2025 Scottish Performing Arts Classic - Scottish Fiddle

Four outstanding fiddlers from southern Scotland, the Shetland Islands of Scotland, Maine and California will compete for in the 2025 Dan R. MacDonald Memorial Fiddle Competition.

Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery. For example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey.

Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling Players Guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures.