Greetings fiddle clubbers. July is already upon us! What a year 2020 has been so far. What was going to be another jam-packed year of gigs, festivals and celebrations for our 25th anniversary as a club has turned out quite differently.
COVID-19 has presented a massive challenge to us as a club. It's robbed us of our famous afternoon tea, and it has made it impossible to come together and make music at our monthly meetings, rehearsals and many of the other things both musical and social that we do as a club.
I'd like to thank the committee - and in particular Roz, Bill, Kirsty and Katy - for their tireless efforts to put together a fun and interesting online program to keep us going in these challenging times. It can never be the same as being together in the flesh, but it's a good second best.
I'd also like to thank so many non-committee members of the club who have stepped up to lead breakout rooms in our monthly meetings, Thursday night tune sharing sessions, Friday night session sessions, and so many other things that we've been doing together online. There are so many of you! Cathy Blake, Jean, Alex and Howard, Marguerite, Rachel B, Dave and Di and so so many more of you. It has been great to be a part of it with you all. This is what the club is about! Sharing our love for the music, and our favourite tunes and handy techniques, to make new friends and great music. If you'd like to be involved in any way - sharing a tune or some techniques, leading some session sets in our monthly meetings or during evening sessions, or anything else - please let us know! Reach out to me (Jack), to Maggie (our amazing newsletter editor), or to Bill Martin or Katy Addis. We'd love to have as many people as possible taking part and having that opportunity to share and contribute.
As we head into another 6 week lockdown, just as things were beginning to look up early last month, the challenges continue. I know that COVID has had a negative impact on the professional and personal lives of many of our members, and I hope that fiddle club can remain a positive outlet for your creativity and a source of fun in difficult times.
There is so much fiddle stuff happening online, both here in Australia and further afar in Scotland, America, Canada, New Zealand and many other places. We're going to continue with our online programming, and we'll be reaching out shortly to ask you for your views on how it's been going, and what you'd like to do next. We'll be starting a round-up of online fiddle workshops/concerts/events that we know about to give you even more options on your free evenings and weekends. We'd love for you to share with us any such events that you know of coming up soon. Again, send an email to me (Jack), Maggie, Bill or Katy - or share it in the MSFC Members Facebook Group - and we'll put it in the weekly(ish) round up.
Thank you all for being part of our great club!
Jack Wilson
Club President
Table of Contents - Coming up in July
- Friday night session - 10 July
- Monthly ZOOM Meeting - 19 July
- Online Subscriptions
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July is turning out to have a bit of an Adelaide theme.
The state borders are closed but the music is still flowing
Coincidentally we have lined up a ZOOM session and a ZOOM workshop from two of our South Australian cousins in July.
- We have a session with Christine Morphett and Peter Franche coming up this week on 10 July (see below for more information and keep an eye on your emails for that ZOOM link)
- The monthly meeting will feature the Internationally renowned Adelaide fiddler and composer Catherine Fraser (see below for more about our Monthy ZOOM meeting)
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| Friday night session - 10 July |
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Pete and I ran a monthly session in Adelaide before covid came along in Adelaide,
I'm running the advanced harp session at Koroit next year, fingers crossed it
will still happen. I also run a Celtic Harp Orchestra with 8 players which will be
performing at Adelaide Fringe next year, and I've attended harp festivals in England, Ireland, Scotland and Brittany, and gave a Breton harp workshop at the World Harp Congress in Sydney. I'm also a committee member and player with the Adelaide
Scottish Fiddle Club.
Pete is a highly accomplished instrumentalist performing on piano accordion, Irish bouzouki, and guitar, He has performed at numerous festivals overseas, including Sidmouth International Folk Festival (UK), Skagen Music Festival (Denmark) and the Brest Maritime Festival (Brittany) to name a few.
We hope to see many of you at the session this Friday!
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| Monthly ZOOM Meeting - 19 July |
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We are excited to have the wonderful Catherine Fraser joining us via ZOOM all the way from Adelaide for our July Monthly meeting.
The meeting commences at the usual 2.00pm and Catherine will join us at 3.00pm
Acclaimed Scots/Australian fiddler Catherine Fraser is a seasoned performer, teacher and recording artist. Her reputation goes before her as a vibrant and passionate exponent of the music of her heritage and she is in demand both in Australia and internationally for concerts and workshops. Based in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, Catherine is available for individual and group tuition when she's not touring, and was the Director of the highly popular Southern Hemisphere International School of Scottish Fiddle, for eleven years.
Save the Date: 19 July
More information and a zoom link to follow in a separate email
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If you're not a member, you can still join in with our online workshops and sessions.
Just purchase one of our new online subscriptions to join ALL our online music sessions and workshops
You'll also get access to our online music resources.
Click here to access our Online sessions
If you haven't been along before, try out your first MSFC online meeting for free! Email secretary@melbournescottishfiddlers.com with your name and request and we'll get back to you.
Meet up for our regular Sunday monthly meetings
- we'll be teaching tunes, breaking out into groups, coming back together for some session playing, and even sharing our afternoon tea online together so there's time to meet and greet all your old friends, and make some new ones
Plus - fortnightly peer-led fiddle sessions on Thursday nights, 7.30pm (Australian time - AEST)
Plus - monthly workshops with Australian and international master fiddlers, many of whom we seldom see in Melbourne - dates to be announced soon
How does the online subscription work?
Meetings will be held via Zoom. Once you have purchased your subscription, we will email you an invitation to become a MSFC Zoom contact. (This is issued manually, so may take up to 24 hours.) Accept the invitation, and you will then receive an email before every meeting, which contains the Zoom meeting link, plus the Meeting ID and Password, for each online event. You then join the meeting using these details, using the Zoom app or Zoom from your browser.
As a minimum requirement you will need a pc/laptop/Mac/Smartphone with microphone/speakers, and an internet connection, to be able to participate. We recommend that you install the Zoom app for the best experience.
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