Cedric Watson, Bijou Creole, and us!

After just barely getting started for the school year, we were invited by Kate Vivian and the Friends of The Towers in Narragansett, RI to a concert by Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole. Cedric is a Creole musician who has been traveling the world playing fiddle, accordion and singing with his band. I first met him when he was 17 and a scholarship student at the Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia, where I was teaching Cajun fiddle-from-scratch. It was a treat to be able to connect with him with our students.

Kate welcomed us with pizza and we were fortunate to have a beautiful view of the sunset over the bay, from the balcony on the Towers. 

That's Cedric, on the right!

The concert/dance was fabulous. We had a great time dancing, and even got to play our fiddles on stage with Cedric and Desiree.  Cedric invited us to come back and play next time he's in town. Pauline, and Cochon were the tunes that students requested to come home and learn. What a great way to start of the year!!

-Michelle Kaminsky, Fiddler-in-Residence

The start of our 5th year!

It's registration day for the 5th year at the Fiddle Project! All of our students from last year are returning, and excited for the new things that they will be learning about music this year.
 
Here are a few quotes and wishes for this coming semester:

"I can't wait. FIDDLE is Great! and so are the teachers. (wants to learn "Battle of Waterloo".

"new songs; technique, and vibrato"

"would like to learn some Christmas songs like "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful"

"Jingle Bells, Felice Navidad"

"Joshua Fought the Battle" 

"higher notes"

"Pachelbel's  Canon"

"reading music"

Meveline couldn't wait to get her fiddle out, and remember her tunes from last year!

The Ash Grove...with harmonies!

Three RI Fiddle Project fiddlers playing together on The Ash Grove - a lovely waltz - at our June 6th, 2013 Fiddling Celebration.

Thursday, June 6th: Year-End Fiddling Celebration

RI Fiddle Project's Year-End Fiddling Celebration

When: Thursday, 6/6/13 @ 6 PM

Where: Woodlawn CDC, 210 West Ave, Pawtucket, RI

What you might hear:

Klezmer violinist Abigale Reisman came to visit the Fiddle Project earlier this month, and now we have a new tune in our repertoire!  

Plus, we've been improvising off of the rhythms and melodic elements from fiddle tunes: Sail Away Ladies and Joshua Fought the Battle of Jerico.

A defining tune of our year, Chase Me Charlie (learned from April Verch back in September) may make an appearance again.

Plus, some new and old favorites as requested by the student performers, themselves.
You'll definitely hear this year's take on what has become almost like a theme song to us: Quoi Faire, seen here!

Please join us!

Magnolia Dance: April 6, 2013 - perfect attendance!

Check it out, here we are: the 3rd year in a row we've taken a trip to perform at a Magnolia Cajun Dance in Pawtucket's German Hall.  Students and their families also danced up a storm, and many took a turn as guest Triangle-players on stage with the band (and that's not easy stuff!).

In other awesome news, we were at 100% student attendance for this special event!

Playing at Magnolia's Cajun Dance this Saturday

Right in between the dance lesson and 7:30 PM and the dance at 8 PM, RI Fiddle Project students perform once again at Magnolia's Cajun Dance this Saturday, April 6th  This will be our 3rd year visiting the German Club -- a beautiful setting to play in, and a great band to dance to afterwards!
It's a great night to come dancing and hear a couple tunes from us, too.

 German Club, 78 Carter Ave, Pawtucket, RI.  For more info and directions, go here.
             

Dancing with the best

The fabulous Nils Fredland led our afternoon of dancing at Woodlawn CDC.  The band had double-fiddles, guitar and bass, and we started the dance afternoon out with an impromptu jam session between student fiddlers and the dance band.  It was great to have families join in from the immediate neighborhood as well as from all different parts of the greater Providence area.  

Our next event is a pre-dance fiddling performance at Magnolia's Saturday, April 6th Cajun Dance at the German Hall: 78 Carter Ave, Pawtucket, RI.  7:30pm.

Banjo time

First, it was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, then again due to the big snow storm -- but finally, we had our Banjo Night at RI Fiddle Project!

And our guest didn't just bring banjos.  The highlight of the night was his own creation: a fiddle made out of a wooden box and a hockey stick!  Everyone got to try playing it.  Wondering what a box fiddle sounds like?  Check it out:

Catching up: Fiddling Celebration!

Here are some great moments from January's Mid-Year Fiddling Celebration.  Thanks to photographer Jeremiah Whiteside for capturing this!

The fun one

And something slightly more serious

Youth Arts @ Pawtucket's Wintertime Farmer's Market

It was that time of year again: Youth Arts Night at Pawtucket's Wintertime Farmer's Market at Hope Artiste Village.  3 of our students performed (2 are pictured here) last Wednesday night, and we were even lucky enough to join forces for a few tunes with Blue Around the Edges who were also playing at   that night's farmer's market!

update + Thursday's Fiddling Celebration!

 

We're getting there on the A part of this tune, just 7 notes/donations left to complete here!  Here's what update #3 looks like.

And hope you can join us for our mid-year Fiddling Celebration on Thursday, January 17th.  
From 5-6 PM, students will be performing their favorite tunes that they've been working on this year.  We'll also get to share group tune that we learned first from fiddler-extraordinaire April Verch back in September.  There will be food after the performances, so please stop by and join us.

http://www.facebook.com/events/487607984623189/?context=create

Woodlawn CDC, 210 West Ave, Pawtucket
5 PM, Thursday, January 17th