Greetings, Fiddlers!
I’m arranging a treat for everyone: I’m going to have some Special Guest Fiddle Professors help teach this month, folks whose names you know and whose fiddling we love.
I’ve managed to convince fiddle stars Brittany Haas, Alex Hargreaves and Jenna Moynihan to participate in this Special Expanded Faculty Month as we all Shelter-At-Home.

They have each recorded a Special Guest Lesson, now posted on my Student Page. Yes, I too am studying.

...And then I’ll be soliciting VEs (that means: YOUR lesson videos) where you get to ask one of them to help critique your playing.
These folks are all very kind, have taught many classes & clinics, and know a LOT about the ins and outs of their respective styles. And they all have that incredible “X” factor that makes their playing magically musical. And musically magical.
I’m also excited about being able to divert a bit of cash their way, since all their shows and tours have been cancelled for the foreseeable future! …but you won’t have to spend any extra hard-earned money on this… I’m paying them myself of course.
SO… When you send in your VE, please keep in mind each fiddler’s specialties and choose your tune to work on accordingly!

Alex
Described as “one of the greatest improvising violinists in America today” by virtuoso mandolinist/composer Mike Marshall, Alex Hargreaves is a violinist equally at home playing Jazz, Bluegrass, and everything in between. Based in Brooklyn, NY, Alex has toured with Jerry Douglas, David Grisman, Bela Fleck, Danilo Perez and has performed with many others including Punch Brothers, Sierra Hull, Steve Martin and Kacey Musgraves, appearing on her Saturday Night Live debut. He played for two years in Berklee College’s Global Jazz Institute, led by legendary pianist and artistic director Danilo Perez (Wayne Shorter Quartet), along with countless other jazz legends. During this time, Alex also toured with Perez and recorded on his album, Panama 500.  He was a member of the Grammy award-winning Turtle Island Quartet from 2016–2019, appearing on their 2018 release, Bird’s Eye View, and can often be heard playing in the house band on the public radio variety show, Live From Here with Chris Thile.

Brittany
Brittany Haas began touring with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings at the age of fourteen. At seventeen, she released her debut solo album (produced by Anger). Haas continued to tour and record while simultaneously earning a degree in Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. During her time at Princeton, Brittany was asked to join the seminal “chamber-grass” band Crooked Still, with whom she made four recordings and toured the world.  Haas has always been a much sought-after collaborator and session musician. She has performed on Late Night With David Letterman and Saturday Night Live as part of Steve Martin’s bluegrass band, and features on Martin’s Grammy-winning album “The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo.” Over the years, she has performed with Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Tony Trischka, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Waybacks, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas (her cellist sister), and more.
Now residing in Nashville, TN, Brittany tours and records with her band Hawktail. She also toured extensively and recorded with the Dave Rawlings Machine (featuring Gillian Welch) In the fall of 2016, Haas also began performing as part of the house band for Live From Here.

 Jenna
Virtuoso Scottish fiddler and experimentalist Jenna Moynihan knows that tradition is meant to be a starting point for great inspiration, not a wall.  What makes Jenna so successful is both her masterful technical ability and what Darol calls “the X-factor”: her mysterious ability to release the power of the melody, whether Scottish, Irish, or Appalachian.  Jenna is from upstate New York and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. While studying, she was selected to receive both the Fletcher Bright Award & and The American Roots Music Award - two honors given annually to one outstanding string player. She performs in a duo with Scottish harpist, Mairi Chaimbeul and has performed with The Milk Carton Kids, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards, Darol Anger & The Furies, Old Blind Dogs, Hamish Napier, Bruce Molsky, Phil Cunningham, and as a soloist at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops.