| Contact/Bio | Mandolins | Lessons | Orchestra | Performance |
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Biography and Contact Information Nicola Swinburne is a teacher and performer of the Classical and Italian mandolin living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She originally encountered the mandolin through the traditions brought to the Bay Area by Italian and German immigrants and has played in several mandolin orchestras. Since then she has studied Classical mandolin with players from the German, English and French schools. She also plays violin and lute. Nicola performs occasionally for private parties and special events in a duo with a guitar player or harp player. She has recorded a CD, Serenata with harpist, Mitch Landy.
Email: nswinburne@mandolinserenade.com
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Teaching She became a has been teacher of Classical and Italian Mandolin in 2004 when she joined San Francisco's Community Music Center as a faculty member. Since that time, she has taught over 80 students, mostly in individual, private lessons. Her students have ranged in age from 16 to over 60, and she is usually teaching around 25.
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Her teaching
style stresses the importance of good technique to get a pure,
sustained tone, be able to express mood and articulation, and build an
ability to play fast and accurately without getting tendonitis. All her
students learn to read standard notation and have a grasp of basic
music theory. She has also given workshops on Italian Mandolin at the San Francisco Folk Festival since 2004 and on the Four-hundred year history of the mandolin at various music stores throughout the Bay Area. | |
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Orchestra In May, 2005, she began the Noe Valley Plucked String Orchestra which currently has around 16 members. The orchestra has a seasonal repertoire and has so far sampled music from the Baroque, Late Romantic Italian, and Classical eras. It has also included soloists, such as a mandocellist and vocalist. It has performed at concert venues in and around Noe Valley, San Francisco and in the wider Bay Area. In 2007, it is expected to become a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.
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Email: nswinburne@mandolinserenade.com Phone:     510-558-0795
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