All Strings Considered
Violin/Fiddle Resources
Artists & Recordings
Steve Schuch: Crossing the Waters, The Shores of Lillisand, Circle of Days, and A Celtic Celebration Vol 1 & 2. Recorded with Schuch's innovative ensemble, The Night Heron Consort, his music blends the passionate energy of Celtic fiddling and Gypsy airs with the disciplined grace of Baroque music. Other recordings include Trees of Life. See also Steve's musical tale from Ireland, The Gift of the Wee Folk. Available from Night Heron Music.

Mark O'Connor: Heroes
Features the incredibly inventive playing of this modern Nashville legend together with 13 of his fiddle heroes. Guests range from Jean-Luc Ponty to Charlie Daniels, Stephan Grappelli, Pinchas Zuckerman, and Indian virtusoso, L. Shankar. This recording is a great introduction to a wide range of fiddling styles, all performed masterfully. Available on Warner Brothers Records.

Andy's Front Hall
PO Box 306, Voorheesville, NY 12186
Carries Fiddlecase Books, recordings, sheet music, and instructional materials.

Homespun Tapes
Box 694, Woodstock, NY 12498.
A great source for instructional books, recordings, video tapes, etc. Artist/instructors include Kevin Burke, Mark O'Connor, Julie Lieberman, and many more. Styles include Celtic, Country, Blues, Improvisational Jazz, and more.

Sing Out!
PO Box 5253, Bethlehem, PA 18015
A quarterly magazine covering the folk/acoustic music scene. While the emphasis is on songs, each issue includes instrumental "Teach-ins" along with printed tunes, feature articles, reviews, upcoming folk festivals, instructional music camps and dance camps, etc. The Bethlehem office is also home to the Resource Center, a gold mine of hard-to-find folk archives.

Strings Magazine
PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979-9938
Covers the classical and fiddle/avant garde strings scene. Includes interviews with performers, reviews of new recordings, instrument makers, and written out music by featured artists.

The Penny Whistle Book
Edited by Robin Williamson.
Similar to above. Tunes tend to be even prettier and more lyrical, easily adapted to violin or any treble cleff instrument. Oak Publications.

Fiddlecase Books
Andy's Front Hall
A series of compact tunebooks that include many of the tunes used at traditional Irish sessions and contra dances throughout New England. Available from Andy's Front Hall (see catalog listing).

Night Heron Music
Sheet music to most of Steve Schuch's recorded pieces (see catalog listing).

Organizations
Country Dance & Song Society of America: CDSSA, 17 New South St., Northhampton, MA 01060. A one stop source for traditional dance, session, and festival information.

A Few Suggestions

Here's an article I wrote, “Notes on the Tunes”.

... Join or start a session group, or sit in on some contra dance sets. Playing with other musicians and learning by ear are time honored ingredients of traditional music. If joining in with an existing group, find out if there are certain times they especially encourage guest players to join them.

... Since a lot of fiddle music and traditional music is based in folk dancing, go to some dances to dance... The more the music is in your body, not just your ear, the deeper your understanding will be.

... If you're taping or performing a tune from another player, ask permission first (and give source credit) of the player from whom it was learned.

If you'd like a performance or workshop in your area, or have updates for this handout (or a tune to share), please call or write me.

Good luck, and Play it by Ear!