Join Us in Schools & Workshops

Piffaro works with students and community members of all ages—from aficionados learning reed-making, to new listeners learning fun vocal repertoire or dance. From community programs, to history projects, to rigorous academic seminars and residencies, Artistic Co-Directors, Joan and Bob customize experiences to fit your needs and interests. Find out more.

At the school-age level, Piffaro tailors units of study for young learners, and frequently, lessons center around recorder and percussion technique. Joan, a former kindergarten teacher, works with diverse groups of children in Philadelphia. The experience usually culminates with school assemblies, during which student performers and Piffaro members share the stage.

Piffaro is active in older student and college settings, too, both for music appreciators and rigorous academicians. The group can be in residence for a full week, and work with students in a variety of ways: coaching band ensembles on Renaissance music, teaching Renaissance dance, working with groups of singers on madrigals, creating a “theater piece”, combining singing, dancing and instrumental performance. For example, during the group’s 2010 residency at Duke University, Piffaro players coached students in the technique and performance practice of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. The experience was capped off with a performance, during which Piffaro played alongside the students. Contact us so we can learn together!

Early Music Festivals, or EMFs, are frequent summer hosts to Piffaro. From Amherst to Boston to Berkeley to Madison, you’ll find a Piffaro player performing and teaching at these celebrated events. The group frequently travels globally to renowned festivals such as Tage Alter Musik Resenburg and Utrecht, and recently took part in Bolivia’s most prestigious cultural event, the 22-town festival, Boliva International Renaissance and Baroque Festival. Find out where Piffaro is going this season!

Piffaro ensemble members frequently lead national workshops in such places as the San Francisco Early Music Society’s Medieval/Renaissance Workshop, the Texas Toot in Austin, and the semi-annual early double reed workshop sponsored by Early Music in Motion. Classes can be tailored for amateurs, pre-professionals, and professionals and range in topics like double reeds, guitars and harps, to Baroque opera, to reed-making and period performance practice.

Joan and Bob are available for lectures and demonstrations, as well. These can be geared to any age and interest level, from pre-school to graduate school to amateurs to interested adults. Contact us for more!