Fun Fiddle Childrens page

Children's fiddle tuition is offered at all levels from absolute beginner upwards. The focus is on child centred learning, with each child developing and learning at a pace that is appropriate to them. A strong priority at Fun Fiddle is to teach good technique as well as enjoyment of the instrument and pleasure at playing together in a social setting. Alongside learning to read music, Increasing musical knowledge and skills, Emphasis, is placed on learning tunes by ear. The repertoire is mainly traditional ( Scottish/English/Irish ) but we don't believe in being constrained by one genre or another and will make full use of great tunes wherever we find them!

One thing for parents to bear in mind: Learning to play the fiddle or violin ( same instrument, but traditional musicians call it a fiddle!), Is one of the most challenging instruments that you could possibly learn. Although we make it as fun and enjoyable as we can, there is no getting away from the hard work involved. Supporting your child as much as possible really helps. Have a chat with the tutor about ways you can do this.

January 2010 New structure for Fun Fiddle children's classes:

Up until now Fun Fiddle children have learnt together in a group and it has been a good launch pad for starting out on the challenging road of learning the fiddle. We have been amazed at what progress has been made, and very proud of all the events the chidren have taken part in.

However, as the children have moved on, differing paces in learning are becoming more apparent, So we think that they would now benefit more from a combination of one -to- one lessons as well as a once a month group class. This means they can learn at their own individual pace and we can  help them each with their technique and reading skills whilst keeping common repertoire and the opportunity to play together at the heart of the project. We think that this combination will bring together the best of both worlds.

One to one tuition will be on a Saturday morning and a new slot of Thursday afternoon is also available. Each child will be offered a half hour individual lesson every other week  as well as meeting as agroup once a month. This way, each child will have six one to one lessons and three group sessions in an average term. If anyone finds that a lesson every other week is too far appart, then extra lessons are on offer if time allows!

The group session will be held on the last Saturday afternoon of each month from              2-3pm.( First session in Portobello library). It will be structured but informal and we will focus on playing together as a group and adding harmonies and arrangements.

We welcome mums, dads and siblings to attend - feel free to make use of the newly refurbished library with a cafe and all!

New children are welcome to join Fun Fiddle at any time, as long as a one to one slot is available. Please contact Jenny Gardener 018750 320 869 any time to find out availability.

We welcome any comments or feedback on this new structure.