RENTAL, SALES & REPAIR

Al Corey music store (Waterville, Maine), call ahead 872-5622 to see what supplies they have in stock.

Frost Gully Violins (Freeport, Maine), upscale repair, sales and rentals.

Music & Moore at 49 Topsham Fair Mall Road, Suite 20, Topsham, ME (207) 725-4733. Friendly service and reasonable prices. A rental program may be available in the future.

Music Center at 149 Maine St. # 2, Brunswick, ME (207) 725-6161 rents violins (via Northern Kingdom Music) and sells used violins on consignment.

Northern Kingdom Music (Rockport, Maine), basic repair, sales and rentals.

Salt Bay (Damariscotta/Newcastle, Maine), reasonably priced sales and repair, on Route 1, (207) 563-6611.

Sharviolins.com has a flexible purchase plan via mail-order including upgrading to a larger size and trade-ins, which makes it similar to renting. They have wonderful customer service.

Somerset Violins (Waterville, Maine), reasonably priced sales and repair.

I've been told that American Music and Portland Conservatory might also have rentals.

Starbird Music in Portland is a nice place for supplies.

Many of my students have had good luck getting a starter violin on e-bay and craigslist. You never know what you'll get, but it's an inexpensive gamble. Maybe they are just lucky people.

Mail-order sales: Elderly.com; International Violin Company; Juststrings.com; Thestringcentre.com;

Shar Music I've ordered from them before and they have helpful customer service. They also often have very reasonable prices for strings.

Stamell Stringed Instruments (Amherst, MA) offers a one week, home trial of instruments and bows.

Carter Ruff (Bath, Maine), repairs.

Mark Donovan (Bowdoinham, Maine), repairs, (207) 666-8226.

MAINE FIDDLE CAMP

Maine Fiddle Camp ~ I've attended this for four years, and it's really amazing and worthwhile. Very enriching for musicians of any and all levels of experience. Fiddle, piano, cello, guitar, banjo, bones, tin whistle, mandolin, bass, and accordion. Classes and workshops with performances, jams, song swaps, and dancing. Lakeside setting with bonfires, swimming, bunkhouse cabins and tent sites. And, incredible food featuring local organic produce.

GROUPS OF MUSICIANS INCLUDING STUDENTS

www.augustasymphonyorchestra.com Community orchestra with musicians of all ages; see their website for schedule of rehearsals and concerts.

Family contradance the first Friday of each month in Belfast from 6-7 p.m. The music is an "open stage," so you are welcome to bring an instrument and join in making music for the dancers.

Family contradance the third Friday of each month in Brunswick from 6:30-8 p.m. The music is an "open stage," so all musicians are welcome to bring an instrument and join in making music for the dancers. At the People Plus Center (corner of Maine St. and Noble St., across from First Parish Church). For more info and for a list of the tunes, contact Marlene Sinyard at (207) 729-6907.

www.fiddleicious.com (Falmouth, Maine) Opportunity for beginners through advanced players of all ages, on many instruments, to rehearse and perform. I played with them for a season and recommend it, it is educational as well as fun and gentle/supportive. I encourage students to drop in and listen to rehearsals.

www.somefolk.org (near Freeport, Maine) Fiddle tune sessions.

www.submusicworks.com (Bath, Maine) Monthly informal jam

PERFORMANCE LISTINGS FOR FIDDLE MUSIC

Downeast Friends of the Folk Arts ~ Lists music jams and contradances throughout Maine and New Hampshire.

PRACTICE TOOLS

Click here for a site with free, printable music staff paper

Tuning notes for violin: E string ~ A string ~ D string ~ G string

CDs of beginner through advanced fiddle tunes can be purchased from Maine Fiddle Camp.

Free downloads of tunes played slowly and quickly are at Maine Fiddle Camp's tunes page. There's also a special selection for beginning players.

Some of my students like to have a book. One that looks useful is "First Lessons -- Violin" by Craig Duncan, published by www.melbay.com, sold at local music stores and probably on e-bay as well. I think it comes with an audio CD and DVD as well.

Listening to music is very important to learning to play it; I recommend exploring the fiddle music on CDbaby.com; you can listen to audio samples from each CD on the site. Many Maine fiddlers' albums are available from this site, and a variety of styles can be found to suit your individual taste.

Free tutorials on technique and some basic tunes are at fiddler Jim Burke's site www.fiddlehub.com.