Old Time Fiddlers bring convention to Moses Lake's Frontier Middle School

MOSES LAKE - The old-time music and the musicians who play it will fill the halls of Frontier Middle School this week with the arrival of the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association workshop.

Laura Farr, one of the organizers, estimated about 340 musicians have signed up for the week. Individual workshops started Monday and will continue through Friday morning, Farr said. Classes include "beginning to advanced fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo," she said.

The players will demonstrate what they've learned in class exhibitions Friday afternoon. Instructors also will demonstrate their skills, Farr said. That's open to the public.

The fiddlers play the classic old folk music, the sound worked out over the course of a century by bands and soloists all over the country. "It's part of our heritage and we love it," Farr said.

Bob Palasek packed his violin and drove all the way from Livermore, Calif. His goal is to learn Pacific Northwest fiddle tunes, he said. Diana Redman and Sterling Ritch teamed up in guitar class. They're both from Omak. The week of workshops and jam sessions is a way to "interact with other people with a common interest in the music," Redman said.

Sterling has been playing guitar for a few months, but he played the piano for five years. He likes the guitar and he likes the traditional music. "It's fun music to play," he said.

The workshops are held all day long, focusing on different techniques and sounds. The music continues even after classes break up for the day. "We have jamming going on in building, in the evening, all week long," Farr said.

Square dancers will take over the Frontier gym from 7 to 9 p.m. each evening through Thursday, with a live band and square dance caller. The square dances are open to the public, Farr said. For people who are shaky on their right-and-left-grand, there is a lesson at 4 p.m. every evening.

"People bring their entire families," Farr said, and one of the group's goals is to pass the music on to the next generation.

Each class had a wide mix of people, from men and women of retirement age to boys and girls in grade school. Paul Jeffries and his son Elijah were practicing in the key of F in guitar class. "My nemesis," Paul Jeffries said.

Paul Jeffries picked up the guitar so he could accompany his daughter Hannah, who's a fiddle player, he said. Playing backup got him hooked, he said. "It's fun."

This is the first year Moses Lake has hosted the organization, after 21 years in Kittitas. "We just outgrew that facility," Farr said. The fiddlers want to come back in 2015, she said.