National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest facts for kids
The National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest is a super fun music competition and festival! It celebrates old-time music and happens every year in June. You can find it in Weiser, Idaho, which is in the western United States. Many people just call it "Weiser" because it's so famous in the fiddling world.
This amazing event brings together nearly 7,000 people for a whole week. About 350 fiddlers compete in different age groups. Besides the main contest, there are cool workshops where you can learn, live performances, and even a "battle of the bands." There's also a parade and a carnival, making it a big party! The contest takes place at Weiser High School, with the main competition in the gym. Many contestants even camp out on the school's sports fields.
Contents
History of the Contest
How it All Started
The contest began in 1953. Back then, it was called the Northwest Mountain Fiddlers' Contest. A person named Blaine Stubblefield from the Weiser Chamber of Commerce helped start it.
Each year, more and more people joined in. Fiddlers came from farther away to compete. So, in 1956, the name changed to the Northwest Oldtime Fiddling Championships. This new name showed that it was growing beyond just the local area.
Becoming a National Event
In 1963, the contest became what it is today: the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest. Since then, it has kept growing and growing. Now, it's a very important event that helps set the rules for other fiddling contests across the country.
Fiddling Styles You'll Hear
The main type of fiddling you'll hear at the competition is called Texas Contest Style. But there are many other cool styles too! You can hear these different styles during jam sessions that often last late into the night.
On the main stage, between the competition rounds, you'll see special performances. These shows feature all sorts of fiddling styles. You might hear Western swing, bluegrass, or even Celtic tunes.
How the Contest Works
Playing the Tunes
Each fiddler plays three songs in a round. These must include a fast dance tune called a hoedown, a slow, graceful waltz, and one other song of their choice. This third song cannot be another waltz or hoedown.
Fiddlers with the best scores move on to the next round. The number of players who advance is decided before the contest begins. In the final round for all divisions, only five fiddlers get to compete. All the scores from earlier rounds add up to their final total.
Different Age Groups
The contest has seven different divisions, so everyone can compete fairly!
- Small Fry: For kids under 9 years old.
- Junior-Junior: For kids under 13 years old.
- Junior: For young people under 18 years old.
- Young Adult: For ages 18 to 36.
- Adult: For ages 37 to 59.
- Senior: For ages 60 and older.
- Grand Champion: This is the top division, open to fiddlers of any age.
You can only enter one of these divisions. There are no competitions between the different age groups. The Small Fry and Junior-Junior divisions have three rounds. The Junior, Young Adult, Adult, and Senior divisions have four rounds. The Grand Championship has six rounds, making it the longest and most challenging!
Special Rules for Winners
If a contestant wins an age-specific division three times, they can no longer compete in that same division. Instead, they move up to the next level of competition the following year. For example, Small Fry and Junior-Junior winners move to the next age group. All other age winners move up to the Grand Championship.
If a fiddler wins the Grand Championship three times, they take a break from competing for one year. They are then invited to be a judge for the contest instead!
Important Rules for Playing
- Fiddlers can have up to three other musicians play along with them.
- No contestant can play the same song twice during the contest.
- There are time limits for each round: four minutes for rounds one to three, and five minutes for rounds four and five. The final round of the Grand Champion division has no time limit.
- All contestants must use the microphone provided by the contest.
- No sheet music is allowed on stage.
- You can't do "trick" or "fancy fiddling."
- You also can't change the tuning of your fiddle strings on stage.
- Anyone can enter the contest!
How Judging Works
What Judges Look For
Judges score fiddlers based on a few key things:
- How well they play in the old-time fiddling style.
- How easy it would be to dance to their music.
- Their rhythm and timing.
- The quality of their fiddle's sound (tone).
A simple song played really well will get a higher score than a difficult song played poorly.
Scoring and Judges
There are five judges for each performance. Each judge can give up to 100 points for every song a fiddler plays. To make it fair, the highest and lowest scores for each round are not counted. The middle three scores are added together to get the fiddler's total for that round. A perfect score for one round would be 900 points!
The judges are often fiddlers who have won the Grand Championship before. Sometimes, they are also well-known fiddlers from other styles of music.
Fairness in Judging
To help reduce any unfairness, judges usually listen from a separate room. They only hear the competitor's number and the music. This way, they don't see who is playing. However, experienced judges might still recognize a fiddler by their unique playing style.
The only exception is the final round of the Grand Championship. For this important round, the judges sit right in the front row, next to the stage.
