PORT TOWNSEND — Andy Mackie, who has taught hundreds of school children to play music on instruments he provided, is offering an instrument-making workshop next week for teachers.
The idea is to teach teachers how to make music so that they can show their students.
“It’s open to the public, but it’s mainly for teachers and shop teachers,” Mackie said.
“They can get clock hours.”
The two-day workshop at the Port Townsend High School shop from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday — which costs $125 — will end with participants having instruments they made to take home, Mackie said.
Simple to complex
Choices range from a simple one-string strum stick suitable for small hands to three-, four- and six-stringed instruments.
“They can not only learn how to assemble an instrument, but also how to play it,” Mackie said.
In addition to distributing harmonicas and sponsoring in-class and after-school lessons, Mackie makes stringed instru-ments in his Chimacum Valley shop.
Recruits
He has also recruited Boy Scouts and high school seniors to help him make instruments for whole grades of students at local schools.
The workshop is a chance for teachers to learn the craft so they can incorporate music-making into the classroom, Mackie said.
In addition to taking home the instruments they make, workshop participants will also get Mackie’s videos on assembling and playing the instruments.
In Michigan
“I did this when I was back in Michigan for teachers who teach in Detroit,” Mackie said of holding an instrument-making workshop for educators.
“One of them was a former Port Townsend resident who saw me on the ‘CBS Evening News.'”
Mackie was featured on “Assignment America” for his community outreach, which he started nine years ago to pass along the music he learned as a boy in Scotland.
Mackie also is preparing for his annual Labor Day Music Festival, which has expanded to a weekend — Sept. 5, 6 and 7 — and is looking for vendors, volunteers and items for the silent auction.
3 days of festival
“Last year, I said it was going to be my last one, and this year I’m doing three days,” Mackie said.
Pre-registration for the workshop is requested but not required. People can sign up or show up, Mackie said.
For more information, phone Mackie at 360-316-9556.
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
