The Rockin’ Fiddle Challenge is not well known outside the tight circle of violinists who follow violinist Adam DeGraff. These violinists, mostly students, are becoming a lively community online, thanks to DeGraff’s contest on his violin arrangement of Sweet Child O Mine.
Here’s how it came about. Adam DeGraff is half of The Dueling Fiddlers. Two violinists play arrangements of great rock songs in their own unique style. Both are violin virtuosos. (Okay, virtuosi.) They reached the pinnacle of violin performance, and moved on to create something new. They concertize on tour, produce albums, have a rapidly growing following of fans.
Adam made a video of his solo violin performance of Sweet Child O Mine, a song by Guns & Roses. Released on YouTube, (where else?), it got attention and some viralization. Violinists wrote to him asking for the sheet music.
Responding to the requests, Adam created The Rockin’ Fiddle Challenge. He invited violinists to enter the contest. The task is to play the tune and make a video. Adam supplies music notation and tutorial videos to help with learning.
Top prize is a valuable violin. Second prizes are excellent carbon fiber composite bows from Shar Music. Other prizes are gift certificates for violin accessories, also from Shar, who has been the biggest mail order violin supply resource for as long as I can think back to the early days of my professional violin life.
It’s a fine idea, good for the violin world, good for fiddle, for rock violin or fiddle.
Just to play the game and show my support, I’m participating in the contest. I’m not eligible to win even if I turned in the best performance, which I don’t expect to do. There are teenagers who will leave me in the dust with this thing.
I may win distinction as the oldest old guy in the contest. If anyone beats me in that category, I promise not to be offended or have my feelings hurt.
Sunday I uploaded my first effort. It covers the first three eight bar segments. Listening to some of the other entries, I could tell that most were as good as mine, and some clearly better. So, you see how this is helping my humility.
There is one niggling concern that keeps coming back and bothering me. The endeavor is called “Fiddle Challenge.” So far, I don’t see any fiddlers in it, with the exception of this old guy. All the contestants are clearly violin students.
At some point I will release my inner fiddler and make the music a little more fiddlistic, not so rock-outish. I have a future segment in mind for this. It is played by Adam with all separate bows. It could use a little shuffle to loosen it up a bit.
for now, you can witness, in the video below, what I did on the first outing. The only thing I can claim is, I’m having fun with this.
