Falling in Love with the Fiddle
by James C. Boyce
Available from
Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble
Book Description
This book relates how James C. Boyce fell in love with the fiddle, learned to play it, and began to teach others to play it. Mr. Boyce is an instrument maker and repairman who gives his personal advice on the purchase and care of a fiddle, and includes his observations on the mystique of the instrument.
"Falling in Love With the Fiddle" is designed for people who never learned to read music, and also for those who do read music but want to get "off the page" and play music by ear.
This book contains an aural learning program for the beginning fiddler, teaching how to hold the fiddle and bow, and to play the sounds that you hear. The AudioTab CD will help you learn how to tune the fiddle, and how to play three simple tunes on it. Ultimately, the book and CD will help you learn to play the "sounds" of the fiddle.
Book Reviews
Michael A. DiSpezio, Science Author and Educator
"...Jim shares the technique, history, and art of old-time
fiddle playing."
Bill Black, Irish Music Band and Session Leader
"Jim has brought the understanding and appreciation of the
fiddle to so many people..."
Fred Klein, Santa Barbara News-Press
"...Charles Cann's instructional illustrations are
first rate. Important source information is also included."
About
the Author
James C. Boyce is a luthier who has been building and repairing instruments
since 1965.
He started playing guitar at age 11, and played guitar and mandolin in various bands since he was a teenager. He fell in love with "fiddle music" in 1976, and took up playing the fiddle at the age of 35.
He started teaching beginning fiddling two years later, eventually developing his method into a course at the local night school. He added a second fiddle course, inviting "local masters" to teach fiddle songs to more advanced students.
He was a founder of the Woods Hole Folk Music Society in 1972. From 1996 to 1999 he produced "Fiddlin’ in Falmouth", a live musical variety local TV show featuring local musicians from the Falmouth Area. In 1998, he started the Falmouth Fiddlers Association, and the Cape Cod Fiddle Contests.
He lives and works in North Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Drawings by Charles Cann
Edited by Laura Higgins
Audio Tablature and CD Recording by Linda Dougherty
Music Notation by Marilyn Rowland
Cover Art by Sean Boyce
Graphics by Tom Mignone
Photograph of Falmouth Fiddlers by Charles Richardson
Typing by Ursula Boyce
72 Pages, Size 8.5 x 11", 34 Illustrations, $19.95