Masterclasses

Peter Knight is a magician. His Masterclass had his audience and participants hypnotised. He took us all back to the basics of making music together, not with a tune, but with a single sound. I have no clue as to why my tears started to flow when it was over, but I knew that the very essence of my musicality had been changed by Peter.

Sian Phillips, Director, Fiddle Festival of Britain

Up Next...

October 24th to 26th 2025.
Fully residential masterclass for string players - Improvisation.
At Lavethan, a cornish Manor house.
https://lavethan.co.uk/

ALL PLACES NOW TAKEN. SOLD OUT.

Since 2008, Peter has been sharing his experience and knowledge in the art of improvisation via annual Masterclasses.
The idea stemmed from the wealth of questions he was asked by players about how he accesses the spontaneous moments of music that have become the hallmark of his playing style.He realised that he could help other musicians by opening that door for them, and he has done so successfully with many musicians over the years.

Peter's 2025 Masterclass is being hosted at Lavethan Manor in Cornwall, and is his first fully residential course. This offers an even greater opportunity to create the intimate atmosphere that is the seedbed of exploration and discovery...'musical epiphanies' as former participant Sarah Ibberson described them.

The courses have always been open to players of any level of experience, and any genre of musical styleWhat to expect? From many testimonials, I am sharing this one from fiddle player Fran Broady...“Why have I returned to Oddington every year for five years, to be part of this masterclass?The reason is that, if music is important to you, this is an exceptional opportunity.

Peter’s approach goes way beyond passing on a few tips to help us copy elements of his playing - and there’s certainly no note-bashing or teaching of trademark tunes. It is much deeper than that.Peter is on a mission to help each of us, from beginners to advanced players, to explore and build our own musical vocabularies and put a bit of ourselves into every note we play.

If being the best we can involves dealing with technical issues, other barriers or learning new techniques, he doesn’t let that go. He helps us out, kindly and sensitively. He also gives generously of his own experience and wisdom, freely sharing with us the journey he has taken to become the great musician that he is today.Laughter and inspiration are guaranteed, and there are sometimes a few tears, too.

Peter and Deborah create an annual weekend oasis of trust, inspiration and friendship - a ‘safe’ environment where we can enjoy exploring our musical identities, taking risks and making new discoveries about the way our playing can grow and what it can become. I am very grateful to them both for that”

To find out more, please contact deblington@gmail.com

THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE LEFT

What to Expect

Testimonials

"I have to say that the recent workshop Peter gave us on aspects of improvisation within traditional music is quite simply the best I have ever experienced within our genre. It left our student body - excellent players themselves, and hard to impress - both amazed and excited, and has already resulted in several serious new directions of study, particularly for our fiddle players"

Brian McNeill, Musician and former Head of Traditional Music, Glasgow Academy of Music

“Why have I returned to Oddington every year for five years, to be part of this masterclass?

The reason is that, if music is important to you, this is an exceptional opportunity.

Peter’s approach goes way beyond passing on a few tips to help us copy elements of his playing - and there’s certainly no note-bashing or teaching of trademark tunes. It is much deeper than that.

Peter is on a mission to help each of us, from beginners to advanced players, to explore and build our own musical vocabularies and put a bit of ourselves into every note we play. If being the best we can involves dealing with technical issues, other barriers or learning new techniques, he doesn’t let that go. He helps us out, kindly and sensitively.

He also gives generously of his own experience and wisdom, freely sharing with us the journey he has taken to become the great musician that he is today.

Laughter and inspiration are guaranteed, and there are sometimes a few tears, too.

In this sleepy Cotswold village, Peter and Deborah create an annual weekend oasis of trust, inspiration and friendship - a ‘safe’ environment where we can enjoy exploring our musical identities, taking risks and making new discoveries about the way our playing can grow and what it can become. I am very grateful to them both for that”

Fran Broady (Tin Giants)

“Thank you - huge thank you from somewhere deep down- for a fantastic weekend.

The areas which we explored and discovered over these two days were beautifully balanced in terms of when the happened during the weekend- lots about improvisation on Saturday with the evening with Trevor when people and the chance to delve deeper into that, and then some focus on rhythm and particular issues people wanted to find out about on Sunday. And I loved the way you rounded things off with talking about the place that the music comes from for each one of us

Not only a Masterclass in our relationship with music and out fiddle playing, but also a Masterclass in the art of teaching, sharing and enabling others to shine by having such good intentions for them. You really do love the folk you teach - and there really is no other way to do it. Thank you for being able to put yourself in the place to do this”

Christine Adams (Fiddle and Faff)