Our Next Group Lesson...

will be on Tuesday, March 29th from 4-5 p.m. We will be working on our new fiddle music as well as those signs and terms that make music full of expression. We will have Soldier's Joy ready to play together, and review the Devil's Dream in the key of D.

Last Group Lesson we played a game called password. We had to give a one-word clue for our team so they could guess the word we had. The words were: andante, adagio, lento, allegro, presto, allegretto, forte, piano, pizzacatto, etc. Guess what? No one knew what those words meant, at least very few. We will be reviewing these terms this month so bone up. We want a winner!

Remember, one more performance this Sunday, March 13th at Ashlie's church. We are the Fantastic Fiddlers!

FANTASTIC performances!

Our group of ten performed at two church meetings last Sunday and did a Fantastic job. We have a new arrangement of two primary songs that turned out very well. We will do it again this Sunday for another church meeting. Good work, everyone!

Melissa was a soloist at the Bingham High School Concerto Night and did a Fantastic job. She played the 1st Movement of the Concerto for Violin in G Major by Haydn and was accompanied by the Bingham Symphony Orchestra. Congratulations to everyone for inspiring performances.

The Woodshed

Have you ever heard the expression, "Go Woodshed this piece of music"?

wood·shed (wo̵od′s̸hed′)
noun, a shed for storing firewood. To lock oneself away with a musical instrument and practice, either a particular piece or in general, until the player has improved greatly or can perfectly play the piece he has been practicing.

To practice a musical instrument. The woodshed is where you go to sharpen your axe.

Woodsheddin; is a popular term with musicians. Some people think that people in the house got tired of hearing the musical practice, so the practicer was sent to the woodshed which was a ways from the house so they didn't have to be heard by everyone else. Other people think the woodshed was a place of punishment, where one was taken for a lickin'.

We need to do a little more woodsheddin'! We have many "almosters". We need to practice with focus until we have greatly improved our ability. Work it out! Polish it up! Go to the woodshed and work until it is perfected!

Halloween Scarols!

All of our music can turn from happy to scary and today it did in honor of Halloween. Everyone won prizes for beautiful ghost tones, creepy spider crawls up the bow, the spider walk on the violin, watching the pendulum move back and forth (with our elbow and fingers), and we even stirred the witches brew! Playing "hide the spider" was great fun, giving clues if you were close or far by playing forte or piano. The only time it couldn't be found was when it was in teacher's hair!

October Group Lesson

Get ready for the spiders! October Group Lesson is coming up and we need to be prepared. Practice your spider crawls up the bow, spider walk with the left hand, the pendulam (swinging left elbow), Stir the witches brew, Ghost position, Harmonics (spook tones), Bell Tones (sympathetic ghosts), Spook songs (Book one songs in a minor key), and review Witches Dance. See you there. Ha ha ha ha ha

Fiddle Program

In spite of the rainy weather, our fiddle program was well attended. We put up a few canopies, huddled together and played. Too bad the August weather was not as beautiful as the September weather. We played some new numbers we had learned over the summer which were enjoyed by our audience. One of our favorites was the Swallow Tail Jig. Tyrus learned a new instrument this year, the mandolin. He played a break on the mandolin in Red River Valley.

We were fortunate to have Clifford Washburn and Stacie Bailey accompany us on the guitars. Awesome!

Every group lesson we will review some of our fiddle songs so we don't forget them! We never know when we will be called upon to perform them.

Welcome Summer!

In spite of all the vacations, missed lessons, illnesses, girls camps, family reunions and school projects, WE WILL HAVE OUR ANNUAL SUMMER FIDDLE PROGRAM the end of August. We are working on four new fiddle numbers this summer for our program. These are Ragtime Annie, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Wake Up Suzie Reel, and Swallow Tail Jig. We are really enjoying learning these songs. We will play some of our old favorites as well. So reserve August 30th for our Fiddle Program.