Fiddlosophy

Galway Girl

Some visionary FiddleHed out there suggested that I go to Galway and film a video on how to play the melody from Steve Earle’s song, “Galway Girl”. So I did it. I had a great time at this Irish pub in the heart of the city. There were two sessions with a sort of transitional … Continued

Always Be Learning Something

I was jogging in the hills of San Francisco, thinking about things I want to learn (electronic music production, Qigong), things I’m learning now (business skills) and things I’ve been studying for years (fiddling, yoga, meditation). Then I thought, “I always seem to be learning something.“ And so I defined a new life rule: Maybe … Continued

Be Your Own Teacher

A good teacher will help you take your music to the next level. If possible, find someone you like and respect who will teach you the music you want to learn. But perhaps there is absolutely no one around who can teach you. You’re in luck! there’s this thing you might have heard of called … Continued

Be kind to yourself

It’s truly amazing what you are doing. But it’s hard. How can you be kind to yourself today?

Listening Is Practice Too, Two

You may ask: How can I become better at the fiddle? Could I get good enough to play in band? Could I learn to pick up tunes and songs more quickly? How can I do this??!! First, find a way to play every day and everything else will work out. In addition to practicing your … Continued

The key is already broken

One Sunday night, I was playing at a session in the town of Ennis in country Clare, Ireland. It was led by the great Siobhan Peoples; tunes played fast by ripping Clare musicians. I was doing my best to keep up, trying to learn and play out when I knew a tune. It was a … Continued

Listening is practice too

If you’ve watched FiddleHed videos on Youtube or this site, you may have heard me say “Listening is practice too” a few hundred times by now. It may annoy you to hear that over and over. But it’s such an important point, I think it should be put more strongly: 86% of being a musician is … Continued

The Ant and The Grasshopper

In Aesop’s most well-known fable, a grasshopper plays the fiddle in the summer while the ant works to store up food for the future. When winter comes, the grasshopper begs for food and the ant refuses. The original message was “Idleness brings want” which gave the ant the moral high ground. But later interpretations portrayed … Continued

Social Music

Traveling through Ireland I’ve come around to a more primal and pure way of doing music. Making music here is a social activity. This is probably so obvious to people here that they don’t even think about it. Instead of being on a stage in front of an audience, the audience is on the stage, … Continued