience, teaching 5-string banjo on a one-to-one basis, in books, magazines, DVDs, and at group workshops worldwide. Equally at home with beginners, up to 'coaching' professionals fo
- Banjo
Lesson location
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At Leon's house: Bath
- Online
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About Leon
By the age of 17, Leon’s jazz musician parents had all but given up on any hopes of him taking up a musical instrument. Seemingly out of the blue, Leon bought a banjo and immediately began to seek out anyone that could show him how to work it. Fortunately, there were a couple of good banjo players living locally, and sensing his enthusiasm, were both very generous with their time. Less than two years later (and already playing in local pubs and sessions), Leon was taken under the wing of Charlie Gaisford. Charlie was arguably THE banjo guy in and around the recording studios of London throughout the ’70s. If all of that wasn’t fortunate enough, at the age of 22, Leon was introduced to Bela Fleck, and was subsequently invited to take lessons with him at his home in Nashville.
Since then, Leon has been putting all this good fortune (and hard work) to use. He has taken part in numerous ‘transatlantic’ recording and touring projects. These have included some of the biggest names in American traditional music; Viktor Krauss, Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, David Grier and Matt Flinner to name a few.
Beyond proving his Bluegrass credentials, Leon has found himself in a diverse array of other musical settings; occasional live and/or recorded collaborations with Irish traditional music’s Michael McGoldrick, Lunasa, Cara Dillon, We Banjo 3 and Flook, African Kora virtuoso, Sekou Kieta, and English Folk singers, Kate Rusby and Seth Lakeman.
Leon has also enjoyed being part of several major theatre productions for The Royal Shakespeare Company, Birmingham Rep, and The New Vic (search the web hard enough and you’ll find a disturbing picture of him in a powdered wig and tights)
If all of the above name dropping means nothing to you, watch the TV for long enough and you’re bound to hear some banjo on a random commercial or programme, there’s a good chance that’s Leon too!
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About the lesson
- All Levels
- English
All languages in which the lesson is available :
English
Lessons are approached aurally, with minimal use of charts and notation. The one-hour sessions are generally concluded with the recording of a personalised video covering all material covered for the student to keep and archive.
“(Leon) can play the daylights out of a banjo - not only bluegrass banjo, but also in a number of styles and genres. He has spent years encountering and conquering the technical problems of playing, and it shows every time he plays… Leon hasn’t just studied technique, or tunes[…] On top of it all he is an excellent and concise communicator”
- Ron Block (Alison Krauss & Union Station)
“One of only a very small handful of international 5-string banjo players to truly make a mark on what is otherwise an almost exclusively American musical landscape.”
- Bela Fleck
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Rates
Rate
- £50
Pack prices
- 5h: £250
- 10h: £500
free lessons
The first free lesson with Leon will allow you to get to know each other and clearly specify your needs for your next lessons.
- 1hr
online
- £50/h
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