~ From Baltimore. Took up the fiddle when I had a family heirloom instrument fixed up. I used to play classic and flamenco guitar. Teaching myself and also taking lessons occasionally at the Baltimore Irish Arts Center (www.baltimoreirisharts.com) from Jim Eagan (www.jimeagan.com) and Donna Long (www.donnalongpiano.com). Been interested in Irish music since I went to Ireland in 2001 and again in 2003 and again in 2006. Ancestors on my mother's side are Kinsellas from Co. Wicklow, who came to the U.S. in 1850. The fiddle came from my father's side, Savannah, Ga. and was made in Germany in the late 1800s.
~ A new fiddle joined the fold recently when a friend of my mother's was looking for a new home for hers. It's probably American 1880s-1920s, maybe a catalog instrument. It has a beautiful mother-of-pearl inlay added later by some talented craftsperson, and there was a rattlesnake rattle in the case. Myth has it that, mostly in Appalachia, musicians dropped rattles in the f-holes to sweeten the sound and keep mice and other varmints outta there...hmmm...
Tunes in suzing's tunebook: 46
| The Silent Glade | June 14th 2006 |
| Tunes | Tune research question? | March 28th 2007 |