Sam Allison - Clinician As a multi-instrumentalist with Canadian fiddle-band Flapjack, Allison has performed and taught in a variety of settings across North America. From classes of young budding musicians in public schools to advanced workshops in traditional folk music for adults, Sam is a gifted facilitator, teacher and communicator . This spring Sam will perform workshops with Manitoulin Island percussionist/fiddler Teilhard Frost. Frost and Allison have logged thousands of hours and miles together as the rhythm section for Flapjack. “Teilhard can make music come from any object he chooses, and always has an array of crazy instruments on him such as bones, spoons, jaw-harp, harmonica... even his mouth, feet, hands and elbows can carry a tune! He is at once a kitchen-sink percussionist and a highly sophisticated virtuoso wrapped-up into a mind-boggling musical force...” Workshops clawhammer banjo, fiddle, ukelele, folk rhythms, foot-stepping, jaw-harp, bones, flatfoot dancing, fiddles of the world, old-time songs, blues and ragtime guitar. Frost and Allison have performed a variety of workshops for students of all ages. The focus of these workshops varies. From a simple survey of north American folk instruments and styles to the promotion of diversity in cultures through the exploration of music and instruments from around the world, Sam and Teilhard have a gift for captivating audiences of all ages. Between them, they have studied, performed and traveled four continents, collecting instruments along the way.

Highlights “..the workshops that these fellows perform for the kids...go far beyond a concert experience.. Teilhard and Sam manage to bring history and tradition alive in a way that both educates and stimulates the student’s musical minds....” Says teacher Rose Marie Wornoff of the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board. Between 1999 and 2006, Flapjack became one of the most highly regarded contra and square-dance bands in the U.S., performing and teaching in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Lexington, Memphis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston. In the spring of 2005, Flapjack performed in a tour of public schools in Ohio funded by the Columbus District School Board. The series of dance workshops was organized by dance caller Joseph Pimentel. In the Autumn of 2005, Flapjack was invited to Augusta Heritage Center at Elkins University, West Virginia as guest clinicians in old-time music and dance. In the Summer of 2005, Sam performed fiddle and banjo workshops with Teilhard Frost at the Blue Skies Folk Festival near Perth, Ontario.