The father of another student took over our publicity efforts, writing materials to help us gain additional players and a wider audience. Performance opportunities rolled in more quickly than we expected. Because fiddle tunes are often transmitted aurally, we encourage students to listen to other fiddle players. We have also found recorded music to be an inspiration for what we do, including recordings of Bob Phillips s Fiddlers Philharmonic, the music of Lester Flat and Earl Scruggs, and recordings of many other artists admired by members of our group. Two favorite Creole fiddlers are Canroy Fontenot and Edward Poullard.
Students often bring recordings to share with the group.
A year after our first performance, students had learned an hour s worth of music by ear, and we had succeeded in playing Irish, bluegrass, Cajun, and Scottish music at a college and two elementary schools as well as at numerous events at our own high school. We also performed for the local Board of Education. We received fan mail from elementary students, and all participants reported hearing favorable comments from many sources. Our group was even featured in an article in the local paper. When we began this program, we had no idea it would mushroom in this way.