Baron Collins-Hill's MandoLessons site and Patreon page

Baron Collins-Hill

Have you checked out Baron Collins-Hill's MandoLessons site?  On it he's posted quite a few fiddle tunes, including Bill Cheatham, Cooley's Reel, Blackberry Blossom, Swinging on a Gate, Spotted Pony, Road to Lisdoonvarna and more.  Each tune has a video where he plays the tune and then breaks it down phrase by phrase.  Baron encourages you to learn simply by watching the video and using your ear, but he also provide pdf mandolin tabs for the tunes on the site.  The MandoLessons are absolutely free - at no cost to the end user.  However...

Associated with his MandoLessons site is a Patreon page where for as low as $1 a month you can become a Patron and help support his MandoLessons initiative.  Patreon is kind of like Kickstarter, but instead of helping fund a one-time project, Patreon allows you to help sustain an artist's ongoing work by contributing at a "name your price" level on a monthly basis.  On Baron's Patreon page he offers varying incentives to Patrons who donate $5, $10, $15 or $20 or more per month.  For example, Baron will give the next five donors at the $10 per month level a one on one lesson in person or via Skype or Google Hangout.  I took him up on this and really enjoyed the lesson and the generous amount of time Baron spent with me.

Baron's YouTube channel is even more extensive, with a wide selection of 150+ fiddle tunes in a variety of styles including Irish jigs and reels, oldtime, Quebecois and Cape Breton, Scandinavian, contradance tunes, original compositions and more.  I particularly like his videos of the tunes Road to Malvern and a special version of the Irish tune Morning Star in F (usually it's in G).

Baron is one half of the instrumental duo Velocipede (check out their album here) and is also a regular instructor at the esteemed Maine Fiddle Camp.  His partner in Velocipede, fiddler Julia Plumb, also has a pretty nifty YouTube profile with some fiddle instruction videos and she also teaches at Maine Fiddle Camp.  As a recent fan of their music and teaching style, I can tell you that Baron and Julia are two young traditional musicians to watch out for!

The fact that Baron's MandoLessons site is free is a great thing, for sure.  It provides a resource for those on a tight budget to learn more about playing music.  Although, if you can afford to make a contribution, you might consider becoming a patron to help support this great work he is doing.  Even at $1 or $5 a month you're helping make a difference without breaking the bank!

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