On June 23 I packed up my trusty violin
and a two week supply of clothes to catch a flight from Boston
to Seattle. From the airport I boarded the "Fiddle Express"
bus with other musicians who had arrived from the far corners
of North America and overseas. Ahead of us was a two hour ride
to Port Townsend, a small town situated on a beautiful peninsula
on Puget Sound. Our common interest was literally the best fiddling
event in the entire world for 1996, the "Festival of American
Fiddle Tunes." Arriving at the site, we registered for dormitory
rooms at historic Fort Worden, the site of the Centrum Foundation,
an organization which sponsors a variety of cultural events throughout
the year.
Despite the word "American," in the title of this particular
event, there was a distinguished faculty of over 100 of the best
fiddlers of almost every imaginable tradition including Irish,
Scottish, French Canadian, Cape Breton, Romanian, Mexican, Greek,
Klesmer, Jazz, American Indian, bluegrass, and many varieties
of U.S. traditional dance fiddling. The official faculty list
changed from one week to another, but many staff members from
the first week stayed over through the second for a chance to
jam and expand their own musical boundaries. I took the option
of a two week stint although the majority of students attended
for either a full first or second week.
Being an eclectic full time fiddler, tune collector, and teacher
myself, I found a niche with classes in styles of fiddling relatively
unknown in New Hampshire including Romanian, Klesmer, and American
Indian. In the celtic area I attended concerts and workshops led
by Martin Hayes and Alasdair Fraser, highly respected master players
in their respective Irish and Scottish traditions. Music classes
and tutorial sessions filled the days, while dancing and music
jam sessions continued through much of the dark hours. Students
of fiddle, banjo, guitar, piano and other instruments at all skill
levels were present. This resulted in wonderful late night jam
sessions and opportunities to apply classroom learning with folks
of like ability.
Most fiddle music of any ethnic tradition is connected with dancing,
and I found a healthy balance of dancing and playing to fit my
musical and physical needs. During the evenings scheduled dances
ran simultaneously in 3 dance areas. Offerings included western
and New England style contras, squares, Mexican, cajun, zydeco,
traditional swing and jitterbug, and many other forms of couple
dancing. I managed to squeeze several hours of dancing in per
day. Any musician who attended this extended music party certainly
found their musical skills noticably improved by the end. My expenses
for two weeks, including classes and transportation costs, worked
out to be approximately $1500. I highly recommend the Fiddle Tunes
experience. For more information contact: Centrum, PO Box 1158,
Port Townsend, WA 98368-0958