For Historical Purposes! - Artists and Instructors at RMFC 2001

Séamus Connolly, Irish Fiddle - Seamus is one of the world's most respected master Irish musicians. A native of Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland, he now resides in Groton, Massachusetts. Séamus won the Irish National Fiddle Championship 10 times, a feat unequalled by any other musician. He was also the winner of the internationally acclaimed "Fiddler of Dooney" Competition. Séamus has had the honor of representing Ireland on three "Masters of the Folk Violin" tours organized by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. He has performed at most major festivals in the United States, including the National Folk Festival, Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, Wolf Trap Irish Folk Festival and American Roots Fourth of July Celebration at the Washington Monument. He also performed on the "Folk Masters" radio series, which was broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio. As a performer, teacher and lecturer, he has traveled to places as far afield as Australia, Spain, France, England, Canada, Alaska, and Ireland.  Visit Séamus' Website.

Bruce Molsky, Appalachian Old Time Fiddle - One of the most influential old-time fiddlers around, Bruce is also a remarkable guitarist, banjoist and singer. His high-spirited music melds the archaic mountain sounds of Appalachia, the power of blues and the rhythmic intricacies of traditional African music. The Washington Post says Bruce's music "set[s] into motion melodies that radiate enormous spirit and momentum," and Sing Out! says his fiddling "combines precision and abandon so perfectly that it raises the hairs on the back of your neck."  Bruce is a highly sought-after fiddle and banjo teacher, teaches his own intensive fiddle workshop program all over the United States, and has taught at many camps and festivals. Visit Bruce's Website.

Buddy MacMaster, Cape Breton Fiddle -  is the acknowledged dean of the Cape Breton violin. His travels as teacher, musician, and good will ambassador have brought him to Boston, Detroit, Toronto, West Berlin, Scotland, Northern England and across the United States. He has performed his rousing Cape Breton music on the BBC, and has traveled to Scotland with the Cape Breton Symphony in 1982, 1984 and 1988. Buddy is an excellent performer and teacher and continues to give workshops in such places at the Gaelic College in Sleat, the Isle of Skye, Scotland, the Augusta Heritage Festival in West Virginia, and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Washington. Visit Buddy's Website.

Catriona Macdonald, Shetland Islands - Coming to RMFC directly from her native land, Catriona is a proud bearer of one of the world's great fiddle traditions, that of the Shetland Isles.  Inspired by the raw passion of the old players, she has grown into a powerful and innovative musician herself. From the raunchy vigour of Shetland dance tunes to the slow lilting grace of airs, hers is a smooth lyrical style, infused with warmth, virtuosity, spontaneity and life A star pupil of the late Dr. Tom Anderson MBE, Catriona at once embodies the strength and spirit of her heritage and the freshness and diversity of a thoroughly modern performer. Her superb playing and great charisma have established her a worldwide reputation. Visit Catriona's Website.

David Greenberg, Cape Breton Fiddle - Over the past decade, David has gained the reputation in Cape Breton music circles as being one of the few people from outside the Nova Scotia island to have achieved a fluent command of the Cape Breton idiom.  He has been lauded as both "the best baroque violin soloist in Canada, if not North America" (Stephen Pedersen, Halifax Mail-Star) and "one of the most impassioned folk-fiddlers you'll ever hear" (James Manishen, Winnipeg Free Press). This dual musical identity is not a newly acquired habit; in fact, David was a crossover musician from a very early age. During his schooling in classical violin playing (beginning at age 4), he also picked up traditional fiddling by ear from recordings.  Visit David's Website.

Alan Jabbour, Appalachian Old Time Fiddle – Alan has a long career as a musician, scholar, and preservationist of the traditional fiddle tunes of America. A violinist since age 7, he apprenticed under the authentic old time players of North Carolina and Virginia. In August 1976 he became the founding director of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, continuing in that position for 23 years. In celebration of his retirement, he has resumed playing the fiddle more actively and is making appearances and engagements as a musician and fiddle teacher.

Laurie Riley, Harp – Known for her ability to make a harp sound like a whole new instrument, Laurie can make it speak, make it laugh and cry. A professional musician since the age of ten, Laurie has toured throughout the US, in Canada, and in Ireland. She has recorded eleven albums of harp music, authored five books, and made five instructional videos. She also judges harp competitions and teaches for harp organizations in the US and abroad.  Visit Laurie's Website.

Ed Miller, Scottish Songster -  Ed is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, and now lives in Austin, Texas. He continues his singing, with regular gigs in Austin and tours throughout North America, taking his songs and stories everywhere from coffee houses and folk clubs to festivals and Highland Games. Ed's repertoire is representative of the breadth of the Scottish folk revival, including ageless ballads and the songs of Robert Burns, as well as more recent songs which are entering the folk repertoire and keeping it fresh. From children's street songs to songs of nationalism, emigration and urban life, a performance by Ed Miller gives the audience an education (in the most entertaining way) in the constants and changes of Scottish life. Ed's voice soars as distinctive, smooth and satisfying as a good malt whisky. As the folk music critic for The Scotsman newspaper wrote, "we couldn't ask for a more tasteful and accomplished ambassador of Scots song". Visit Ed's Website.

Abby Newton, Cello - Abby Newton is an unusually versatile cellist who is active in both the folk and classical music scenes. Over the past two decades, her association with Scottish musicians Jean Redpath and Alasdair Fraser has taken her on tours throughout Scotland and the US with special appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. For seven summers she has been the instructor of Scottish cello at Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School in California. Her teaching stresses the use of the cello both as a melodic and rhythmic instrument.   Visit Abby's Website.

Grey Larsen, Flute - Famous for his talent as a performer and teacher, Grey is also a composer and recording artist. He has taught at numerous camps and workshops around the country, including Lark in the Morning and Swannanoa. Grey has been music editor for Sing Out! magazine for many years.  Visit Grey's Website

Paddy League, Bodhran, Mandolin – A drummer, percussionist, and multi-instrumentalist known for his versatility, Paddy is renowned as one of the finest bodhran players performing today. An enthusiastic instructor, Paddy is on staff at the Swannanoa, Zoukfest, and the Central Virginia School for Irish Traditional Music and Arts. Paddy has performed and recorded with numerous artists and performs in a duo with fellow RMFC instructor Grey Larsen.  Visit Paddy's Website

Ken Perlman, Banjo, Guitar – Ken is both a pioneer of the banjo style known as "melodic clawhammer," and a master of finger style guitar. He draws his material from traditional sources -- the music of Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and the American South. He has written some of the most widely respected banjo and guitar instruction books of modern times, and he has been on staff at prestigious teaching festivals around the world. He has toured much of the world and made several recordings. Visit Ken's Website

Loretta Thompson, Fiddle & Gaelic Singing - A genuine and enthusiastic artist, Loretta's spontaneous nature charms audiences at home and abroad. She has been featured at festivals, music camps, and in concerts with many notable Celtic performers including the Tannahill Weavers, Cherish the Ladies, Natalie MacMaster, Alex Beaton, Alasdair Fraser, Jerry Holland, Donnie Macdonald, James Kelly, Ed Miller, Seamus Kennedy, and others. Loretta is a talented Scottish Gaelic singer and fiddler who has traveled and played extensively in Scotland and Ireland. Loretta arranges, directs, and composes music for all forms of Scottish and Irish dancing, and is a sought after educational performance artist. Currently finishing a degree in music education and conducting, Loretta is also a music teacher, performer, and recording artist.

Larry Edelman, Dance Caller, Mandolin – Larry Edelman has traveled widely in the United States and around the world delighting both novice and veteran dancers with his humor, enthusiasm, skillful teaching, knowledge of dance history, and colorful calling. Larry has played guitar and mandolin in several bands and currently plays fiddle in Colorado-based Poultry in Motion. Larry is the author of Square Dance Caller's Workshop, an acclaimed text on the art of calling square dances. Larry has called dances and has taught workshops throughout the U.S.

Harvey Beaton, Cape Breton Step Dancer - Harvey was raised in Port Hastings on the island of Cape Breton in northeastern Nova Scotia. He began step-dancing at age 14 and soon found himself dancing in the summer Scottish concert circuit in Cape Breton and various parts of the Maritimes. Besides being an accomplished dancer, Harvey is also in great demand as a step-dance instructor and has performed and taught in many parts of Canada, the US, and Europe. In the states, he has held workshops in many places including Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon School of Scottish Fiddling; Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington; the National Folk Festival; and at the Washington Irish Festival. Overseas, Harvey has danced in Ireland at the University College Cork and for Irish Television in Dublin. He is a regular instructor at Sabhal Mor Ostaig Gaelic College in Skye, Scotland and has toured Scotland with Cape Breton fiddler, Sandy MacIntyre.  Although he is primarily known as a dancer, Harvey Beaton is also an accomplished piano accompanist who has played with a variety of Cape Breton fiddlers. He teaches dancing on a part-time basis and lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Beverly Smith, Caller, Guitar - Beverly first heard the old-time sound of the Carter Family and the New Lost City Ramblers while in her early teens, and has been devoted to learning and playing it ever since. An accomplished guitar player, fiddler and caller, she is best known for her long association as a member of the traditional/pop hybrid The Heartbeats Rhythm Quartet. With that group, Beverly's great songs and strong playing have taken her all around Europe and the U.S., playing live television and radio shows such as Mountain Stage, Voice of America, E-Town, and A Prairie Home Companion, and opening for Mary Chapin Carpenter and Ten Thousand Maniacs. She has taught at music camps and has performed at most major folk festivals across the U.S. and Canada. Beverly Smith and Bruce Molsky, along with Rafe Stefanini, performed for years in the old-time string band Big Hoedown.

Bobbi Shearn Nikles, Beginning Fiddle – A sought after fiddle teacher for students of all ages, Bobbi has a warm teaching style, creative approach and infectious love for the fiddle. She is a versatile musician with a special interest in Appalachian and Celtic fiddle styles. She is founder and director of Fiddlekids®, a summer day camp for young fiddlers.

Mark Fedderson, Bass & Fiddle - Mark Feddersen plays acoustic string bass for dances, concerts, and school events, in old-time, bluegrass, jazz, bebop, swing, and the blues.  He is also accomplished on the fiddle, banjo, and guitar, in various traditional modes including old-time, Scandinavian, and Irish.  Mark has recorded with Barachois, Bob Lucas, Easy Street String Band and Indiana song master Lotus Dickey, and has performed with Grey Larsen, Carrie Newcomer, and other luminaries of the traditional music scene. He performs every year in the Lotus World Music Festival, and at dance/music camps such as Brasstown, Pinewoods, Augusta Heritage Week, as well as the RFMC.  At RMFC, Mark plans to work with the Big Fiddles (basses, and any cello players who want to think "bass"). Naturally, we'll cover the "Bass-ics:" * Hand Position - * Intonation -  * Roots and Fifths - * Walking the Line - * Backup and Push  - * Moving the Melody.  Mark will accompany the class himself on fiddle so there will be plenty of time to practice what we preach.  Musician Alert: If you see Mark coming your way, he's probably about to ask you to play at the dance that night.  So just say yes and everything will be fine! 

Jennifer Oberg Sordyl, Beginning Fiddle - Jennifer was literally "raised in the music business" along with her 8 brothers and sisters in the family music store in the Midwest. These days you'll find her enthusiastically teaching fiddle and beginning violin at three rural charter schools in Southern Arizona. She especially loves teaching the Montessori preschoolers and their parents, in the arts community of Tubac, where she sponsors regular jam sessions and as well as playing professionally with an "eclectic-traditional" string band at a local Bistro.