I recently did a fiddle gig that changed my whole outlook on my fiddle career...for the better!

These past couple of weeks have opened my eyes....enlightened me even.

I spent a week at the Festival of American Fiddletunes in Port Townsend, WA.  There were several styles represented; Cajun, Swing, Tejano, Québecois, New England Contradance, American Old Time, and my own style, Canadian Old Time.

It was so wonderful being around so many different pockets of fiddle music. 

It's not all about competition, and playing 3 tunes technically perfect and impressing 3 judges.  It's about heart.  And it's about making people smile, and feel emotion, through playing music.

How powerful it is to leap into the first 4 bars of a tune and instantly see people smiling, toes tapping, hands clapping....as a musician, it is the ultimate gift to receive, knowing that you're touching someone.

My husband Joël, son Alex, and a couple of friends played for a contradance one night.  I was so worried about playing the right speed, not too fast, checking with the metronome, that I almost lost the heart of it all.  Sure, it's about keeping a steady rhythm, but it's also about playing with soul, and feel, and imploring people to the dance floor without a single word, but with a bow and a fiddle.

Alex also felt it, and now "gets it."  He suddenly wants to try to make a living playing music...a business where success is definitely not measured by the size of your bank account, but by how many do-si-dos that happened, and by how long the applause goes on, and by how many people actually take the time to come up to you and tell you that what you're doing is making them happy. 

Now THAT's success.