Cajun fiddler gets toes tapping in Sisters

The lecture/drama room at Sisters Middle School was transformed into an old-fashioned, toe-tapping hoedown on Thursday morning when Cajun fiddle master Kelly Thibodeaux visited Kit Stafford's Americana Project music class.

Students got a crash course in fiddle playing and were soon belting out some raw sounds.

"We're here in conjunction with the Americana Project, teaching kids how to play the fiddle. I've been going back and forth from here to the high school all week, teaching their advanced Americana class as well," he said, packing up his mountain of black fiddle cases. "We also did a demonstration for the younger kids' Arts Discovery class here at the middle school. It's been fun."

Thibodeaux lives in Oakridge, outside Eugene, and originally hails from New Orleans and grew up steeped in the musical traditions and influences of The Big Easy. The Louisiana native has been a working musician as a solo artist and with his energetic band Etouffee since the late '80s playing in Oregon and all over the country.

"We play what I like to call Swamp Rock and good 'ol Louisiana dance music," he said with a slight Southern twang. "Songs about alligators, crawfish and things that go bump in the night. Swamp Rock is real blues-oriented with a touch of Southern Rock. It's true foot-stompin', get-up-and-dance

music."

The fiddler has discovered a simple method of how to show kids and adults how to play a three-chord fiddle tune in about 15 minutes.

"I teach them how to handle the bow and learn how to saw," he explained. "Once the kids learn that, the rest is simple. The result is that they end up sounding like they've been playing for weeks or months, not just days. On paper it doesn't seem possible but in practice it works like a charm every time."

Thibodeaux considers fiddle playing an excellent introduction to the violin as a folk music instrument. He also works out of other state and regional arts councils and projects and travels statewide teaching music.

"When people ask me what's the difference between a violin and a fiddle, I tell them a fiddle player usually wears some kind of hat. The kids all love it. I've just been blown away by the response, and they're all totally into it. I have over 50 fiddles I bring, and they all fit into my Honda Civic."

He and his red-hot fiddle hope to come out to Sisters with the whole band soon and deliver some of their spicy bayou tunes. Thibodeaux asks anyone who has an old violin or fiddle who can donate it to the schools for use in the Americana Project to please drop it off at the Sisters Middle School office or contact Kit Stafford or the Sisters Folk Festival office at Sisters Art Works (204 W. Adams Ave.).