Home - Fiddle Hell

Many new instructors & all new sessions in April! Schedule & registration are available now, with early bird discounts.

Already signed up for April? On laptop/desktop, go to fiddlehellonline.org. On iPad or phone download the Whova app first, then search for Fiddle Hell Online.

Thanks to Joni Lohr for all our wonderful Fiddle Hell photography!

FIddle Hell Online

To keep us safe, we reimagined Fiddle Hell as an online festival and music camp last November. It was an exciting new way for our music community to reconnect during the pandemic. 35 concerts, 35 jams and 165 workshops were all live, with video replays for the next 3 months. Although we missed seeing our musical friends face-to-face, and jamming with them in the hallways, we had front-row seats for every virtual session, and were joined by new attendees and instructors from around the world!

We had such a good time that our second Fiddle Hell Online will take place April 15-18, 2021! 35 live concerts, 35 live jam sessions, and 200 live workshops (almost all new!), for fiddle, mandolin, cello, guitar, old-time banjo, and singing. Other instruments and listeners are welcome, too.

Video replays of all workshops, jams, and concerts will again be available for 3 months afterwards for attendees to enjoy. You can slow down the videos to half speed (without changing the pitch) for jams and workshops.

Fiddle Hell instructors -- experienced & supportive teachers, and wonderful & inspiring players -- will cover Bluegrass, Blues, Cajun, Cape Breton, East European, Electric, Québécois, Gypsy Jazz, Irish, Jazz, Klezmer, Latin, Mexican, New Acoustic, New England, Old-Time Southern, Scandinavian, Scottish, Swing, Texas, and Western Swing styles. Historical and technical workshops are also on the program -- "Songs from Black History," "Indigenous Fiddlers and Influences," "The Underground Railroad,""Efficient Practice Strategies," "Slay the Pain Dragon," "Looping Essentials," "Taking Your Music Online," "Electric Violin - How to Get There," "Five Ways to Learn a Fiddle Tune So You Never Forget It," and many more. As usual, workshops and jams are designed for Beginners, Low Intermediates, High Intermediates, or Advanced players, although you can attend any sessions you like. Attending FHO is not only an amazing experience, it’s a way for you to support and connect with these wonderful instructors and performers.

With 270 sessions + 100 different instructors + 3 months of video replays, Fiddle Hell Online is of great value to players and listeners alike. Previous attendees have said that their broad opportunities for learning (tunes, styles, instruments, techniques), gains in musical inspiration, and renewed connections with the community were priceless! As in the past, discounts are available for seniors and young musicians, and there are further discounts and giveaways for early bird signups. Scholarships based on financial need are available.

On behalf of Fiddle Hell and my family, we hope you are doing ok, staying healthy, and coping with the difficult changes to everyday life. We had a great time jamming, learning, and having fun with you in November! And we hope you'll join us in April for fun and friendship, and for awesome learning and listening!

Warmly,
Dave Reiner

Welcome Statement

Fiddle Hell strives to be an actively inclusive and welcoming place for people of all racial groups, ethnicities, abilities, gender identities and/or expressions, sexual orientations, incomes, religions, and other identities. We value and embrace all forms of diversity among our staff and participants. In August 2020, we identified a number of areas where Fiddle Hell could improve with respect to racial justice, and we took taking steps to put these ideas into action. We were excited to offer workshops (in November 2020 and continuing in 2021 and beyond) that provide opportunities to learn about the contributions and roles of people of color in the origins and evolution of the instruments, tunes, and styles we play. Please click here to read about these steps in our full Statement about Fiddle Hell and Racial Justice.

Details for April 15-18, 2021

Click the links on the left or use the menus suggested on the right

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS - or click on menu Online and choose Q&A for FH Online

SCHEDULE - or click on menu Schedule [Click here for old Nov 2020 Schedule]
INSTRUCTORS & PERFORMERS - or click on menu Staff [Click here for old Nov 2020 Staff]
REGISTER or DONATE - or click on menu Register = the orange button
HOW TO - or click on menu Info and choose How To
T-SHIRTS - Order by March 1, receive by FHO - great design by Autumn Rose Lester

VIRTUAL EXHIBITORS - See the exhibits! More details in Whova.

There's lots of other helpful info under menu Info.

And you can go to the Fiddle Hell Facebook page, Instagram channel, YouTube channel (with jam videos), and Twitter account by clicking on the icons on the top or bottom of this page.

Fiddle Hell History

The Fiddle Hell Massachusetts Festival has been a yearly gathering of fiddlers, cellists, mandolin/guitar/old-time banjo players, and singers to meet, jam, learn, listen, and have fun. It's both friendly and diverse, crossing all ages and including many traditional musical styles. This is our 16th annual Festival, and the first to be online. Typically, there are about 10% beginners, 25% low intermediates, 35% high intermediates, and 30% advanced players, with many workshop and jam session choices at each level. Roughly 15% of the attendees are kids, and in the past we've had some sessions just for them.

The invention of the late, great fiddler Dale Hopkins from Missouri, "Fiddle Hell" events have occurred in fun locations worldwide. Prior Fiddle Hells have been held in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany. Dale used the term "Fiddle Hell" to refer to the unique sound of many fiddlers playing a tune together. While Dale's two Fiddle Hell gatherings involved performances for the public as well as some informal sharing of tunes and techniques, Dave Reiner extended the concept to make the Fiddle Hell Massachusetts Festival more of a hands-on festival for all ages, with hundreds of scheduled workshops and jam sessions led by a wonderful group of experienced and supportive instructors, as well as many amazing concerts. The Fiddle Hell Massachusetts Festival and Fiddle Hell Online are now run by the Fiddle Hell Massachusetts LLC.

In 2019, we had 800+ musicians at the fifteenth Fiddle Hell Massachusetts, held at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center in Westford, MA. Participants came from as far away as Scotland, Germany, Canada, California, Alabama, Michigan, Texas and Florida, and from as near as Westford, MA, itself. They played and learned in many styles - New England, Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, Southern Old-TIme, Bluegrass, French Canadian, Jazz, Swing, Scandinavian, Klezmer, Blues, Electric, World, and more. Many tunes were taught, along with the stylistic details of the different traditions. In-depth workshops on techniques covered jamming, learning by ear, backing up singers, music theory, bowing patterns, improvisation, looping, and much more. Informal hallway jams in 9 "jam spots" were active through most of the day and night. For attendees, instructors, and staff, 2019 was a Fiddle Hell to remember! And so was our first Fiddle Hell Online in November, 2020...

Common Tunes

To help with jams, to give players some common repertoire, and to encourage all to try out new styles, we introduced the "original" set of 52 common tunes in 2010, and added the "new" set of 52 more tunes in 2016. The New 52 were chosen based on your suggestions from the prior 4 years of FH surveys. Some of these 104 common tunes will be taught in workshops in November, and will likely show up in jams. These tunes are all listed here. We just call them the "Common Tune List" or "CTL" these days, without distinguishing which of the two lists tunes come from.

You can order an instructional 2-CD set of the 52 original Fiddle Hell common tunes, played both up-to-speed and slowly by the Reiner Family Band. Volume 1 is only $15 postpaid (within the US) in our online Store.

In 2017, the Reiner Family Band (and several talented friends) recorded a 2-CD set of the 52 new common tunes, played fast and slow. Volume 2 is also only $15 postpaid (within the US) in our online Store.

Order 52 Tunes CD

More Information

Fiddle Hell Online and the Fiddle Hell Massachusetts Festival are run by the Fiddle Hell Massachusetts LLC. Our events are loosely sponsored online by the Fiddle and Alternative Strings Forum and the Fiddle Hangout. At these websites, you'll find discussions, event listings, and other resources; you can join for free and read about past and future Fiddle Hell meetings.

Our usual sponsors, D'Addario and CodaBow, will not be doing giveaways in April. You can read more about them in the Exhibitor Gallery once you're registered.

We're working closely with Maine Fiddle Camp, Ashokan Camps, Northeast Heritage Music Camp, Creative Strings Workshop, Strings Without Boundaries, and Rustic Roots Camp on cross-promotion and best practices for online teaching.

Thanks to Jenna Moynihan, Fiddle Hell Instructor, for the photo!