Public performances at Fiddle Tunes, and other Centrum events each summer, give concertgoers a chance to sample regional musical styles and traditions.
Learn a fiddle tune at Centrum By Fred Obee of the Leader
Each July 4 week for the past several years, I have found myself at Centrum’s Fiddle Tunes, one of the
Get creative Centrum is a gathering place dedicated to preserving and revitalizing cultural traditions, taking creative risks and generating new practices, ideas and conversations. Based at Fort Worden State Park, Centrum serves people of all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds seeking personal growth and transformation through integrated creative, learning and retreat experiences. For year-round workshop and performance information, visit centrum.org or call 800733-3608 or 360-385-3102, ext. 110.
major programs offered each summer at Fort Worden by Port Townsend’s premier arts organization. There also are programs for jazz, blues, writing and chamber music, which all get rave reviews, but from my observation, Fiddle Tunes draws the biggest and most diverse crowd of participants. Plus, it’s always around the July 4 weekend, which adds some holiday zest. If you think all fiddle music sounds the same, you haven’t listened closely. West Virginia has that haunting, “downin-the-holler” sound. Listen to fiddlers from Missouri, and you feel the pulse of Mississippi River commerce, of busy towns and humid days. Fiddlers from the cooler climes of New England play in a jauntier style that is familiar
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to contra dance devotees. A little farther north, the French of Quebec bring their own wild style, reflecting traditional French country tunes from a New World perspective. Down south in Louisiana, a different French tradition of waltzes and infectious two-step dances, anchored by an ever-present accordion, evolved in Cajun country. The public is welcome to get a taste of these regional styles at public concerts, but if you have ever wanted to play along with traditional acoustic music of any kind, the chances of finding a niche at Fiddle Tunes are high, whether you are a beginner or whether you have been at it for many years. The principal instruments for the week are fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, various
accordions and concertinas and basses. But every year, players of other instruments join the mix. Cellos, clarinets, spoons, washboards, kazoos, ukuleles, drums – the list is pretty much unending. If you show up wanting to make a joyous noise, you will find a welcoming place. There is a schedule to give the event a form: workshops with the faculty in the morning, and band labs in the afternoon. Faculty members give private concerts for participants in the evening, and dances and jams go on until the wee hours. But the thing I find most exciting about Fiddle Tunes is the way participants shape their own experience. If you have recently become enamored with Brazilian music, for example, the chances are pretty good you can find a dozen others who also have embarked on that path. While there is always a strong contingent playing the old-time music repertoire, in past years dozens of students have clotted up in little groups playing tangos, or Mexican tunes, or western swing, or klezmer or even Django-style hot jazz from the ’30s. Unlike most of the other offerings at Centrum, Fiddle Tunes is also a family affair. There are lots of activities for players of all ages and skill levels, from toddler beginners on up. It’s pretty much family fun from start to finish. So get busy on the pennywhistle or string up your old guitar, and learn a fiddle tune. There’s no telling where that might lead.