Vi Wickam has provided us with a new lesson on DulcimerCrossing.com for the Fiddle Series. He and Steve play the tune at the Swingfingers studio above while recording for their duo, Fiddle Whamdiddle’s debut CD Old School Old-Time
Cold Frosty Morning is a wonderful old tune in a minor mode. Take a look at Vi’s Demonstration here.
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We are excited to announce that we have a new Fiddle Lesson posted on DulcimerCrossing.com. The 8th of January is a tune that was written to celebrate and commemorate Andrew Jackson’s victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.
This tune appears on Steve & Vi’s Fiddle Whamdiddle recording Not My Monkey. (The mountain dulcimer lesson is on the production list for recording.)
In the 1936 Jimmy Driftwood was teaching high school in the Ozark mountains of his home state of Arkansas and he wrote lyrics and set them to this tune in order to interest his students in learning history. The Battle of New Orleans won the 1960 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Jimmy Driftwood’s commercial success helped to bring resources to the northeast corner of the state of Arkansas and established the Ozark Folk Center with its Ozark Opry Stage in Mountain View, AR. (Steve has performed on that stage and taught for several festivals there.)
Watch Vi’s introduction above and subscribe to DulcimerCrossing.com to have access to all of the episodes in this lesson set.
The Arkansas Traveler is one of Vi’s favorite old-time tunes, and crosses several different genres from old-timey Ozark style to Texas style, and even to bluegrass.
The version in this lesson is on the beginner level. This is also a tune that was featured on Fiddle Whamdiddle’s Not My Monkey recording.
Vi Wickam has created a new Fiddle Lesson for the Scottish tune Miss McLeod’s Reel. that he and I like to play in our duo Fiddle Whamdiddle. I have already created a mountain dulcimer lesson in the Galax style for this tune on DulcimerCrossing here.
You can also watch a couple of versions of this tune below:
Steve & Vi playing a hammered dulcimer and fiddle duet at the former Caffe Olé in Fort Collins, Colorado: (under the title “Have You Ever Gone to Meeting, Uncle Joe?” filmed for Vi’s Fiddle-Tune-A-Day project in 2012.)
And Steve playing Galax style with Vi and another DulcimerCrossing teacher, Don Pedi, at a house concert at Steve’s former home in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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We are pleased to share a new Fiddle Lesson by Vi Wickam from mytalentforge.com.
This is a tune that he and I play on our Old-School Old Time recording because it is one of the first tunes that we both learned in a traditional style.
This lesson set features the Single or Common Shuffle bowing technique and a demonstration of what happens when a “singing song” gets transformed into a fiddle tune.
Enjoy this sample lesson and subscribe to have access to this and all of the lessons from our skilled and respected instructors!
DulcimerCrossing is pleased to introduce our newest instructor: Vi Wickam (Learn more about Vi on the Teacher’s Page or click on the video below:
Vi Wickam is a 3rd generation fiddler from Colorado. He has finished in the finals at the Grand Master Fiddling Championship and has also taught there. Together with Steve Eulberg, he is the other half of the band, Fiddle Whamdiddle. He is also the host and owner of mytalentforge.com which features in-depth fiddle lessons, guitar (and some dulcimer lessons by Steve.) Click HERE to see Vi’s introductory video.
Vi is starting off by teaching several of the fiddle tunes that were recorded on the Old School Old-Times albumn by Fiddle Whamdiddle.
Are you saying, “I know what a fiddle is but what is a whamdiddle?” The whamdiddle is a slang name for the hammered dulcimer; “hog fiddle” is a slang name for the mountain dulcimer, both are traditional American folk instruments. Together with the fiddle they make for a porch-picking, knee-slapping good time.