Paul Kirk is an Old-Time fiddler, author, historian, and teacher. They have been fiddling since they were nine years old and teaching music since they were 16. They’ve always found teaching very rewarding and fulfilling. They love watching students learn and they enjoy passing along skills to them that they will use throughout their lives. They began the Old-Time TOTW series on YouTube on July 1, 2018. They did this for several reasons, but the primary reason was to share. They wanted to share obscure/lesser-known tunes played in various settings. They strive to give as much accurate history about the tunes and source fiddlers as they possibly can. For many of those fiddlers, there is not much information out there. They also like to honor the music and the source fiddlers, especially those who are the lesser-known and under-represented. If it weren’t for these fiddlers passing on the tunes, we probably would not be playing them. It’s up to us to continue to pass on the music, and they take it upon themselves to do all they can to keep the music and its history alive. They love passing the tunes onto everybody, and those who follow the Old-Time TOTW series will find a wealth of wonderful tunes and information on their YouTube channel. Many people who follow Old-Time TOTW are fiddlers themselves, and they have had a lot of requests for videos to teach tunes and techniques (including bowings). The TOTW videos are very time consuming to make. Each video requires learning new tunes regularly, researching the tunes and fiddlers, and filming and editing the videos. A single 3 minute video takes hours of behind-the-scenes work. Lesson videos would add to that load, but they would add another dimension to Old-Time TOTW and be well worth the effort.
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