.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NWT - A fiddle instructor with the Kole Crook Fiddle Association made it a little easier to learn fiddle this month.

Association vice-president Andrea Bettger self-funded and self-published her first music book, First Fiddle: An Instruction Book for Beginner and Aspiring Fiddlers. She began distributing the book last week.

Andrea Bettger demonstrates proper form in this image from her new book, First Fiddle. - photo courtesy of Andrea Bettger

"It's been a labour of love," she said.

The 80-page manual features 38 colour photographs, a pair of audio CDs and dozens of sheets of music ready for novice musicians to practice with.

The songs range from simple melodies like Twinkle, Twinkle and Au Clair de la Lune to longer and more challenging tunes like Amazing Grace and Cotton-Eyed Joe.

The songs are offered in musical notation and fiddle tablature to help students unfamiliar with reading music. Music for guitar accompaniment is also included.

Produced by sound engineer Dana Cross of Hay River, the two CDs offer slow versions of the songs with guitar accompaniment from classical guitarist Tyler Hawkins, also of Hay River, and guitar parts played at regular tempo. New fiddlers can use the discs to listen for proper technique and play along with Hawkins' unaccompanied guitar tracks.

The text includes technical terms, practical information about handling and caring for the instrument and a bit of introductory music theory.

Bettger has taught young fiddlers with the fiddle association for six years. She was based in Hay River as a teacher with Diamond Jeness high school and Princess Alexandra school for five years, during which time she also taught workshops at Hay River Reserve and for other students in the region.

Bettger now lives in Yellowknife, where she works full-time as an instructor for the association and gives private lessons.

In Hay River, she helped revitalize the elementary school music program and re-established the music program in the high school. She worked with the Hay River Elks Club and the schools to buy fiddles for students in the community.

For the last six years, Bettger has taught students around the territory during regular visits to Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, Jean Marie River, Tulita and several other communities along the highway. She is also among the teachers who lead students during the fiddle association's annual summer fiddle camp and January jamboree.

"Fiddle is a really easy instrument to begin playing," Bettger said. "It's also a lot of fun."

Bettger earned her music degree from the University of Toronto, where she went on to teach strings at a junior high school while performing in a variety of string quartets with popular Canadian recording artists such as Jane Sibbery, Wide Mouth Mason and the Rheostatics.

She plays in a band called String Theory with her partner Mike Mitchell on mandolin and Hawkins on guitar. Their fiddle repertoire covers everything from Bob Dylan to Dolly Parton.

Bettger is currently working on her first album with support from the NWT Arts Council. The nine-song CD will mix traditional fiddle music with jazz and hints of classical influences.

"This is a creative year for me," she said.