The blog aims to benefit beginning and intermediate fiddlers- whether you are learning irish, old time, bluegrass, scottish, or cape breton music- by providing tips and techniques for how to progress on the fiddle, with or without the aid of a teacher.

There will be regular installments (as regular as they can be with a fiddler who is touring China this year!) posted weekly. Whenever possible, I will include a PDF of the text.

*We will start with an overview of practicing, what it means to practice, and some general ways to approach practicing.
*Seeing, Hearing, Feeling- the most important tools for good practice.

It will also include:
*Some of the foundations of classical violin playing and practice techniques as a vehicle to better understand basic fiddle playing
*How to practice effectively and productively
*How to build technique in the fingering hand and arm and the bowing hand and arm
*Tips on bowing
*How to approach various aspects of fiddle playing (ornamentation, improvisation, variation)
*How to approach and understand music theory through your instrument and how it applies to the music you choose to play
*How to learn by ear
*How to learn to read music effectively and quickly as a complement to your ability to learn by ear