Ken Kolodner

Class Description:

From Kolodner’s many decades of playing old-time as a performer and a tireless jammer (and fiddler), our focus will be capturing the feel of Old-Time music on the hammer dulcimer. Essential concepts include phrasing with “swing” and accent shifts to match the fiddle and clawhammer banjo groove. I’ll cover a variety of rhythm ideas such as accenting on “two and four,” syncopations, anticipations, and rag rhythms. We will explore embellishments such as drones above and below the melody, fills, melodic runs, valley rolls, note replacement, and more. Borrowing from the guitar and the bass, backup ideas will include a variety of vamps/grooves and basslines.

Most of the ideas/techniques can be accomplished with a left-hand or right-hand lead. Additional topics include improving our ability to hear chord changes (I, IV, and V at a minimum), and how this can inform our ability to pick up tunes on the fly. Tunes will be our vehicle to teach the concepts and techniques. Ken will provide written music for all versions of each tune (melody, backup parts, variations).

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BIO:

Called “a world-class instrumentalist” by Sing Out!, the Baltimore-based Ken Kolodner is widely recognized as one of “one of today’s most

accomplished, musical hammered dulcimer artists...” (Elderly) and a fine old-time fiddler.

After years of touring as a soloist and in ensembles with Helicon (with Chris Norman and Robin Bullock), Greenfire (with Bullock and Laura Risk), Elke Baker, and many others, Kolodner now primarily performs with his son Brad, along with Alex Lacquement and Rachel Eddy as The Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet. The Old Time Herald writes “Father and son have reached that musical telepathy that family members can sometimes achieve. The blend of the hammered dulcimer and banjo is exceptional.” Sing Out! adds “There must be something special to that father-son thing!” In 2019, the quartet won first place at “Clifftop” in the neo-trad category.

Kolodner also performs with hammered dulcimer player Mary Lynn Michal. Kolodner is a community builder. With his son Brad (clawhammer banjo, fiddle, vocals), the Kolodners have run for over 10 years the hugely popular Baltimore Old Time Jam which routinely attracts 50 to as many as 100 players. The Kolodners are also the host band, curate, and organize The Annual Baltimore Old-time Music Festival, now in its 4 th year. Kolodner founded (and teaches with Mary Lynn Michal) the pre-eminent hammered dulcimer workshop in the U.S., The Sandbridge Hammered Dulcimer Retreat, a series of six weeks of masterclasses for 120+ players from the U.S. and beyond. Kolodner also runs The Sandbridge Old-Time Fiddle Retreat. In the pandemic year of 2020, Ken continued The Sandbridge Retreats via Zoom for 185 players, produced two new recordings and the most comprehensive book on playing the hammered dulcimer (The Complete Guide to Playing the Hammered Dulcimer by Ken Kolodner with Mary Lynn Michal): Ken & Brad released their 4 th CD together Stony Run;

Ken and Elke Baker released their second CD (with music pals Robin Bullock & Alex Lacquement) - On a Cold Winter’s Day, featuring seasonal

and winter-themed music from around the world. In the fall of 2022, Kolodner released two new recordings: a CD of his arrangements for two hammered dulcimers with Mary Lynn Michal: Out from the Shadows; and Live at the Winter Solstice Concert with Helicon and Friends (Ken Kolodner, Chris Norman, and Robin Bullock), with guests: The Ken & Brad Kolodner Quartet, Members of Charm City Junction, Alex Lacquement, Sean McComiskey, Elke Baker, Rachel Eddy, and Jonathon Srour. Among Ken’s credits are a featured solo in an Emmy-nominated CBS-TV Christmas special with The Baltimore Choral Arts and The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, over twenty recordings, an “Indie” winner (Helicon’s A Winter Solstice Celebration), a #1 Billboard’s Charting World Music title (Walking Stones), a #4 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Chart (Stony Run) and various books on Appalachian fiddling and the hammered dulcimer.

In another lifetime, Kolodner received a doctorate in public health (epidemiology) at Johns Hopkins (1985) and worked part-time for many years as a consulting scientist. An avid soccer player, the 68-year-old Kolodner still gets out on the “pitch” a few days a week. If you want to kick the ball around with Ken, he is always ready!

Kolodner has toured extensively internationally and in nearly every state in the U.S. Kolodner has taught weeklong workshops at Swannanoa (NC),

Augusta (WV), Kentucky Music Week (KY), Common Ground (MD), and Meadowlark (ME). Notable performances include The Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, The Walnut Valley Festival, The Old Songs Festival, 35 years of Helicon’s Winter Solstice Concerts, The Winnipeg Folk Festival, and The Smithsonian Institute. Ken’s playing has been described as “world-class” (Sing Out!), "nothing short of astonishing"; (The Connection), “outstanding”(The New York Times), “marvelous” (The Washington Post), “virtuosic”.

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