What do you do all day?

This week a long time friend asked me what I had been up to work-wise for the past couple of months.  Well my role at ArtistWorks has had me working with the team there on the creation of a number of online music schools and academies, one of which will launch next month.

The ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass will be the world's first online Bluegrass Academy and will allow Bluegrass fans around the globe to be able to learn fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bass, and guitar online directly from some of the biggest names in bluegrass music.  The ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass consists of: The School of Banjo with Tony Trischka, School of Guitar with Bryan Sutton, School of Fiddle with Darol Anger, School of Bass with Missy Raines and School of Mandolin with Mike Marshall.  Each school contains hundreds of high quality beginner, intermediate and advanced video lessons.  The really cool thing is that every student has the opportunity to send their teacher a recorded video of themselves practicing and receive a personal video response with individualized instruction from the teacher.  Here is a sneak peak video and check out the Facebook page.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ANWf71mn8]

Fiddle Exceptional among modern fiddlers for his versatility and depth, Darol Anger has helped drive the evolution of the contemporary string band through his founding of numerous pathbreaking ensembles.  Darol teaches at the Berklee College Of Music and at Mark O'Connor and Aladair Fraser’s Fiddle Conferences. Read more. Guitar Bryan Sutton first came to prominence as part of Ricky Skaggs' bluegrass band Kentucky Thunder and has gone on to work with artists including Rhonda Vincent, Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton.  Bryan was awarded a Grammy in 2007 and has been honored as IBMA ‘Guitarist of the Year’ six times. Read more. Banjo Tony Trischka is one of the most influential banjo players in the roots music world. In his 40 plus years as a consummate banjo artist, his stylings have inspired generations of bluegrass and acoustic musicians.  Read more.

Mandolin For over 35 years Mike Marshall has pushed the boundaries of acoustic music and can be heard on hundreds of recordings as a composer, featured artist, sideman and producer.  A master of the mandolin he co-founded The Mandolin Symposium, a one week mandolin camp attended by over 150 mandolinists.    Read more. Bass Missy Raines is the most decorated bass player in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association- with 7 Bass Player of the Year Awards to her credit.  Missy is one of the most popular figures in the bluegrass community and a trailblazer in her field for as long as she’s been playing music. Read more.