Suzy Thompson

I focus on southern oldtime Appalachian music, Louisiana Cajun fiddling, oldtime blues fiddle and early bluegrass. Most of my students are intermediate or advanced players, but I also enjoy teaching beginners who have been bitten big-time by the fiddle bug! Lessons are tailored to each individual student's learning style and musical interests. I teach by ear, making use of extensive source material from my collection: field recordings, reissues of '78's, out-of-print LPs, etc. Students bring a recording device to the lessons since I don't use printed music. We work on technique (holding the fiddle, use of the bow, intonation) in addition to learning repertoire. When learning a traditional fiddle style, I believe that the best way to start is to mimic the source as exactly as possible (within the limits of the players abilities of course!), in order to preserve the wonderful quirks and flavors of the music. This is an important step on the road to creating a player's own individual style of fiddling.