Come experience a Coletrain Music Workshop
and see what all the buzz is about.

October 9-11, 2020 | Buena Vista, CO

Buena Vista is located in central Colorado between Salida and Leadville in the Upper Arkansas River Valley. This charming rafting town sits at an elevation of 7,965 feet (2,428 m) and offers free camping with majestic views of the Collegiate Peaks and boasts unlimted adventure with rafting, fishing, hiking, biking and much more.  Located just 2.5 hours from the Denver International Airport, 2 hours from Colorado Springs and Crested Butte and just 1.5 from Breckenridge, Buena Vista will not only inspire you, it will put a song in your heart.

Who is this workshop for?

The Agenda

Get To Know The Faculty

All our faculty are elite performers on their respected instruments and are revered for leading music workshops all over the world.

Coleman (Coletrain) Smith

Coleman’s love affair with music began very early on. His mother Karen, a professional ballerina says Coleman has been responding to music since before he was born. Fostering his love of music, his parents bought him his first violin at the tender age of 3 at which time he began studying the Suzuki Violin Method. During his formidable years in the Suzuki Program, Coleman became one of the youngest people ever accepted to the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, eventually having solo performances with the Dallas Fort Worth Pops Orchestra.

In his youth Coleman traveled across the nation studying various styles of fiddle music as well as competing in some of the most prestigious fiddle contests, eventually becoming one of the nations top competitors and winning the World Series of Twin Fiddling with his brother Ethan Smith. After studying with a variety of iconic teachers and mentors such as The Texas Playboys including Eldon Shamblin, Bobby Cofer, Leon Rouch, and such fiddle legends Johnny Gimble, Bob Boatwright, Frankie McWhorther, Dale Morris and Randy Elmore, and including country legends Asleep at the Wheel, Curtis Potter, and Tony Booth, he decided to make his passion his life’s work.

Coleman was awarded a full Presidential scholarship to the music department at Marywood University where he studied music performance and minored in music pedagogy graduating Cum Laude. While at University Coleman conducted four years with the Marywood University String Project studying under Master Teachers, Mary Catherine Gallagher and Amy Christian. In addition to his conducting experience, Coleman was an avid performer in and around North East Pennsylvania with his cousin, renowned bassist and jazz bandleader, Doug Smith. Read more here…

Enion Pelta-Tiller

Enion has been teaching violin, viola, and fiddle for over 20 years.  She has been an instructor at music camps around the country, including Mark O’Connor’s celebrated Strings Conference, American Fiddle Method Camp, Julian Family Fiddle Camp, Shasta Strings Conference, Big Sur Fiddle Camp, and Pagosa Folk n Bluegrass Camp. Enion has also been a guest teacher and workshop instructor at Escola Municipal de Musica Folk e Tradicional in Vigo, Spain and Galicia Fiddle in Xustans, Spain.

Enion is an internationally touring violinist, composer, and singer, and is widely recognized for her elegant playing and thoughtful teaching in styles ranging from gypsy jazz, bebop, bluegrass, oldtime, Irish, Scottish, and classical music and everything in between. She shares her knowledge gathered almost 4 decades spent playing and exploring music, and enjoys sharing her enthusiasm with students of all ages and all levels – from 3 year-olds just starting out on their journey with music to seasoned performers looking for help with improvisation, fiddling, jazz theory, technique, and comfort and efficiency while playing. Enion has been mentor and teacher to the fiddlers and violinists of celebrated Colorado bands such as Elephant Revival (Bridget Law), Trout Steak Revival (Bevin Foley),  Banshee Tree (Nick Carter), The Cody Sisters (Jackson Earles) and also includes among her former students fiddle prodigy CJ Neary,  mandolinist Oliver Esposito, and Oregon Symphony principal second violinist Chien Tan.

Enion’s teachers and mentors include Darol Anger, David Balakrishnan, Lache Cercel, Walter Ayers and Susan Bates.

David G. Tiller

Alex started playing professionally while living in Crested Butte and it was here when he began rising to the top of the Colorado Mandolin scene. Alex toured with the high-intensity, progressive bluegrass band Spring Creek for over a decade before joining Colorado-based bluegrass group, Rapidgrass in 2014. Together with his band, Alex performs both nationally and internationally, headlining some of Europes largest Bluegrass Festivals. In addition, Alex has over a decade of experience leading both Mandolin and Guitar workshops for students of all ages. When Alex is not performing he enjoys teaching private lessons at Coletrain Music Academy and shredding trails on both his skis and mountain bike. 

Bonnie Lea Culpepper

Bonnie Lea Culpepper has a trained background in the classical styles of piano and voice. She also has a great love for Ukulele, which she taught herself to play at the age of 7. In school, her passion was performing Operatic pieces in many different languages and time periods. Her love of music has led her to become a touring singer/songwriter in the styles of contemporary rock, folk, Americana, jam, bluegrass, jazz, and blues. As a passionate professional musician, Bonnie places utmost importance on creative musical freedom. She strives to bring the skills and knowledge to her students to provide a foundation for FUN with music.

David Lawrence

Born and Raised in New Jersey, David Lawrence specializes in the gypsy jazz and blues genre and is the band-leader for ‘LAPOMPE’ and New Orleans Blues inspired ‘Royal Street Ramblers’. With these projects David has headlined the prestigious City Park Jazz summer concert series, performed at the Five Points Jazz Festival, Bohemian New West Fest, Westword Music Showcase and many more. LAPOMPE has been nominated by multiple publications for best jazz band on the front range and David has been featured on several radio Stations including KUVO Jazz. He has also recorded multiple albums including two full-length Albums with LAPOMPE and an all-original Singer-songwriter EP under his ‘David Lawrence’ solo project. Slated for release early Fall 2019. LEARN MORE HERE

Gary Sloan

Bassist Gary Sloan has music in his blood: his father started the first blues band in the state of Alaska and continues to entertain over fifty years later. Gary received a Summer Jazz Scholarship from the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society (NAJS) in 2010; the next year Gary’s original music was featured at the NAJS Composer’s showcase and his quartet was nominated for the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards Best Jazz Group. After graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Gary taught up to 40 students a week on guitar, bass, mandolin, piano, and ukulele at a local music store. In 2013 he moved to Boulder, CO to pursue a Master’s of Music in Jazz Performance & Pedagogy at the University of Colorado. Driven by his melodic sense and rhythmic acuity and informed by his perspective as a mulit-instrumentalist, Gary’s philosophy as a bassist is deep yet simple- above all else, the role of a bassist is to support his fellow musicians in a way that enhances the music to make the entire experience sound and feel its best.

Cat Tobin

The beautiful mountains of Buena Vista, CO have been my home for nearly 10 years, drawn to the area to work and play in the sweet waters of the Arkansas River and across the lands of this amazing valley. My passion for sharing life in this town and community continues to grow with every season.

I hold a 200hr YTT and a certification in Yin yoga, and am always eager to explore further into the ever-expanding tradition of yoga.

I enjoy teaching a practice of yoga that balances stillness and intentional movement with a focus on integrating breath and body alignment.

Yoga for me is a way to celebrate the incredible movement of our body and soul. This experience of life is a dance, up and down, dark and light, steady and wild. Yoga invites us to embody the constant flux and flow of energy that is the essence of this life.

Support the Fine Arts Community while aligning your business with an incredible event that caters to all ages by becoming a sponsor today!

Pros

Our workshop instructors are all rofessional musicians who have years of teaching and performing experience.

Swag

We are so fortunate to have partnerships with a variety of businesses offering products and services. All of our attendees will walk away with a CMA tote full of goodies!

Lessons

Each day is chock-full of curriculum intended to maximize your learning potential and set you up for success.

Food

We provide light bites and snacks during the workshop as well as convenient walkable recommendations for quick bites before, during and after each workshop.

Wellness

All of our workshops offer mediation and yoga options for intention setting, mindfulness and self-awareness.

Entertainment

Our workshops include nightly family-friendly concerts featuring CMA faculty and guests from across the globe.

What they’re saying about CMA Workshops…