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Kimberley is a veteran to teaching, both at home in Cape Breton, as well as abroad. She has taught at Cape Breton's Gaelic College and the Ceilidh Trail music school for years, as well as throughout Europe and the United States. This year she will be teaching at the famed Swannanoa gathering in North Carolina, amongst other festivals and workshops throughout North America. Skilled at teaching fiddle, piano and step-dancing, Kimberley's ability to perform all three skills allows her to teach the student the relationship between these different aspects of the music. Playing the fiddle for a student learning piano accompaniment helps the student gain fuller sense of accompaniment, playing the piano for a student learning the fiddle gives the student a harmonic sense of the tunes, and playing the fiddle while teaching steps allows the student to adjust their speed from beginner to advanced. Kimberley thinks that it is important to learn step-dancing to live music, "because ultimately you dance to live music, not recordings, and it's important to get used to that spontaneity..." Kimberley emphasizes ear training, which is how the music is traditionally learned in Cape Breton. Her perspective is to teach techniques of listening for and incorporating stylistic elements into the music- allowing for the student to understand and play Cape Breton music far beyond what they would be able to by looking at sheet music alone. In teaching the piano this allows her to teach common base runs and chord progressions allowing the student to adapt and accompany any traditional tune. Kimberley has a minor in jazz piano from St Francis Xavier University where she gained a strong knowledge of music theory. She is currently continuing her studies in music studying jazz violin at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. If you are interested in hiring Kimberley for a workshop or teaching opportunity, please contact her at kimberley@kimberleyfraser.com
Workshop Photos
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