YMCA at Virginia Tech

Acoustic Guitar – Beginner
This class will cover the very basics of playing and enjoying guitar. Topics covered will include: tuning your guitar, basic chord shapes and patterns, basic right-hand technique, care and feeding of your guitar, and practice tips. Knowledge of guitar tablature is helpful, but not required. Students are encouraged to bring recording devices to class. Sabra Guzman is a full-time guitar player/stand-up bass player for old-time string bands in the New River Valley and has been playing professionally since 2004. She has toured throughout the U.S and Europe. For adults and teens. $60

Fiddle – Beginner
For those of you who have always wanted to play the fiddle but never gotten around to it, here’s your chance! This class is for the beginner of all ages. We’ll go through the basics of holding your fiddle and bow, and teach you your first tunes! Instructor Anna Roberts-Gevalt has been performing for 12 years and has just completed a fellowship at Berea College. Students should bring a fiddle, bow, strings, and rosin. Tape recorders are optional. Class limited to 8 students. $60

Old Time Banjo
This class is for beginning banjo students who wish to learn clawhammer (old time banjo) styles). You’ll learn the basics of the technique, fiddle tunes on the banjo, how to learn tunes by ear, and how to play chords and sing with the instrument. Instructor Anna Roberts-Gevalt has been playing and performing for 12 years and has just completed a fellowship at Berea College. Class limited to 8 students. For adults and teens. $60

Old Time Fiddle
This class is for intermediate students (both those who already play old time music, as well as classical musicians interested in getting started playing fiddle) who wish to expand their repertoire of tunes, bow licks, and techniques. You’ll also learn some tunes that Anna learned in Kentucky during her studies there, and some techniques specific to that repertoire. Instructor Anna Roberts-Gevalt has been playing and performing for 12 years and has studied with some of the great living masters of traditional music in Appalachia. Students should bring a fiddle, bow, strings, and rosin. Tape recorders are useful but optional. Class limited to 8 students. $60

Old Time Guitar
In this class, for those who have a knowledge of chords already under their belt, we will learn basic back-up for traditional songs and old-time fiddle tunes: controlling a flatpick, tuning, finding the key, chords and changing from one to another, the basic strum and boom-chuck rhythm, keeping time, learning to listen, bass notes and runs, using a capo, and playing guitar with singing. We’ll be learning by ear and learning how to use some tablature. Sabra Guzman is a full-time guitar player/stand-up bass player currently performing with Chance McCoy in Greenville, West Virginia, and with an old time band out of southeast Kentucky, the Blind Tiger String Band. For adults and teens. $60

Introduction to Storytelling
This class will provide students with an introduction to the art of storytelling. Learn what makes a story work and how characters can be brought to life. Guidelines will be given for delivery skills: presence, timing, voice, posture, and gesture. We'll also go over content skills: choosing stories for your repetoire, introducing yourself and the story, beginnings, middles and endings, and maintaining the narrative flow. You'll also learn how storytelling can be applied to affect positive change in various fields such as non-violence/peace activism, environmental stewardship, education, community development, civic involvement, and others. Join instructor Josh Gambrel, a native Appalachian with years of storytelling experience. Along his storytelling journeys he has studied in Germany, been a tour guide in Prague, taught Business Theory at a University in Uzbekistan, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a remote village in western Mongolia (Mongolian is his second language). He received his MA in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University with a focus on Appalachian and Mongolian folktales. Students should purchase and bring to class The Storyteller’s Start Up Book by Margaret McDonald. ISBN-10: 0874833051. $45

Italian Movies: From Neorealism to the Present
Are you a movie buff? Instructor John Stubbs will lead this survey course on Italian films of the last 60 years. Representative movies will be De Sica’s Bicycle Thief, Rossellini’s Open City, Fellini’s La Strada and Amarcord, Salvatores’ I’m Not Scared, and Ozpetek’s Facing Windows. Class sessions will involve viewing and discussion. Come join the conversation about these films! John Stubbs, an enthusiastic and thoughtful teacher, is a Professor of English Emeritus from Virginia Tech. His most recent book is a critical study of the films of Federico Fellini. $40

The Life and Humor of Will Rogers
Students will explore the methods Will Rogers used in his one-man shows on Broadway, newspaper writing and in radio broadcasting. Students will be guided on how to develop and perform a one-man show. Instructor Steve Huppert is the Author of the book “Will Rogers, One Man Show” and has completed over 25 performances as Will Rogers. $48 (includes a copy of the book Will Rogers, One Man Show).

Singing: Traditional Appalachian and Early Country Songs
By learning from recordings of both contemporary and past singers in the country and traditional Appalachian music genre, we will focus on how to find pitch, harmony and your own voice in singing. We will be listening to singers such as the Carter Family, the Delmore Brothers, Hank Williams, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the Louvin Brothers and more. Sabra Guzman is a full-time professional guitar player/stand-up bass player. For more on Sabra and her music, visit her website at www.myspace.com/sabraguzman. $60