Music Workshops and Classes

Private Lessons

Private lessons by Ancient Future leader Matthew Montfort are available covering all of the material in the classes and workshops on this site as well as all styles of guitar. Online lessons are offered via Skype, Zoom, and other conferencing services. Online lessons have proven very effective for teaching repertoire, theory, and world music traditions, and are especially valuable for evaluating technique as camera angles can provide close up information not easily obtained in an in-person lesson. While it is not easy to play duets via video conferencing services due to the audio delay, Matthew Montfort has developed a technique where he plays with a metronome and disregards the delay coming from the student's performance. The student experiences a duet without latency. There are other workarounds using overdubbing techniques on online recording platforms, and they have the advantage of allowing the student to practice with the duet recording.

Workshops and Classes

What you will learn if you attend one of the world rhythm workshops? Find out in this world rhythm training presentation of African, Balinese and Indian rhythm exercises. Increase your rhythmic skills by learning world rhythms! Taught by Matthew Montfort of Ancient Future, from his book Ancient Traditions -- Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali and India.

Matthew Montfort teaches guitar and world beat workshops online, in person in Sonoma County, and as special events during his national and international concert tours. His Got Rhythm? world beat workshop utilizes African polyrhythms, Balinese kotèkan, and Indian tala to highlight the major types of rhythmic organization used in most of the world's music. Workshops on the melodic aspects of the traditions are also available.

To celebrate opening Ancient Future Studios in Sonoma County, a series of free introductory in person music workshops is being offered at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance in Northern Sonoma County.

• Wednesday, April 23, 2025, 6:30 to 8:45 PM, Matthew Montfort Music Workshops, Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425. Free in-person guitar, theory, and improvisation workshops with Matthew Montfort. Facebook Event. Sign up: lessons@matthewmontfort.com.
• Wednesday, June 18, 2025, 7 to 8:30 PM, Counting Rhythm and The Beats of Bali Workshops, Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N. Cloverdale Boulevard, Cloverdale, CA 95425. Sign up: lessons@matthewmontfort.com.

Posters (Click to Download .pdf)

 

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