Fiddles North

To deliver a long term proven music program in remote indigenous communities. To provide lessons on playing the fiddle understanding music and sharing music together while engaging students in a positive learning environment. Whenever possible these lessons will be delivered in person. Our program is delivered in workshops timed to align with daily class and after school schedules. We work with our students’ schedules to maximize our short time with them - throughout the school day after school and on weekends - offering all interested students as much music as we can while we are there. The Fiddles North teaching team believes that given the opportunity most students can learn to play a musical instrument. Fiddle/violin is especially accessible because it can be played in group settings the assorted instrument sizes allow for a proper fit for younger students and a wide variety of musical styles can be explored. Starting with a proven beginner technique our students are usually learning a tune 'by ear' and performing it with guitar accompaniment during our first one-hour session. This early success encourages the students to return on a regular basis. Beginner students learn both by ear and by the easy-to-understand tablature/tab system. By breaking the tunes down into manageable sections and using repetition we ensure a high percentage of success in the students who attend our classes. We have found that this ear/tab version of early learning has positive results with students in the five basic learning approaches including visual auditory written kinesthetic and multi-modal. We believe that the most important part of our teaching is to meet each student where they are in their individual learning process and to help them grow in a positive learning environment. Our teachers are all classically trained as well as being accomplished folk music teachers and believe that students learning to read music is also an important skill. Once students have found success with learning with ear/tab and have started becoming comfortable with the fiddle/violin techniques note/music reading is introduced. While students are learning to read notes a portion of their class time is still spent playing by ear/tab enabling them to play music they have learned while developing technique and new skills as they progress. Students who learn by these combinations have a wide range of musical options and opportunities available to them.