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| Old Time Fiddlers’ Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Old Time Fiddlers’ Association |
| Formation | 20th century |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Leader title | President |
Old Time Fiddlers’ Association
The Old Time Fiddlers’ Association is an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional fiddle music and associated dance forms. Founded amid regional traditions, it has maintained ties to communities, festivals, and archival projects that involve performers, instrument makers, and folklorists. The association's activities intersect with festivals, radio programs, museums, and educational institutions that focus on vernacular music.
The association traces roots to early 20th‑century gatherings comparable to Cumberland Gap contests, Kentucky fiddle traditions, and community celebrations like the Appalachian fiddling salons. Its formative years were influenced by performers who appeared on Grand Ole Opry, National Folk Festival, and Smithsonian Folklife Festival stages, and by collectors associated with Alan Lomax, John Lomax, and institutions such as the Library of Congress. During the mid‑20th century folk revival the association expanded as networks formed with entities like Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, and regional historical societies in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. Conferences and adjudications sometimes involved figures from Folkways Records, Rounder Records, and program directors from NPR and BBC Radio.
The governing structure typically mirrors nonprofit models found at Smithsonian Institution affiliate groups and involves elected officers, committees, and local chapters similar to organizations like Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention-style groups and state arts councils. Membership has included amateur and professional fiddlers, luthiers associated with makers comparable to C. F. Martin & Company, archivists from Vanderbilt University, and folklorists connected with Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Partnerships often link to festivals organized by municipalities such as Berea, Kentucky and cultural organizations like American Folklore Society.
The association runs contests and showcases modeled on events found at Galax Old Fiddlers' Convention, Fiddlers' Grove, and the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Music Festival. Competitions typically feature age divisions similar to those at National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest and include categories for solo, duet, and band performance. Events are hosted at county fairs, civic centers, and venues affiliated with State Fair circuits and sometimes broadcast through stations like WAMU or streamed via platforms used by PBS affiliates. Special adjudicators have included performers and judges associated with Doc Watson, Norman Blake, Ralph Stanley, and other noted traditional artists.
Educational outreach mirrors programming at institutions such as Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum education initiatives and university extension programs at University of Kentucky and East Tennessee State University. Workshops cover bowing technique, tune repertoire, and dance accompaniment, often taught by instructors linked to Blue Ridge Institute & Museum, Flatt & Scruggs-era musicians, and veteran educators who have worked with the National Endowment for the Arts. Youth programs collaborate with afterschool arts programs and summer institutes similar to those run by Walden School alumni and regional conservatories.
The association has overseen field recording projects and print collections akin to releases on Smithsonian Folkways and Rounder Records, and has published tunebooks, newsletters, and manuals comparable to those from Mel Bay Publications. Archival work references cataloging practices at the Library of Congress Folklife Center and article contributions to journals such as Journal of American Folklore and periodicals linked to Living Traditions. Compilations have preserved repertoire associated with historic sources like Fiddlin' John Carson and regional manuscripts housed in university special collections.
Prominent participants and prize winners include performers whose careers intersected with figures like Tommy Jarrell, Gid Tanner, Vassar Clements, Jean Ritchie, and Eck Robertson, as well as regional champions from North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Winners have later appeared at venues and festivals including MerleFest, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and stages connected to Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Luthiers and teachers associated with the association have maintained ties to craft traditions represented by makers linked to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and historic bow makers documented in museum collections.
The association's influence extends into the shaping of regional repertoire, the mentoring of successive generations of fiddlers, and contributions to archival and ethnomusicological study at institutions such as Smithsonian Institution and university folklore programs. Its legacy is evident in cross‑disciplinary collaborations with dancers from contra and square dance communities tied to New England Folk Festival Association, and in recordings that informed revivalist trends alongside releases by Pete Seeger, Doc Watson, and others. Through contests, workshops, and publications the association has played a persistent role in sustaining traditional performance practices and in fostering networks between community musicians and formal cultural institutions.
Category:Music organizations