Clik here to view.
Panache endorses Bartlett Microphones
Panache Quartet has just reached an endorsement agreement with Bruce Bartett at Bartlett Audio in Weaverville NC. Now all four fiddlers – Donna Hébert, Jane Rothfield, Andrea Beaton and Véronique...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson #3: Rhythm bowing patterns for jigs and reels
How we divide and subdivide rhythms is the real mystery in fiddling. Jean Carignan, the great Québecois fiddle master, was asked by another fiddler how long it would take to play like him. Raising his...
View ArticleGuest blog: Andrew VanNorstrand: Fiddle Tunes and Three-Dimensional Truth
Andrew VanNorstrand (right, with brother Noah at left) describes perfectly the mental and emotional process of fiddling. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I asked to share his observations,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson #4: Learning the art of the groove (syllabus for Smith College 3/13/14)
FREE WORKSHOP AT SMITH COLLEGE – Bring your instrument! Download handouts below. I was 23 the summer I fell into fiddling. Four contradances was enough to do it. I started sitting on the stage. Next...
View ArticleLesson #5: Welcome to my living room
Do any of you suffer from stage fright? Get panicked about playing in front of other people (including your teacher)? That used to happen to me all the time. I would hear my voice shake when I sang. In...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson #6 – Louis Beaudoin tunes
Two reels from Louis Beaudoin are shared here. Both were taught at the Festival Memoires et Racines in 2014. The first is “Reel in D #1” from La Famille Beaudoin (Philo 2022) and the second is a true...
View ArticleLesson #7: Naming the band
You’ve just decided to create a performing group with your friends. This time you mean it. No more fooling around with weekend bands. You’ve got some money saved and you’re going for the gold. You and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Intro to Fiddling Demystified Vol. I.
I am editing the intro to my 2006 Fiddling Demystified for Strings and thought the musings on learning to fiddle were blog-worthy. Some of the material covered in the book is also in the numbered...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesson #8 – November Wind – a waltz by Jane Rothfield
This tune is the new sample page for Fiddling Demystified for Strings It’s also for the fall 2014 Wailing Banshees at Smith, especially for the cellists and violists! November Wind was written by my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Music is our birthright – pass it on!
Peggy and Her Range Riders – 1938. My mom Peggy is on the left, her sister, Theresa, on the right Music is a gift we receive from our parents and give to our children. That’s if we’re lucky. I was. My...
View ArticleLesson #2: Jiggety-jig to the dance
Dance your way to lightness! If you want to learn to play jigs, it helps to learn to dance first. Fiddle music is dance music, and even if you don’t dance often, knowing how makes you a better...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter 2017 Newsletter
Max Cohen, Jane Yolen, Donna Hébert, Lui Collins, Molly Hebert-Wilson (Paul Shoul photo). The Infinite Dark show highlighting Jane Yolen’s poetry was such fun that we’re recording a CD of the show...
View ArticleLa marche des femmes / The March of the Women
On Saturday January 21, The Women’s March proved to be the biggest world-wide protest in recorded history. Almost five million people, including an estimated 1 in 100 women in the the U.S. and their...
View Article