Harmonica champion Glenn Woodland presents concert, workshops

Release Date: 2/8/2005. Expired: 3/5/2005

With more than 100 first-place awards from contests and festivals, including two national championships, Glenn “Wailin’ Wood” Woodland is recognized as one of the best harmonica players in the country. He belts out traditional bluegrass, country and gospel songs, but also plays classical pieces, turns the harmonica into a chugging train, a howling dog, a bagpipe and even makes the audience believe the harmonica is talking.

Woodland brings his unique harmonica playing back to the stage of The Renaissance Center in Dickson for a concert Saturday, March 5. Tickets for the 1 p.m. show are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for children under 13.

An adjunct instructor at The Renaissance Center, Woodland also is offering three different harmonica workshops on the previous Saturday, Feb. 26.

The Harmonica for the Absolute Beginner Workshop is an introduction to harmonica playing. The class will focus on producing single notes, the C-major scale and simple melody songs. The workshop will be 9-10 a.m. Feb. 26 and tuition is $25.

The Blues Harmonica Workshop’s topics include 12-bar blues progressions and notes to accompany progressions for students who are already able to play single notes. The workshop is 10:30-11:30 a.m. Feb. 26 and tuition is $25.

In the third workshop, Exploring the Greek Modes for the Diatonic Harmonica, students will learn scales and song examples in Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian and Phrygian modes. It is designed for beginning and intermediate players. The workshop is 12-1 p.m. Feb. 26 and tuition is $25.

Woodland also offers private weekly harmonica instruction at The Renaissance Center.

A New Jersey native, Woodland moved to Middle Tennessee in 1982 to be closer to the music industry and to learn from the best harmonica players Nashville had to offer. He first began playing the harmonica in high school when he was given one while confined to the hospital in traction for eight weeks.

“It was the thing to do and I had a lot of time to fill,” Woodland explains. “We used to take half-hour bus rides to and from school and play in the back of the bus. I haven’t put it down since.”

Through years of practice and listening to other players, Woodland developed a unique style of playing that has been described as “overblowing” and “blending,” which allows him to play a chromatic scale on a diatonic harmonica, a feat thought to have been virtually impossible.

This style has garnered more competition titles than he can count, including first-place titles in state championships in Kentucky, Illinois, Georgia (six times), Tennessee (six times) and Tennessee Valley (five times), as well as numerous festivals and regional competitions. He has won two National Harmonica Championship titles and in 1995 was awarded the Billy Powers Bluegrass Musician of the Year Award.

He has played with symphonies, been part of a four-hour documentary about Appalachian music and played with artists such as Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Ricky Skaggs, Doc Watson, Raymond Fairchild, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, the Nashville Bluegrass Band and the late John Hartford, among others.

His CDs include Wayfaring Stranger, a collection of classic instrumental gospel hymns, and Wailin’ Wood - The Collection, which ranges from classic harmonica toe-tappers to the Irish sounds of a Celtic jig.

For more information on Glenn “Wailin’ Wood” Woodland’s concert, workshops or classes, call The Renaissance Center at (615)740-5600 or visit the center’s Web site at www.rcenter.org. To register for a workshop, call (615)740-5533. To purchase a ticket for the concert, call the box office at (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

News

Date Released	Expiration	Headline
No Press Releases to show...