August Week II Fiddle

Endlessly inspired by bonds of kinship forged through music, Cellist, composer, and teacher
Sammy Wetstein found his love for music traveling between multigenerational folk music camps
and festivals in search of a musical community to call home. His journey led him to pursue a
degree in folk and jazz string performance at Berklee College of Music and become versed in a
variety of styles, performing, recording, and teaching throughout the worlds of classical, jazz,
and traditional Celtic, New England, Bluegrass and Old time fiddle music.
As a multi instrumentalist fluent in playing accordion, guitar, mandolin, bass, violin, and viola, he
has appeared at venues such as the Newport Folk Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass festival, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Berklee College Of Music Convocation, The Library of
Congress, and the annual International Bluegrass Music Association festival. He has served as
faculty at Maine Fiddle Camp, The Swannanoa Gathering, The Ashokan Center, Fiddle Hell,
Pinewoods dance Camps, and the IBMA Kids on Bluegrass Program.
Sammy has appeared alongside artists such as the Grammy winning 8 Bit Big Band, jazz icons
Joe Levano and Kenny Barron, renown string players including Eugene Friesen, Darol Anger,
Mike Marshall and Jason Anick, and toured with trailblazing folk artists Jake Blount and Nic
Gareiss. Advocating for furthering the role of the cello in traditional music, he has been featured
on Bluegrass Today and Sirius XM Bluegrass Junction. In 2024 his new acoustic quartet Catfish
in the Sky was a winner of the Freshgrass band competition, and his Celtic trio was voted one of
the top 5 Celtic bands of 2022 by Irish and Celtic music podcast.
Sammy’s love of music stems from his dream to find belonging and bring others together, and in
his teaching he hopes to encourage string players of all ages and backgrounds to find freedom
in their music, explore global music styles, and play music as a means to exist in community
while better understanding oneself.

Clara grew up playing music in the woods of southern Maine in a family of classical musicians. She fell in love with fiddle music when she came to Maine Fiddle Camp for the first time in 2013. Clara minored in music and started playing the lever harp while earning her master’s degree in occupational therapy from the University of Southern Maine. She started playing for contra dances in 2016 with Jamie Oshima in their duo project Joy Compass. Clara currently tours with the Red Case Band (fiddle and harp) and the Gaslight Tinkers (fiddle) as well as other projects and solo. She teaches at camps and festivals and offers private lessons.

w: https://www.claraconstancemusic.com/
e: [email protected]

Maine coast musician, and member of the North American Fiddler’s Hall of Fame, Frank Ferrel is considered one of the seminal traditional New England and Maritime fiddlers. In fact, Boston Globe music critic, Scott Alarik called him, “One of the finest living masters of the genre.” his CD recording, Yankee Dreams, was selected by the Library of Congress to be included in their, “Select list of 25 examples of American folk music on record.” His original compositions have enjoyed great popularity in the Canadian Maritimes, and have been recorded by such notable Canadian fiddlers as Buddy MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, Brenda Stubbert, Tracy Dares, Maybelle Chisholm, Andrea Beaton, Joe Cormier, Shane Cook, Tara Lynn Touesnard and Douglas Cameron and J.J. Chaisson. He is a regular fixture at local traditional dances and concerts, and has preformed and toured throughout North America, Ireland and the British Isles, including numerous appearances with the legendary Celtic group, The Boys of the Lough. He has also been a regular featured guest on the National Public Radio series, A Prairie Home Companion, and is included on their CD recording, PHC Tourists. Frank has recorded his music for national labels including Rounder records, Flying Fish, Voyager and Great Meadow Music. He has written numerous books of traditional music, and has contributed numerous articles to folk and music magazines and journals.

Frank Ferrel 114 Old Brunswick Road, Bath, Maine 04530, USA, (207) 449-1614 (home), (207) 841-9918 (cell) www.frankferrel.com [email protected]

Ellen Gawler is a celebrated fiddler, masterful in many styles, including Irish, French-Canadian, Maritime, Shetland and New England. Her fiddling possesses sparkling clarity, authentically rooted in tradition while at the same time inventive and playful. Her lively delivery of traditional fiddling has sent many a contra dance hall into whirling delight with soaring melodies and driving rhythms. (more…)

Tamora has been playing the fiddle since the early 1980’s and teaching for more than two decades. She teaches a broad range of music and created the first strings program at Ashwood Waldorf school. She was on the teaching staff at 317 Main Community Music Center for 3 years, is currently teaching fiddle from home in Warren, Maine, and is happily open to travel to lead groups. Tamora is primarily known for her music in the Irish/Celtic tradition and in the world of Contra Dance. (more…)

Born into a musical family, Ed started playing fiddle at the age of 4, learning Suzuki method. His musical interests cover a wide spectrum from Bluegrass to Celtic and beyond and he has been a regular instructor for Maine Fiddle Camp since 2003. Howe has an extensive electronics background, and took an interest in the electric violin. He plays a 5-string NS Design electronic violin and is a featured artist on the NS design artist page. (more…)

Elaine Malkin has played the violin since the age of 5. She was part of the resurgence of contra dances in Maine in the early 70’s, having learned from Otto Soper and Dudley Laufman. She played New England contra dances until 2009, when she began an intensive study of Québécois fiddle with mainly Éric Favreau, but also with Lisa Ornstein, André Brunet, Yvon Mimeault, and Liette Remon. This music has completely captured her heart and she uses a traditional Québécois repertoire for contra dances, concerts, and other venues. Learning, teaching, and sharing this special music is her greatest joy.

Kaity teaches fiddle in Damariscotta and has played for dances for many years with The Maine Country Dance Orchestra, and with the band The Lady Bugs. A native of Great Britain, Kaity has brought many a fine tune from the British Isles to our local dances. Kaity also plays viola in the local community orchestra and has four children, all of whom play music and come to camp every year.
7 Creek Lane Damariscotta ME 044543 207-563-8440

Ed Pearlman is based in South Portland, enjoys many styles of fiddle music, and is best known for Scottish and Cape Breton fiddling, often working with his son Neil, daughter Lillie, and his wife, dancer Laura Scott. He has taught in-person workshops and private lessons since the 1980s, and since 2014, has run www.fiddle-online.com, an instructional fiddle website offering many styles and techniques. Ed co-led music and walking trips to Scotland for 14 summers, and now writes weekly posts about them on substack.com, as well as weekly posts about learning fiddle. Ed has worked closely with many top fiddlers, wrote for Fiddler magazine for several yeas, and was the music columnist for Scottish Life magazine for 24 years. He directed the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club 1981-99, and the Roaring Jelly open contra dance band for several years. With Neil on piano, Ed has toured widely and recorded 3 CDs (one with Lillie on fiddle). Together, they published a book of 150 original tunes called the “Pine Street Collection”. Ed invented the popular Finger Finder, a slide rule for violin fingering in all keys. In 2024, Ed was inducted into the Scots Trad Music Hall of Fame, an honor rarely awarded to people living outside the UK.  Contact: [email protected]

John started his early musical life as a drummer, but by some miracle got hooked on traditional music in his teens.

John’s been teaching fiddle and harmonica at MF Camp since its start in the mid 90’s.  He’s been known to get a few silly skits going for the evening variety show. He teaches fiddle, guitar and harmonica privately and can be contacted at [email protected] 338-0296 (cell 213-3294).

Maggie Robinson has been teaching fiddle since 2003.  She began taking fiddle lessons the age of 10 and became concert mistress of her school orchestra during her senior year.   Many years later she discovered Contradancing and fell in love with the music  She took the violin out of the closet and began learning fiddle tunes. She completed a course in 2003 at the Hartt College of Music, Theater, & Dance on “Teaching Fiddling”.

Currently she is teaching at several locations in greater Portland, and also regularly calls for contra dances around the state.

A new England fiddler and folk singer, Lissa grew up in Maine as an active member of the folk music and dance community, where she cut her teeth as a musician at a very young age. She has continued to explore music throughout her life, leading to her graduation from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (2001). Her list of mentors includes Greg Boardman, Alasdair Fraser, David Kaynor, and Hankus Netsky. While embracing a diverse pallet of musical influences, she still stays true to her New England roots.
For more info on Lissa, check out her website at www.lissafiddle.com

David Stimson began backing up country dance music on the guitar in 1965 at the age of eleven. During several summers the 1960s he attended Pinewoods cape with his family while his stepfather, Bob Guillard, taught Morris Dancing and English Country Dance. David’s was first exposed to Contra Dance during the evening dances at Pinewoods; however, the disease remained latent until he learned English Concertina and joined the Woods Hole Folk Orchestra in1979. (more…)

Pam sings and plays several instruments in the folk trio, T-Acadie, is fiddler and singer for the Maine-based Cajun dance band, Jimmyjo & the Jumbol’Ayuhs, plays fiddle and mountain dulcimer in the contradance band, Scrod Pudding, and performs solo or with guitar player and caller Bill Olson. She is an accomplished tunesmith and has composed scores of tunes, from lively jigs and reels, to entrancing airs and beautiful waltzes.

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