Services
Instrumental Music:
Using Celtic harp and fingerstyle guitar, I provide instrumental music for weddings, banquets, formal ceremonies of all occasions, festivals, concerts, restaurants, pubs, and more. I provide the primary music for a wedding ceremony or the background music for a dinner in which my music quietly slips into the gaps when there are lulls in the conversations. For weddings, I can also provide a Celtic (or Irish or Scottish) theme to your wedding both musically and in dress if you desire.
Stevan Jackson et al.
I
perform solo with vocals and a variety of instruments, as I have for
many years. I now have a new dimension to this act. From time to time, I
will add et al. This term, et al. of course is Latin for “and others”. I
will be adding other musicians depending on particular needs of gigs to
include musical friends as
a duet, trio, quartet, and maybe more. When not solo, the base unit is
the inclusion of a bass player/ singer Kevin Hankins. One of my
co-writers, Howard P. Brown, will join me occasionally. Other musicians/
friends will be added from time to time depending on the performance
situation. I/ we will be able to perform sets of original music (vocal
and instrumental) if desired by the client or a mixture of original and
cover tunes. The covers are from the folk, folk-rock, bluegrass
repertoire.
Private Instruction:
I provide private instruction on guitar, Celtic harp, banjo, and mandolin. I teach all levels and numerous styles. I teach in my home studio in Holly Springs, NC. I also offer lessons via Skype if distance is a problem for you. Please contact for pricing.
Educational Musical Programs and Workshops:
As an ethnomusicologist and performer I offer programs that can be tailored to virtually any educational setting, from elementary school to high school to college students, museums, and to adult and senior non-credit programming. Each program is a self-contained module that generally runs about 45 to 50 minutes each. However, they can be expanded or trimmed to fit the needs of the client and the audience.
I teach short songwriting workshops (hour to hour and a half) or longer multi-session songwriting sessions. I am currently teaching a 16-week songwriting class for military veterans co-sponsored by the Durham Arts Council, Durham VA Center, and the Joel Fund.
Musical Journeys:
Take a musical journey from the ancient Celtic lands to traditional Appalachia right up to the modern sounds of country music. Learn how Garth Brooks, or his genre of music, cut its teeth around the misty glens of Scotland and Ireland and how the cultural baggage of the Ulster-Scots was brought to the Appalachian area of America. This journey is accomplished through lecture and performance with the Celtic harp, tinwhistle, banjo, dulcimer, Autoharp, mandolin, and vocals.
Ballads:
Learn about the origins of ballads, the different types of ballads, and their characteristics. Through lecture and performance the students will hear examples of Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Appalachian ballads and here stories within these ballads that rival complexity of any soap opera and the action of any Russell Crowe and Julia Roberts movie. It is storytelling in its truest bardic form that will entertain as well educate those who listen.
Instruments:
Learn the history of several folk instruments that have been instrumental in the development of Western folk music from the British Isles to America. Here examples from the Celtic harp, Appalachian dulcimer tinwhistle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, Autoharp, fiddle, Irish flute, and whatever else I pick up along the way. Besides the instruments themselves, several styles of the instruments will be discussed and demonstrated such as fingerstyle and flatpicking guitar, clawhammer and Scruggs style banjo, and more.