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For those interested in
learning to play acoustic music, the Famous Old Time Music Company
teaching staff offers lessons on all the Bluegrass instruments.
Lessons are available at
both the Cincinnati studio and the Wapakoneta store. In Cincinnati,
call 513-607-1874; in Wapak, 419-568-1220.
Vernon McIntyre has
played professionally since 1960. He
teaches banjo, guitar, mandolin, and even some bass at Famous Old Time
Music Company. Vernon is
well respected on the festival circuit for his driving guitar rhythm
with his band, Appalachian Grass. He
knows the lead-in runs that need to be there and can put them in with
the best of them. Although
he has not performed publicly on banjo for many years, the reputation he
built during his banjo career still speaks for itself.
A little known fact about Vernon is that his first instrument was
actually mandolin and he played mandolin for James Monroe’s band.
Vernon knows the Bill Monroe/Paul Williams style inside out.
He also has the teaching experience to know how to slow down,
break it into understandable pieces, and convey the music to his
students.
Kitty McIntyre,
Vernon’s wife and fiddler with the Appalachian Grass, was classically
trained as a child. Her
interest in bluegrass blossomed with the encouragement of her banjo and
bass playing brother, Andy. She
has made a good name for herself as a bluegrass fiddler and has two
fiddle projects recorded. Kitty
also teaches mandolin at Famous Old Time Music Company.
She says, “I started playing mandolin because I got bored riding
to shows in a car, and you can’t practice a fiddle in a car; you hit
the roof with the bow.” Her
mandolin style is derived from the fiddle tunes she has transferred to
mandolin; it is a very different style than Vernon’s.
Kitty also covers most of the upright bass teaching.
She has played fiddle, mandolin, and bass on several of the
Appalachian Grass recordings.
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