The sound of the fiddle has a special place in my heart. There is a good reason it is used in romantic movies or where they want to convey deep emotion.

I don't even remember how I became interested in the instrument except that I have a good long-time friend musician who plays string instruments and by association, though he doesn't play the fiddle, I got the notion to play the fiddle. Hank is a blue grass musician for the most part, but enjoys many other genre. Some years ago he happened to have an instructional video and "lent" it to me (I still have it), as well as a fiddle he had restored from pieces he inherited from someone else (I did return that to him), When I had more or less learned the notes to a few of the tunes on the tape, I got a second hand fiddle of my own.

The instrument is not easy to master and I don't expect that having started late in life, I will ever be a virtuoso, but playing it is enjoyable and gives me a challenge to continue learning … always something new.

Now, I practice those tunes still, and any new tunes I find, to challenge myself with. One source I just stumbled upon is The Irish Fiddle site where you can look at the music and listen to it as you follow the cursor traveling down the bars, note by note. Also, Hank still remains a resource for new music and encouragement for me. Thanks Hank.

I try to practice every day. I do not read music and know very little about theory, so I learn by ear and by watching someone else's fingering. My youngest classically trained musician son tells me I have to be able to count in order to play with others. The concept is alien to me but I see how this applies to western music.

A good start for sources of folk, bluegrass and related music, instruments, events, information, etc.:

THE MUSIC MOOSE — Great instruction videos you can follow along.
HOMESPUN — Instruments, instructional materials, supplies, etc.
FIDDLER MAGAZINE — News, events, articles.
THE IRISH FIDDLE — Great source for Irish tunes with online music and sound files.

Of course, there are those who came before me and who have mastered the instrument. Some, transcend the limiting borders of style and genre, such as Mark O'Connor and who, not only play the fiddle with great skill, but venture out into middle ground and thus, help bridge gaps in music to make it more universal.

When I visited my son, Aaron, for his third end-of-year recital at Curtis Institute of Music, he introduced me to a locally produced CD by students of the institute who, besides their classical training, are also interested in folk music. They played some well known pieces like Orange Blossom special. With their mastery of the instrument this all-time fiddle classic was almost unrecognizable to me in the way they presented it. Can you imagine all the color and improvisations they put into it? Absolutely amazing. People who push the envelop this way all remind me of YO-YO MA, (who happens to play an oversized fiddle), whom I admire tremendously. Check out his Silk Road Project. We need this kind of evolution in music. Blending, converging, adapting, for other forms to emerge and be born.