Week 1

For players of all levels, this class will focus on improving your technique and broadening your knowledge of practical bass lines.

Learn the basics of the Uilleann pipes! Observers welcome. Category: Wind & Free Reed

Ukulele for the absolute beginner

Guy Davis is not only a master of the blues, but he is also a master instructor. This is a guitar-based workshop but singers, harmonica players, and others are welcome to attend.

Learn a step dance, a traditional dance, or a little song from the Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland, or Wales.

Explore the beautiful world of Gaelic song with Mairi McGillivray of Scotland.

Learn to use Garageband for practicing, recording demos, and song writing.

Curricular resources (books, digital media, worksheets, etc.) can contain hidden messaging that impedes inclusivity and negatively impacts student success. Particularly recommended for teachers.

Improve your sticking and tonal technique with Ewan Baird of Scotland's Paul McKenna Band!

For Improving Beginner to Intermediate levels students. Improve your technique and learn some tunes from Scotland, Ireland and America with Conor Markey of Scotland's Paul McKenna Band.

For mandolin and guitar players. Learn the 24 points of advice for jazz musicians by Thelonius Monk and much more.

Join Dave Thomen for some tips that go beyond mere tricks and treats.

Discover old-time fiddle tunes from different regions with the Clifftop 2019 Appalachian Fiddle Champion, Nokosee Fields!

This workshop gives you all the tools you need to lift up patients, their families and support staff at hospitals, assisted living facilities and more, .

In this class we will look at poems that acknowledge pain and difficult times but offer a final message of hope.

Do you hate scales? This class will change your mind. Learn how to get the most out of scales!

Learn Scottish fiddle from Robbie Greig, winner of the coveted Niel Gow Scottish Fiddle Award and member of Scotland's Paul McKenna Band!

Transform your guitar playing…and the musical growth you are capable of achieving with Paul McKenna.

Learn to use your instrument (harp, guitar, fiddle, ukulele or more) to make stories come alive - whether for your children, at schools, or as an introduction to a tune.

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker demonstrate how they use song and story as jumping-off points for real-world conversations with students of all ages.

Looking at details in feathers, flowers, tree branches and bark, create abstract works in soft pastels, charcoal, or mixed mediums.

Learn songs from West and South Africa and the Caribbean, including games, sacred songs, and more.

Learn the basics of playing the melody, developing accompaniments, and other useful techniques.

Learn to play the banjo in the style of the great Earl Scruggs, the cornerstone of bluegrass music.

Throw away those chord diagrams! This class will give you the tools to play chords and never look back.

Learn from a legend! Grammy nominee and Handy Award winner Guy Davis will teach you to accompany songs with your harmonica, whether in a rack or in your hands. Category: Wind & Free Reed

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer folks make important impacts on traditional music, but we rarely hear all the meanings in their stories. We will uncover some of these previously hidden people and the music they made. Categories: General Knowledge

In Celtic fiddle music, tunes are often paired up in groups to create a “set” of tunes. This course is for intermediate players of instrumental Celtic music who wish to create their own sets of tunes. NOTE: This is NOT a Celtic session!

Discover the brilliant history of Native American and Indigenous Peoples, especially in the Maryland and mid-Atlantic area.

Mandolin and guitar players: explore the unexpectedly sophisticated world of Italian American music!

Learn to draw the human figure from a live model.

Take your magic skills to the next level!

Set your mind, body, & soul free by exploring the great outdoors with some iconic writers before crafting your own words inspired by nature's vast canvas.

Build your old-time fiddle repertoire with one of the best - Earl White!

Go beyond simple snapshots with your DSLR camera to create compelling photographs that tell a story, be it a portrait or a landscape.

Learn to use polymer clay to create jewelry, functional objects or wall art.

In a stress-free environment, learn shortcuts that allow you to relate what you see on the page to what you already know how to do on your instrument.

This workshop will focus on globalization and how it affects communities which in turn stimulate immigration into our First World country. It will lift up the plight of the migrant and illuminate the deep instinct for survival and love of family.

Learn a variety of tunes or songs that are in some way related to the season of Summer. The class focus is harp, but all instruments welcome! Category: Harp, Guitar, Fiddle, Banjo, Mandolin, Wind, Banjo

Can a song make a difference? Join us to find out!

Discover tools and tips to improve your songwriting in this workshop with Paul McKenna, who is ranked among Scotland's finest young singers and songwriters!

Come and learn how to keep time with your feet in a class that captures the feel of an old-time music and dance party.

Few people, however, know the personal stories of the people who were the movement. Discover their stories, collected over many years of travel across the south.

Learn several common beadwork stitches including peyote, brick, square stitch and right angle weave.

Learn to cook delicious dishes from Thailand, "The Land of Smiles"

There are certain skills every musician should know, no matter the instrument. This is the class where you can gain that essential knowledge!

Create beautiful and useful items from materials that would otherwise be thrown away.

Explore the history of women in the military and how it has changed over time.

Unwind from the stresses of the day with some afternoon yoga!

Learn the techniques, patterns, rhythms and melodies of Latin American music. This will take your playing to a new level!

Learn several methods of stimulating acupressure points for self-care as well as for the treatment of friends and family.

Learn bluegrass mandolin by ear, in the oral tradition of Bill Monroe.

You don't have to read music to learn to play the harmonica! Category: Wind & Free Reed

Join Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Winfield Fiddle Champion and the IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year, in learning a variety of bluegrass styles.

Join us as we venture beyond strumming into the mysterious world of turnarounds and blues scales on the ukulele. All levels welcome!

The Common Ground on the Hill Veterans Initiative invites veterans and civilians to come together in a trusting and supportive environment. This is the workshop that changes lives!

Join us and tell a story, or just listen!

Find fresh voicing to some of the standard chords you have been playing, and get on the road to arranging a song you already play in an alternate tuning.

Learn some great ol' Irish tunes with masterful Irish/Celtic/Nova Scotia fiddler Shannon Quinn!

Steafan Hannigan will introduce you to the pleasures of the low whistle in Celtic music.

Put together and record a piece of music of your choice - either solo or ensemble, to be presented at the conclusion of Traditions Weeks on social media!

Sparky & Rhonda Ruckers share stories and songs from the convergence of Native American, West African and British Isles peoples in Southern Appalachia.

Most of us have experienced the healing power of music either as listeners, dancers, or players; yet there are ways in which music is much more powerful than we can even imagine. Learn about the science and share stories of healing.

Take a banjo class with two-time International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year Mark Schatz, one of the preeminent banjo players of our time!

Everything you ever wanted to know about pedals, guitars and amps!

All are welcome to discover the major traditions in Arab music.

Hear the stories of those who have been pulling Baltimore together in the wake of the Freddie Gray uprising.

Learn the history of games and play some traditional games from around the world.

Award-winning songwriter David Morris will help you incorporate stories into your songwriting process.

This class will combine teaching about dreams in Mvskoke/Creek culture with learning how to draw meaning from dreams for personal and collective growth.

This beginners class will introduce the rudiments of playing the Great Highland Bagpipe. Students will learn on a practice chanter. Category: Wind & Free Reed

Learn the history and importance of braiding in different cultures, as well the basics of creating different types of braids.

This class of active listening and discussion will trace the roots of the music through classic recordings from the 1930s to the present.

Learn home video and audio recording techniques and navigate social media algorithms in order to share high-quality music with others.

Learn and share blues repertoire

Learn to make the Japanese braid known as Kumihimo, useful for a necklace, bracelet, ID holder or more.

Learn the business side of being an artist.

The flagship class of Traditions Weeks. In an atmosphere of trust and safety, and inspired by song and story, we will listen to and learn from the voices of our sisters and brothers from communities represented in our circle.

Available to mandolin and other string instruments during all three Traditions Weeks, class members will prepare and record Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances, to be presented at the Common Ground on the Hill Festival!

"Oaky," "developed," "bright" - what do these terms have to do with wine? Find out this and much more in this class with David Morris!

Gallery Talks: Monday through Friday at 6:30 PM Eastern Time ~ Artist talks on various art forms. FREE

Keynote Address: Monday, 8 PM Eastern Time. FREE Discover Bolivia through the eyes of AnaCe Velasquez.