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Lesson timetable: 17:00 - 20:00 (total of 21 hours)
In this year’s seminar, we will focus on learning the techniques of rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment on the laouto in mainland Greece and the islands, as well as on improving our technique and our sound through exercises and the study of virtuosic instrumental tunes. Our exercises will focus on finger placement, use of plectrum, scales/modes/”dromoi”, and rhythm.
Participants should have at least a basic familiarity with the laouto and should own their own instrument.
Music sight reading is desirable but not required.
Participants may record audio or video of the lesson for their personal use in their own study.
* This lesson will be taught primarily in Greek. Terminology will be explained in other languages as well, according to the teacher’s disposal.
Full interpretation will not be provided.
Maria Ploumi was born in 1985 in Athens, with Cretan ancestry. At the age of 9 she began her studies in traditional Greek laouto with Kostis Kalaitzakis as her first teacher. Through her study of the different ways and techniques of playing the instrument in different regions of Greece, her occasional involvement with other musical traditions of the Mediterranean and the Balkans, as well as her experimentation with various music genres beyond traditional music, she explores the role of the laouto in the present day.
In 2000 she was awarded First Prize in the Panhellenic Music Student Competition of the Greek Ministry of Education. She studied at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in the Music Studies Department. She attended seminars in Cretan laouto with Giorgis Xylouris, rhythmic improvisation with Harris Lambrakis, laouto with Vasilis Kostas, Turkish makam with Sokratis Sinopoulos, orchestration with Babis Papadopoulos, acting and theatrical improvisation with Natalia Stylianou, vocal study with Pavlos Maropoulos, and workshops for voice and body with Dimitris Agartzidis.
She is a professional musician since 2000, and her activities include a wide range of performances in Greece and abroad, in traditional celebrations, concerts, musico-theatrical performances, storytelling performances, record productions, radio and television broadcasts, and in collaboration with renowned artists (Chronis Aidonidis, Christos Tsiamoulis, Stathis Koukoularis, Martha Mavroidi, Kyriakos Gouventas, Nikos and Yasemi Saragouda, Manos Achalinotopoulos, Panagiotis Lalezas, Michalis Kouloumis, Sofia Lambropoulou, Theodora Athanasiou, Chrysoula Kechagioglou, Giorgos Paterakis, Argiris Bakirtzis, Lizeta Kalimeri, and more).
She engages systematically with teaching laouto, having taught, among other places, at the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments-Center for Ethnomusicology, Philippos Nakas Conservatory, and seminars in Ikaria, Naxos, Samos, and Kalamata.