French-Canadian fiddling class -January 2007, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown NC

Who are my students?  I teach private students and groups in Amherst MA. Students from Amherst College and Hampshire College can receive college credit for lessons while other college students study with me privately.  Most students are adult learners and many are returning to the violin after not playing for a number of years. We use postural awareness to build healthy playing skills and avoid injury, learning tension-free and efficient techniques to keep focused and "in the groove" when playing.

The string world is expanding at the edges, with classical, folk fiddle and jazz coming together in interesting and exciting new ways. My "Fiddling Demystified for String Players" series of instructional books, CDs, DVDs and workshops are geared toward string players and particularly toward string teachers - my last three publications are available in violin, viola and cello editions.

In addition to teaching with fiddlers Jane Rothfield and George Wilson in Groovemama, I am now teaching Fiddling Demystified Workshops with California jazz/folk cellist Renata Bratt, who edited the cello settings in Fiddling Demystified. We met and performed together in July 2006 at Mark O'Connor's San Diego Strings Conference and are teaching workshops for ASTA chapters and college string programs in the U.S. and Canada.See below for a brief description of a Fiddling Demystified workshop or residency. Renata joins me at next July 28-Aug. 1 for Fiddling Demystified for Strings camp at Old Songs in Voorheesville, NY

Contact me at info at fiddlingdemystified dot com for more information about private lessons, group classes or a string workshop for your studio, school, string or fiddle group.

What is my method? We train the ear in everything we do. If a student reads music with any dexterity, they will be asked to transcribe from recorded sources, making multiple passes and refining their transcription to reflect as much as they can find, using this process to keep track of the layers they are capable of hearing in a tune. If they don't read music (and it's not required), we still train the ear to hear the layers. Instead of a transcription notebook, students build a library of recorded source materials and lessons. All students record their lessons. Many use a digital voice recorder and

download the lessons onto a computer, creating a digital lesson library for use with slow-down software, which allows students to slow the tune down and play along with it while retaining the original pitch. A great practice aid and one that I recommend highly!

How to learn a tune: Listen repeatedly and sing along with the source, then transfer the sung phrases to the instrument. [Don't worry if you can't sing in tune. Your voice is helping you to punctuate the rhythm of the tune.] Go back to singing when your lose the tune - it's best when the tune crawls into your ear and won't leave. When you have the notes, listen some more for rhythms and figure out the bowings that create them. Listen some more for harmony - chord movement and countermelody. Find backup doublestop riffs that make the tune dance. Listen some more for variations and study how changing rhythms create them. Play the tune with others in a jam session. Listen some more. Listen some more. Listen some more. Listen.

Fiddling Workshops

Fiddling with a French Accent - Learn style-specific driven-bow syncopated accent rhythms and how to appy them in a variety of French-Canadian tunes and meters. DVD release summer 2008.

Fiddling Demystified for String Players - A rhythm-based right-left hand system of learning that cracks the codes of fiddle styles so you can figure out what the old fiddlers are doing. Overview of Northern, Southern, Celtic styles. Participants learn tunes and bowings by ear for a jig, a reel and a waltz. 5-hour workshop. Solo and with Groovemama and cellist Renata Bratt. First day of Fiddling Demystified residency for string programs.

2008 ASTA Conference 2/28-3/1, Albuquerque NM - Franco-American fiddling, Fiddling Demystified for Strings

Harmony Demystified  - learn the chord triads and alterations, progressions for major, minor and modal tunes, the universal key, how to read and follow a chord chart. 5-hour workshop, solo or with cellist Renata Bratt Second day of Fiddling Demystified residency for string programs.

Improvisation & Grooveswapping - learn to drum new rhythms over a melody first as we swap one meter or rhythm for another over the same tune. Next we learn to follow a chord chart, finding complete progressions using two-note combinations. As we build on these combinations it simplifies our search for the "right" improv notes to play. Solo and with Renata Bratt. Third day of Fiddling Demystified residency for string programs.

Apprenticeships in the Traditional Arts

I've worked with Franco-American fiddling apprentices from Connecticut, Rhode island, New Hampshire and Vermont. Even after the funding period is over, I corral them into joining me onstage whenever I can. We apply together to the state arts council where one or both of us live and cross our fingers to get funded for from six months to a year's worth of lessons. It's a great privilege and a wonderful chance to help create a larger community of Franco-American fiddlers! This NEA-funded folk-arts apprenticeship is usually administered by the state arts council. Wherever you live, go look for a local master fiddler to learn from and see about applying together for this program. Your arts council probably has a funding list of previous master fiddlers if you don't know where to start. Reapply if you don't get funded the first time. They are limited to only a few per year, so don't give up!

Great Groove Band at both Old Songs & Philadelphia Folk Festivals 

Festival weekend band for ages 6-18 - strings, flute, percussion, piano, singers. Curriculum, arranging and performance coaching by Groovemama, using the Great Groove Band Volume I book and CD. The Great Groove Band began in 2000 at the Old Songs Festival and expanded to a second program at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 2006.

Three string camps in July at Old Songs Inc., Voorheesville NY

Fiddle & Strings Day Camp - Week I: July 7-11, for ages 6-18 novice-intermediate string players. Week II: July 14-18, for adult novice-intermediate string players. Faculty both weeks: Groovemama - Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield, George Wilson, Max Cohen. Registration: info@oldsongs.org

Fiddling Demystified Day Camp - Week III: July 28-Aug 1 - Old Songs Inc, Voorheesville NY age 16-up or with parent/guardian - with Donna Hébert, fiddle; Renata Bratt, cello; Max Cohen, guitar. Intermediate-advanced, string teachers, fiddlers, guitarists. Registration: info@oldsongs.org.