Marnie Parsons and Sally Goddard: A good mixed crowd turned out for Dave Panting's workshop for mandolin and related stringed instruments - men and women, young and not quite so young, veteran musician and virtual beginner. It was remarkable to see so many mandolin lovers, and so many mandolins, in one room! Since the mandolin can be played as both a lead instrument, taking the melody line, and as an accompanying one, playing chords, the workshop touched on both ways of playing. Dave handed out sheets showing a whack of chords that could be used to accompany tunes in a variety of styles-traditional, blues and country. With two chords we could accompany Jambalaya, and with one more Mussels in The Corner. During the morning, he covered a range of styles, a bit of music theory (scales and transposing tunes form one key to another), and discussed troubleshooting. For example, how to cope with problem chords: think of a chord as more than two strings played at once that sound right together, Dave suggested, don't feel obliged to play all the strings when chording. Try to find alternative fingerings that sound good and work for you. It was a great day, and a great privilege to spend some time playing with and learning from Dave.

Karen Furneaux: Hooked on the SJFAC Workshops - Dave did a fantastic job of making the "Mandolin and Strings Workshop" session fun, easy to follow and interesting! I was somewhat apprehensive about attending my first SJFAC workshop because I only recently purchased a mandolin. My concern was that the other attendees would be far more advanced and I wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace for the whole day. However, Dave Panting reached out to all levels of experience and made all of us feel very comfortable. He definitely turned it into a great day and everyone seemed to have a blast! He presented an interesting overview of the mandolin and showed us a variety of "stringed" instruments. Then he took us through several songs until we got the hang of everything! By the end of the day, I had learned a tonne of stuff and made a bunch of new "mandolin" friends. I am now hooked on the mandolin plus I look forward to trying any of the other workshops offered by the St. John's Folk Arts Council.

Frank Davis: I only started on mandolin about two years ago, so am a real novice on that beautiful instrument. I regret not having discovered it earlier. The mando workshop was well attended with players of all ages and skills. From that perspective it was a bit harder for me as a novice to focus on what Dave was demonstrating. A suggestion might be to limit the size to a bit of a smaller group - there is certainly enough interest to have two workshops for mandolin. The workshop inspired me to practise more and focus on learning a few tunes. In fact, the next weekend some friends from the workshop come over for a mando jam, and we were successful in finally knocking off The Boys of Bluehill; it eluded me on the day of the workshop but I have it now! Without the workshop I would most likely not be able to play that tune. All in all, the workshop was well worth it, and if there is another mandolin workshop, I will definitely be there.

Rosemary Ash: The mandolin workshop was very informative and a whole lot of fun. I was amazed to see so many mandolins in one room! I had no idea there were that many in the whole town. Dave Panting is an excellent instructor and he had lots of notes and charts that have proven to be quite helpful. It can't be easy to formulate a course that suits so many levels but he did it. Dave had something to offer everyone, no matter their level of expertise. Will there be more?