From the President
On July 24, TOTFA will have a July Jam beginning at 6 p.m. at the 1st United Methodist Church in Bowie, Texas. Meals will be sold at the event and the proceeds will go directly into helping fund the contest in Bowie in October later this year. Make plans now to help support this great contest and enjoy the fine fiddling of Marty Elmore, Randy Elmore, and others. If you have any questions about this event, feel free to call Marty Elmore at (940) 531-2326.
Reminder...registration to the TOTFA Fiddle Camp held in beautiful Nacogdoches, Texas, is still open. For additional information, please visit the web site at http://www.txfiddlecamp.com or contact Krikit Rast by email at txfiddlecamp@gmail.com or by phone at (214) 497-1684.
Congratulations to our own Mia Orosco from Lorena, Texas, who was named the new National Junior Champion and to out-of-state member, Kimber Ludiker, who won her second Grand National Championship. The National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest in Weiser, Idaho, also named Texas fiddle legend Benny Thomasson as its first inductee into the National Fiddlers Hall of Fame.
About TOTFA
The purpose of the Texas Old Time Fiddlers Association is to promote Texas fiddling, improve Texas fiddling contests, sponsor a state contest, and publish a monthly newsletter for benefit of the members.
History
The organization had its beginnings in 1972 with a charter by the state of Texas and with a 501c(3) tax exempt status. Its purpose is to preserve and perpetuate a style of old time fiddling that is not hillbilly, country, Appalachian, Irish, bluegrass, Cajun, blues, southern style, swing, pop, square dance music, or jazz. It is a style uniquely different from all others in that it is the most colorful, sophisticatedly cluttered, and baroque, that utilizes enough improvisation without significant departure from the melody line. The style also requires use of the entire length of the bow, more than one position on the fingerboard, and coordination of wrist and arm movement. Apply all this to such tunes as Dusty Miller, Hell Among the Moonshiners,or Beaumont Rag, and the result is an astounding report of richly melodic and pleasingly complicated sounds that are free of monotony and repetition and substantially different from other styles that often employ the relatively primitive “shove and pull” bowing technique. It is referred to as the Texas style, the contest style, and the Texas long bow because of its origins in Texas by those such as A. C. “Eck” Robinson, a fiddler from Amarillo, who was the first to record (1922) a Texas fiddle tune, “Sally Goodin,” which opened the door to recorded country music. ~read more~
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