Mission

The mission of the Fiddle Club of the World is to promote the performance, appreciation and learning of fiddling and other folk music from a variety of ethnic and regional traditions.

Scope

The Fiddle Club of the World is focused on fiddlers and fiddle music, but also encourages the participation of players of allied instruments, such as banjo, accordion, mandolin, guitar, ukulele and bagpipes. The Club’s global objective is to provide web-based resources for appreciating the fiddler’s art, for learning tunes, and for increasing the understanding of the historical contexts and performance practices of traditional musicians. The Chicago Chapter aims to present close-up encounters between master musicians and advanced fiddle students or enthusiasts, as well as to provide opportunities for Club members to play and perform together. In addition the Chicago Chapter hopes to affiliate and cooperate with other local chapters.

These are the programs that Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter) has offered since 2008 to meet its objectives.

• Artist Meetings, at which a guest fiddler or other musician presents a short concert followed by a quick workshop and/or playing session.
• A Fiddle Club of the World blog on which are posted meeting announcements, recordings of tunes to learn for meetings, musical notation, and other tunes and items of interest.
• Monthly jam sessions, occasional barn dances, and the annual Midwest Fiddle Championship and Battle of the Bands.