Join the Interest List
Please contact the Community Music School administrative team at cmsadmin@bkcm.org for more information, and to express interest this class. No experience in Bluegrass is required.
Description
Vocalists, string, guitar and mandolin players are invited to experience the historic American music of bluegrass. Taught by expert bluegrass musicians in a fun jam-style approach, students experience the joys of leading, improvising and accompanying traditional folk songs and old-time music.
Violinists who join this class should be familiar with D and A major scales. Guitarists should know D, G, A and E chords comfortably on their instrument. Parents of students are welcome to join the class to observe or sit in if they also play guitar, bass or strings. Each semester culminates in a jam-style performance at BKCM and local bluegrass music festivals.
Schedule:
Fall: October 1st (Intro Class) to November 26th

Ken Shoji
Kensuke Shoji is a jazz violinist and member of Deadgrass. Born in Gifu, Japan, he began playing violin at 7 with Suzuki Method. Kensuke joined his father’s Bluegrass band when he was a teenager and moved to the U.S to study with Matt Glaser (the chair of Berklee String Department ) and world renowned jazz violinist Christian Howes. You can find Kensuke playing with top bluegrass musicians throughout NYC and worldwide.
Registration Info
Financial aid is available for qualifying students. To apply please contact kris.mandapat@bkcm.org and fill out the financial aid application.
For complete information on our registration process and policies please click here