Revolutions can sweep away what came before them in swift and surprising ways, and we see that in the manner that music education has changed in the digital and internet age. New companies appear on a regular basis that take advantage of technological innovations that can bring the most qualified instructors right into your home, who will play a difficult piece over and over for you without a complaint.
Fiddlevideo.com is just such an outfit, focusing exclusively on teaching tunes and techniques for players of traditional fiddle music. They embrace the breadth of musical styles that have emerged from the Celtic heritage, including Irish and Scottish fiddling, Canadian, Cape Breton, old time, and bluegrass music.
Four instructors have created lessons that cover basic and style-specific techniques, plus more than 100 tunes taught in great detail. They use the membership model whereby all of the content on the site is available for viewing online to subscribers for as little as $35/month. All videos on the site can be played back at different speeds to make critical study of hand positions easier, with split screen presentation showing the left and right hands in close up detail.
Instructors include master Irish fiddler Kevin Burke, US National Scottish fiddle champ Hanneke Cassel, US bluegrass/old time fiddler Casey Willis, and Canadian Métis/Québecois fiddler Patti Kusturok.
Even non-subscribers can view the performance videos for each tune, but the beginner and advanced tutorial videos, audio practice tracks, and sheet music are restricted to members. But they do offer a three-day free trial membership without all the bells and whistles to give potential subscribers a chance to test drive the site before commiting.
Tunes can be selected by style, by instructor, by difficulty, or by tune form. Fiddlevideo.com also hosts an active discussion forum where members can ask each other questions or simply engage in online fiddle chat.
More details can be found by reading the FAQ online.
