About

Our Mission

Founded in 2006, Northwest Scottish Fiddlers was founded by renown fiddler, Calum MacKinnon.

Our mission is two-fold: To learn all styles of Scottish music, and to share this music.
We support learning and sharing this music by offering:
  • scholarships to Scottish fiddle workshops,
  • free memberships with access to our music library, and
  • open monthly music sessions.
We meet in Seattle, Ballard, Mukilteo and Edmonds, and surrounding areas- mostly in homes, but occasionally other great hangouts. We are committed to accepting and supporting musicians of all ages from diverse ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds.

What We Do

Monthly Club Meetings: We mostly jam with fellow fiddlers! Sessions are for everyone and you’ll be encouraged to offer up a set, or a tune. For meeting locations, check the calendar, note the list of meetings to the side of the calendar. Click on that day, and meeting location will be available there! We have wonderful guest instructors visit us some months, other months, we’ll review and jam.

Most music is played at a moderate to slightly fast pace. We warm up with  jigs, airs, and marches earlier in the session. You might also hear some old sets or tunes from our library throughout the session. The last portion of the session is usually faster, and whatever anyone “serves up” so to speak.

Workshops: The club previously sponsored and organized the annual Scottish Fiddle weekend workshop with Alasdair Fraser (fiddle) and Natalie Haas (cello) at (formerly at Camp Casey, Whidbey Island) now at Warm Beach Conference Center, held on Martin Luther King weekend in January.  Starting the summer of 2024, we will offer scholarships to qualified members attending various workshops focusing on the Scottish tradition.  Details soon to be released.

Join Us!

Northwest Scottish Fiddlers welcomes players of all ages of acoustic string instruments including:

  • Violin & Viola
  • Cello & String Bass
  • Guitar & Mandolin
  • Piano
  • Recorder
  • Concertina, and…. sky is the limit!

You don’t need any prior background with Scottish music or practice learning by ear. Everyone has access to sheet music (through the website) so you can learn the music your way.

Interested? Come to our next meeting to see for yourself!

 

Check our calendar >