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 Fiddle contests are just plain fun! The audience gets to hear great music all day and until the moon shines high in the sky. Contestants enjoy playing their tunes after working on them for months and sometimes years.
It is a challenge for fiddlers to play three tunes perfectly in less than four minutes. First a hoedown, reel or hornpipe is played. Then the contestant instantly slows down the tempo from breakneck speed to a waltz tempo. The third tune can be any tune other than a hoedown or a waltz. Fiddlers play a rag, swing tune, polka, jig or schottische.
Divisions are determined by age. Most divisions have at least two rounds of three tunes each round. Some divisions like the Grand Champion may have three round which is nine tunes — three hoedowns, three waltzes and three tunes of choice. That, my friend, is a lot of tunes!
Some popular tunes:
 It’s a sight to see an 85 year old fiddler play their three tunes in the morning and by early afternoon the 6 year old fiddlers will be standing on stage. Music in fiddle contests unites the generations. It really doesn’t matter if you are a rocket scientist or a junior high student, playing music gives you a reason to come together.
A contest gives fiddlers an opportunity to be on stage and trust me not everyone loves being on stage. Standing on stage playing, for some, is a tough yet rewarding challenge. Other rewards are prize money and trophies to the top three in each division.
 If you get tired of hearing fiddlers on stage you can walk to the cafeteria or outside and find people listening to others play or pick up your instrument and join in a jam session. It is a good idea to find out the ground rules for a jam session. Some groups like to call out a song and then each person in the jam plays the lead while others back them up and then the next person in the circle takes the lead until the song has been passed around the circle. Other jams play all of the song as a group without anyone playing solo.
Trading tunes or a lick (a way to play a portion of a tune) is sharing. That is how fiddle tunes were brought to the United States from Scotland and Ireland. Many of the tunes were first shared on ships crossing the ocean, then the tunes traveled to the great Smokey Mountains and the Appalachians began to change it just a bit to make their own sound. Other players took the tunes to Nova Scotia to the Cape Breton Islands. Still others crossed the Rocky Mountains heading west with a fiddle in a sack in their wagon or tied to their saddle.
 Music is a way of telling stories. "Granny Does Your Dog Bite" is a fiddle tune the young soldiers under 12 years old of the Fife and Drum Corp in the Revolutionary War played as the boys went into battle. The tune is a Scottish march.
Scottish or Irish tunes can be changed to a Texas style fiddling or Bluegrass and sound completely different like Lord McDonald’s Reel, written in 1792 is also known as Leather Britches.
Fiddle music spans the generations and every player has his or her own style and nuance to the music. One player might add a slide while another might do a vibrato. The variety of playing styles is what makes the music fun. See General Fiddle Contest Rules.
ACCOUSTIC INSTRUMENT DIVISION
 Any player of any age with a stringed instrument is welcome to play in the Acoustic Instrument Division. Bass, dobro, banjo, guitar, tenor guitar and ukelele can join the division. A contestant plays one fast tune and one slow tune.
Players might be a 12 year old on a mandolin and a 60 year old on a guitar and then a 70 year old on a banjo. Every stringed instrument is welcome except the fiddlers. After all we wouldn’t want the fiddlers to hog the show.
For more information on judging and scoring in the contest click this link: Acoustic Instrustrument Division Rules.
ENTERTAINMENT SHOWCASE DIVISION
 This division is a place to relax and have fun. Any stringed instrument may be used and any number of accompanists and singers may join together on stage. The total time on stage is five short minutes. Five minutes is plenty of time to Wow the crowd with fun, song and music. See the General Showcase Rules.
The Entertainment Showcase Division is Saturday night around 7 p.m. so don’t miss it!
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Photography by Vlado
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