fiddle
October 2008 
When fun gets "real"
Debi
I mentioned at some point recently that I was toying with the idea of entering a fiddle competition. I've only been playing old-time music for about eight years, and even that, only in the periphery of my life, but I thought it might be fun to see what a competition was like. There's a relatively young competition here in Chicago that is often organized/judged/wrangled by some combination of the music teachers with whom I've studied. That is the one that, with only a few days' notice, my banjo-playing and guitar-playing friends Deborah and John (and I) decided to enter.
The "student round" was on Sunday, the idea being that current students at the sponsoring folk music school could enter to, as I had hoped, get a taste of what competitions are. One or two teams MIGHT be invited to continue on at the more serious "invitational" round, where teams who had applied from all over the place would compete to become finalists. A final round takes place on the main stage at the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival.
Imagine my surprise when Deborah, John, and I (who call ourselves "JoLo and the Debros") were actually asked to come back for more!
This was supposed to be a lark. I really didn't think I was remotely good enough to compete with the top 20 fiddlers in the state...but I guess someone thinks so. Holy moly. I am humbled -- and I need to pick a tune for the semi-finals!!! Old-timey folks out there, I'm taking votes. Any ideas?
Access: Public
Dave says, “Mississippi Sawyer.” He says it is an easy tune. The banjo style is clawhammer.
Another he just shouted out is “June Apple.”
I'm so happy for you!! You must be very good! Are you really going to learn a new piece for this? Wow. You must tell us how it goes!!
I love those tunes – but they are the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star of fiddlin' around here. I'd get creamed for suggesting them to my team…sadly, since June Apple is a favorite of mine. Right now we're thinking about Staten Island Hornpipe – does Dave know that one? I'm also trying to learn a Kentucky tune called Redbird…I have it on a JP Fraley album. Eeeee, this is so much fun!!!!
Oh, sorry! I didn't realize they were so basic. Dave did say, “I have no idea what level they are at,” and I answered incorrectly because of your humble words! So, I will ask him again. I'm sure once he hears the two titles you mention he'll know others to shout out that are more along those lines. Didn't mean to sell you short!!
Not at all! I do like those tunes, and as Dave will tell you, tunes grow in all sorts of directions in different regions. The starter-tunes in the midwest may have become more complex out east, and vice versa. We learn a lot of southern Indiana tunes around here because some of the more influential teachers at the local school are Lotus Dickey disciples…and one is an ethnomusicologist who studied him. I have a dream that when Doodlebug and Little Shmoo are bigger, I'll start travelling to festivals and learn a lot more. :)
Maybe when they're bigger, your band will be bigger, too! A little banjo mandolin, banjo uke, or 1/2 size fiddle will do the trick! LOL!