The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes

Spend the week of June 29 - July 6, 2008 living, learning, and jamming with masters of North American fiddling traditions. The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes is a week-long, total-immersion workshop presenting many regional styles of fiddle music. The program’s particularly wide spectrum includes workshop classes, band lab classes, tutorials, dances, concerts, open jams, parties, and informal and spontaneous gatherings.

Quick Links

• Workshop Description
• Artistic Director Dirk Powell
• Artist/Faculty
• Workshop Schedule
• Scholarship Info
• Register for this workshop

The emphasis at the workshop is on learning music by the oral tradition. Mornings feature classes with each of the workshop faculty. Afternoons include band labs, where participant bands are formed to play music in the style of each faculty person, as well as tutorial sessions (for many instruments) aimed at beginning/intermediate players.

Evenings feature intimate, unamplified showcase concerts, a participants’ concert, night-long jamming, spontaneous parties, and two simultaneous social dances on wooden floors, all night long.

The heart of the gathering is the faculty, the finest bearers of fiddle traditions. Their knowledge, stories, musicianship, and direct link to a musical tradition are part of what makes this week such a special celebration. The Fiddle Tunes festival is unique in creating a setting in which participants may immerse themselves in many traditional fiddle styles.