Here we are well into spring and headed quickly toward summer.  Winter is often a season of dryness; spring and summer are more humid.  If your fiddle doesn't sound or play as well of late, keep in mind that wood absorbs moisture, causing swelling and making the sound post tighter.  If that's the case, your luthier can make the necessary adjustments.  While at it, the luthier can also inspect your instrument for any new cracks which might have opened up during the dry winter months.  Of course, if you're a budding luthier, you can do that all yourself, though sometimes it can be helpful to have a neutral ear to help you.   It might not be a bad time to change over to a fresh batch of strings.  On that note, after nearly three months of playing on the Corelli Alliance (see previous blog), my opinion has shifted not one bit, so to compensate for my dislike of this string on this fiddle, I play with a heavy bridge mute.  But, 'nuff said 'bout that.

More than anything, opening up the windows in your own playing might be the best piece of advice I can give this season.  Make up your own tune, your own lick, something that is authentically you.  Take one thing from your day, anything, and blend it with an emotion or an image and see what comes through your own playing.  If nothing else, have fun and forget the rest. 
 
Strings 02/21/2010
 
It's been a good while since my last blog entry.  Sad to say, but I have so little to report, except that I've changed strings.  For years I've been using D'Addario Helicore medium gauge.  In hopes of uncovering miraculous improvement in the sound quality of my wife's fiddle (which is also the main fiddle I play) I decided to try another type of strings, so about four weeks ago I put on a set of Corelli Alliance strings.  They were double the price of the Helicore, and I have to say, they are awful for this particular violin.  Their response time is poor and the overall sound quality of the instrument -- already subpar -- is now below subpar, especially in third position.  In defense of Corelli, I have heard that many players love this particular string, and, therefore, I am choosing not to badmouth the string but rather, this string in relation to my wife's fiddle.  On another instrument, my opinion might be radically different.  So, in about six months, which will be the soonest I can justify changing strings, I will return to the Helicore.  Only this time I'll jump to the heavy gauge.

The bigger point to my whine is this: you just don't know how a string is going to respond on your instrument.  All the reviews in the world are great, but until you put the strings on and find out how they play and sound after a few weeks, it's impossible to sufficiently predict.
 
Rosin up the Bow 09/19/2009
 
Rosin plays an important role in helping the bow hair catch the string.  However, too much rosin is just as detrimental as not enough rosin.  Over time, and through trial and error, you will begin to feel how much rosin works best for your needs.

On a different note, I'm pleased to announce that my webcam lessons are up and running.  I've had to debug my computer and clean up some files, etc., and now things seem to be running relatively smoothly with skype.  Email me if you're interested.
 
Webcam Lessons 08/27/2009
 
Over the next couple of weeks I hope to be ready to settle down and get back to teaching fiddle.  With our mobile society and high speed this and that, it seems worth venturing into the world of webcam lessons.  How often have you wanted to learn something only to realize it is not within convenient driving distance, if not out of reach altogether?  Thus my trial with webcam fiddle lessons.  For more details, email me at mtnfiddle@yahoo.com
 
 
We have finally rented a place in Charlotte, NC--a comfortable 1920's era bungalow in a tiny hamlet of old Mecklenburg County surrounded by the industrial and suburbia sprawl of north Charlotte.  There's still a fair bit of unpacking to do before we can say we are officially settled in, but...

Queen City is growing by leaps and bounds, with developments sprouting up directly next to historical landmarks that predate the American Revolutionary War--old cotton plantations mingle with NASCAR and ghosts of centuries past dodge traffic; we are trying to find our footing here as the new and the old cross paths like bow hairs on strings.

Speaking of which, yes I have begun to practice again.  After a lengthy break from the fiddle (you can read my previous post), the fiddle and I have reacquainted.  As usual, we spat and finger point, and sometimes the words are not pretty nor polite!  I am practicing mostly with the metronome, varying the speeds from the low 90's up to about 152 or so.  Of course, I start blowing apart at around 144 beats per minute.  That is, with left-hand-heavy American fiddle tunes and Bluegrass material where the pace is pretty well crankin' even in the low 130's.  'Course, if one is playing a sparse noting hand, those tempos may be mild.  No matter the level or ability, playing with a click track is very helpful--for years I refused to even own a metronome and I suffered heartily when forced to listen to the unrelenting click-click in my headphones while trying to lay down a track in studio.  Change the tempo often, mix it up, split the beats, whatever, just keep working at it, and before long you'll be keeping a beat as steady as an old plow horse.  Meanwhile, I'll be somewhere off in the brambles and poison ivy trying to find my fiddling again. 
 
 
We've been on the road for about seven weeks; as I write this we are frantically searching for a suitable place to live in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Suffice it to say, we are feeling discouraged and depressed by the cost of living change from rural Kansas to Charlotte where a pretty dismal rental in Queen City costs considerably more than a nice rental in the lands of prairie where Dorothy and Toto once roamed. 

On a more positive note, what I can say is that over the course of the summer I have touched the fiddle once.  One time!  Whoa, you say!  Yes, I reply.  Taking time off from most anything can be a good thing.  It gives one the chance to recharge the battery and mend nagging over-use injuries that are easily (conveniently) overlooked otherwise.  Sometimes, other parts of life demand our full attention and rather than fighting against that fact, it is wise to give fiddling a break.  That all being said--and saying it is way too easy--I know it will take me about four or five weeks of consistent practice to bring back the chops.  Maybe even longer.  But the time away will have been worth it.

Of course, I'd much rather practice fiddle than slog through pages of FOR RENT in the local paper!
 
Why do I teach? 05/19/2009
 

Why do I teach?  No matter the subject, whether it is cross-country skiing (an old passion), Chinese Medicine or bodywork (ongoing passions), writing (a dream lacking complete talent) or fiddle (admittedly, a relationship fraught with love and hate), I tend to pour my heart and soul into teaching.  I will confess to feeling less than inspired when I am asked to teach a less than enthusiastic student.  My job (from my perspective at least) as teacher  is not to motivate a player.  Every player is challenged and tested to generate that part of it on their own, and frankly, if a student doesn't have the motivation I'm not a good choice as teacher.  That being said, I will work with the indifferent student because sometimes it takes time and experience before the student catches the spirit of the music and the fiddle.  The real heart of fiddle playing comes from deep within; from your heart and my heart.  I encourage individuality because fiddling is individual, and the tradition is based in expressing one's emotions (what is in one's soul).  So there you have it, my simple answer...sort of.

 
 

Web fiddle lessons!  After deliberating for a couple years, I've decided to finally provide live webcam lessons.  Currently, I have a number of students in Kansas who have dedicated themselves to learning to play the fiddle, and rather than just moving away and saying farewell, we will continue with the lessons following a summer break.  All it takes is high speed internet, a webcam (which is already built into many computers), and the free service called Skype.  The students and I will still meet every week, only now the student can relax at home rather than worrying about driving, traffic congestion, or foul weather.  This means a savings on commute time, gas expense, and wear-n-tear on the car.  I can't say online lessons are any environmentally greener than driving because they both consume energy in one form or another, but that's another topic.

So, in September 2009, the webcam lessons will commence.  If you're in another state and can't find a good fiddle teacher, email me and we'll go from there.  Of course, I'll still offer lessons out of my home in Charlotte, North Carolina for the local students.

Look forward to hearing from you.

 
Bow-LOG 04/23/2009
 

We're moving from Newton, Kansas to Charlotte, North Carolina.  In the last three years we will have lived in Colorado, Texas, Kansas, and North Carolina.  We will miss out on Winfield this fall and will miss our many friends who go every year.  However, I hope to fly back to Lawrence for Late Night in the Phog at legendary Allen Field House.  No disrespect to the Tar Heels but Rock Chalk Jayhawk!