The Handmade Music School presents an Old Time Fiddle Fundamentals Workshop with Andrew Small on Saturday, April 25, 2020 from 6:00-7:00pm. The workshop will be presented online via Crowdcast. The cost is $15.

This workshop will be beneficial to beginning and intermediate old time fiddlers as well as anyone who wishes to gain a foundational understanding of the functional, technical, and stylistic considerations inherent to old time fiddling in a dance music setting. We will break down a tune from the standard repertoire of Southwest Virginia and use the tune as a case study to identify basic rhythmic figures and corresponding bowing patterns. Participants can expect to gain a basic understanding of rhythmic old time bowing and learn a tune or two from the common regional repertoire.

Born and raised in eastern North Carolina, Andrew Small is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who has performed with artists ranging from Sierra Hull and Mandolin Orange to the North Carolina Symphony. He now resides in Floyd, VA where he serves as Coordinator of the Handmade Music School and also tours with the group Bill and the Belles. Singing and performing on mandolin and fiddle with his wife Ashlee Watkins as the New Macedon Rangers, Andrew is a regular performer for Friday Night Jamborees at the Floyd Country Store. Andrew has won numerous blue ribbons from fiddlers’ conventions around the Southeast for his old-time fiddling and in 2015 was named the Bluegrass Mandolin Champion of Australia. He holds a master’s degree in music performance from Yale University.

Old Time Fiddle Fundamentals with Andrew Small