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Walnut Valley Festival Announces Instrument Workshops 

Winfield, Kansas… The Walnut Valley Festival will again host Wednesday Workshops, a series of master classes conducted by professional musicians performing at Winfield. The workshops will be held on Wednesday, September 13, the official first day of this year’s 51^st festival. Workshops this year will consist of 10 instructors presenting 11 different classes, with participants learning new techniques for guitar, fiddle, mandolin, autoharp, hammer dulcimer ukulele, banjo, and mountain dulcimer. A songwriting class will be available for music lovers interested in learning to express themselves through original songs. The half-day workshops provide the opportunity to advance instrumental skills, make new friends and increase the amount of pleasure through the joy of music.  

Each class has an admission fee (the majority of which goes directly to the artist) and a required skill level. To ensure that participants get the most benefit from time spent, they should be sure to select a class that would comfortably fit their experience with the instrument.  

Workshop Director Karen Deal: “I am so excited about our hands-on workshops this year.  With Mark Sganga and his Latin American background, and three members with the Irish band JigJam teaching, we have some of the top international musicians teaching classes. The other fun fact is 60% of our instructors are new to teaching Walnut Valley Festival workshops.  We have a whole new range of topics and instructors to choose from.” 

This year’s workshops and instructors hosting them are: 

• Hammer Dulcimer with Tina Bergmann                                                                                    
• Violinist to Fiddler with Amanda Grapes Dellinger                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
• Let’s Jam! – Autoharp with Les Gustafson-Zook                                                                        
• Irish Flatpicking Guitar with Jamie McKeogh                                                                                
• Irish Tunes on the 5-String Banjo with Daithi Melia                                                   
• Songwriting with Jim Ratts                                                                                                            
• Mountain Dulcimer A to Z Condensed with Stephen Seifert 
• Finger Style Guitar with Mark Sganga 
• Beginner Mandolin with Gavin Strappe 
• Super Duper Beginning Ukulele with Linda Tilton 
• Ukulele Picking & Strumming with Linda Tilton