Watch this space for spring 2026 workshop — and summer Seattle Fiddle Camp!
April 27, 2025:
Old Time Afternoon
- Sunday April 27, 1pm-3:45
- At Maple Leaf Lutheran Church, 10005 32nd Ave NE, Seattle 98125
Help yourself to the charms of old-time music in a single afternoon!
Join Fiddlesticks founder Shulamit Kleinerman, old-time multi-instrumentalist Kate Lichtenstein, and dance caller Amy Carroll for the pleasures of old-time fiddle and dance! Come ready to join in on the Learn-Ahead Tune. You'll learn another tune during the afternoon in your level's class. Advanced students will be invited to learn more tunes in advance and be in the band for the dance at the end of the afternoon! Register soon: The learn-ahead materials go out a month in advance.
Old-time workshop, Nov 2022
July 14-18, 2025: Seattle Fiddle Camp
- Mon-Fri, 9:30-3:30
- At Maple Leaf Lutheran Church, 10005 32nd Ave NE, Seattle 98125
This summer, dive deep into old-time and Scottish & Irish fiddle!
Start with our Learn-Ahead Tune materials for a couple of tunes so that you arrive already an insider and ready to play together! Then enjoy a week of daily tune-learning classes by level plus sessions with accompaniment by our instructors on guitar, mandolin, and fiddle chords. Besides just playing tunes, you'll learn some cultural history from each tradition, enjoy casual sean-nós dance, learn how to play for dances, and maybe even how to accompany.
Scottish fiddle session, Nov 2024
Who can participate?
- Fiddlers & violinists ages 8-15 (see below for level info)
- Teens 16-18 with traditional music experience may attend free & a la carte
- Other instruments? Sometimes! See below…
- Seattle Fiddlesticks is youth-optimized: Our playing opportunities are for kids, teens, and faculty (and our dances are open to young people with their parents)
Teens 16-18 who are skilled trad players on fiddle or another instrument can attend free and a la carte for Old Time Afternoon and for any portion of Seattle Fiddle Camp. Please register in advance.
The main multi-level programs are for violin/fiddle students age 8-15, late beginner and up.
- Minimum participation level: Participants must be able to play comfortably within the one-octave A, D, and C major scales. The ability to play fluently and participate with others typically depends on a minimum of one to three years of lessons and corresponds with late Suzuki Book 1 or early Book 2 and up. Music reading is not required since we'll learn by ear (but the learn-ahead tune materials are available with notation).
- More advanced students will enjoy the challenge of new sounds and styles, more tunes, and more complicated material including active melodies, ornamentation, and lots of harmonic possibilities and music theory learning.
- Suzuki correspondence: early book 2 to book 7-8 or higher.
- Can students participate on other instruments? Maybe! It depends on your comfort and ability to get what you need when there may not be a teacher demonstrating on your same instrument, so generally you'll want to have some prior experience of traditional music and to be playing at a higher level on your instrument than the violinists' minimum. Please contact us and one of the instructors will be happy to discuss!