Flip Breskin has been called the heart of the northwest folk scene, and “a musical force of nature.â€
Flip Breskin is internationally famous as a Co-founder of the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in 1974 and a universally loved guitar teacher. She has been a major player in the Northwest folk scene since the 1970s.
She is a passionate teacher of music for adults, teens & children, mostly on guitar, but also teaches basics for ukulele and old time banjo. She particularly loves teaching adult beginners because of the courage they bring to their learning. Her focus is on building solid foundations for musical independence - feeling the flow of music, hearing chord changes and building a "predictor" for where chords are headed next, and ergonomics for musicians to protect against long-term repetitive motion injuries. The ability to focus on what's happening "from your fingertips on back" and knowledge of how your brain and body work together to take in new information can speed learning, shorten practice time needed, and keep learning safe and fun. Remember, Practice doesn't make Perfect; it makes Permanent! On her website she has a list of 100 songs you can play with only 3 chords that can help you get started.
Flip is an inveterate song catcher. She plays old and new folksongs with great sing-along choruses, songs of compassion, outrageous songs, and sweet solo guitar. She also calls Family Dances and Playparties and leads the local Bellingham Homemade Music Society's music circle on odd Wednesdays at the Roeder Home.
Peter Berryman says of Flip,
"I'd listen to Flip sing the phone book."
And Bob Franke adds,
"I never met a songwriter more grounded in musical and moral values than Flip. She cares more about telling the truth than most people you're likely to hear and she does it well: At the same time she's a lot of fun to listen to."
Flip has spent the greater part of the past 25 years teaching others how to play and how to teach music. She publishes a collection of hot tips every month in Bellingham called Flip's Pix and she teaches guitar at music camps around the west, many of which she helped design.
Flip Breskin is a song-catcher extraordinaire, an extremely clean and lyrical fingerstyle guitarist, and a musical mover and shaker from way back.
Flip Breskin and her husband Zeke Hoskin often perform together.
If you appreciate folk music in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, mixed up with some old-world instrumentation and wry humor, you will not want to miss their performance which will surely bring smiles and generate some great memories.
In concert, Flip Breskin plays the sweetest instrumentals ever found. The songs she sings are deep and thoughtful and never self-absorbed.
Zeke Hoskin sees the absurd side of everything and puts it all into witty songs that have been performed and recorded by Canadian bands from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. He also plays the Celtic harp and occasionally wins.
Together their effectiveness is enhanced by the contrast. A belly-laugher by Zeke sets you up to appreciate the depth of Flip's next offering, which in turn leaves you all the readier for a truly skewed Zeke number . . . When they aren't playing vocal ping pong with your state of mind, they play instrumental duets.
