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Local Fiddle Camp Keeps High Country Bluegrass Traditions Alive
Zoe Critcher, Staff Writer for The Spark
Hidden at the top of John V. Cook road from May to August lies a community of High Country tradition. There, students of all ages learn from volunteers to play a variety of instruments and practice a multitude of dance styles. It all began 19 years ago when John Cockman, a local fiddle teacher at The Jones House in Boone, saw a need for affordable access to music.
“I’m already teaching classes on Thursdays, why don’t I just have a class for families with lots of children on Tuesdays?” said Cockman. “And so I invited them over to the house and we did some private classes together, and I called it Fiddle Camp, and it sort of grew from there.”
Since then, “Fiddle Camp" has grown from a couple of students a week to 75 regular students, and around 150 guests total. Over the years, the camp has not only expanded students, but also the subject of study.
“We have instructors that volunteer their time and people bring food. We teach four different levels of fiddle, two levels of piano and guitar, ukulele, and three different types of dance,” said Cockman. “It’s a really fun time.”
The addition of these different instruments and art forms stemmed from the desire to strengthen family connections. Some of the parents of Fiddle Camp participants wanted to play music with their kids, and so one of these parents started teaching a guitar class. From there, older siblings in the family became interested in learning as well, and the guitar lessons started to pick up steam. When Cockman’s daughter started to show interest in dance, Cockman made an effort to have that opportunity as well.
“My second daughter started to get into a specific type of step dancing called Ottawa Valley step dancing, and so her and some friends started teaching that as well,” said Cockman. “[Ottawa Valley step dancing] is a hybrid between Irish step dancing and Appalachian clogging that developed in Canada. We had heard the Leahy family perform at Merlefest who were from Ottawa Valley in Canada that had introduced it to us. Since then, we have also added Scottish Highland dancing.”
Traditional Appalachian clogging originated when a melting pot of cultural European dances from Ireland, England, Germany and Scotland combined with traditional dances of Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee, involving heel-toe stomps and steps. While there are frequent opportunities for clogging in Boone and its surrounding areas, Scottish Highland and Ottawa Valley step dancing lessons are not as easy to stumble upon.
“We actually have an instructor that comes up from Raleigh about once a month to give some instruction, but other than that it’s just the students that are teaching it,” said Cockman.
However, the student instruction clearly has a high success rate. Several attendees have participated in and won several competitions, including the world championships. Recently, Cockman was able to register a spring festival with Scottish Dance USA, making it a place for people all across Western North Carolina and neighboring regions to come and compete.
“There is also a large [Highland Dance] competition also at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games,” said Cockman.
While the program mostly takes place over the summer, Cockman makes sure other events are offered throughout the year, preserving and continuing the community that is created through the program.
“We’ll have about a quarterly jam and dances that are held at local churches,” said Cockman. “We have one coming up in November that we call the Fall Ball, which is mostly a family event. The dance style is usually closer to circle or row dancing, like the Virginia Reel. We also host a celtic jam the third Thursday of the month at South End Brewing, because we also teach Celtic music. On the first Saturday of the month, we host a gospel jam at Laurel Fork Baptist Church.”
Even though Fiddle Camp has significantly grown over the past nineteen years, there are constant returners.
“We have students that have been here since year one and are still regular attendees at Fiddle Camp, but then we also have new people this year,” said Cockman. “In fact, we received a grant this past year and we were able to give away seventeen violins and about six guitars.”
Not only does Fiddle Camp create a positive community and accessible learning experience, it also creates professional music-lovers.
“We have alumni that have played on the Grand Old Opry and other professional bands, and about a dozen alumni who are full time music instructors,” said Cockman. “We had a former fiddle camper win the Momentum Award in the past, and had four fiddle campers across two bands be a part of five total nominations for the award.”
The Momentum Award is one of the most prestigious awards given at the International Bluegrass Music Awards. The award is given to up-and-coming bluegrass bands.
The community built by Fiddle Camp extends beyond making music and dancing together. Families involved host different farm days throughout the year, including an apple butter day and a pig-slaughtering day. The homestead location of Fiddle Camp only encourages these activities, and participants make sure there is something for everyone.
“We noticed that of some of the larger families, a lot of the time the girls were more interested in playing music than the guys, who would just roam around, playing in the creek and getting into fights and stuff,”said Cockman. "So we said we need to do something with these guys, and put together a monthly group called Cohort where we teach them different farming techniques, small engine repair, blacksmithing, or some other skill."
Over the years, Fiddle Camp has developed into a fostering of tradition. From Celtic music to traditional bluegrass, to Scottish Highland and Ottawa Valley step dancing, Fiddle camp makes sure everyone is included.
“The traditions really help people feel more of a closeness with their region and gain a little more knowledge of what the mountain communities looked like a long time ago," said Cockman.
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