I’m John Boulware, I’m 19, and the 2006 Tennessee state fiddle champion. I play a variety of styles including western swing, old-time, jazz, bluegrass, and Celtic. I started out playing guitar, then ran into a local fiddle teacher and started lessons with him. He took me to my first fiddle contest in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and I haven’t looked back since. Along the way, I picked up a few tips that might help you prepare for a contest.

But first, a few basics.

Know the Playing Field
The style of music is not the only thing that differentiates fiddle contests from more classically oriented ones. Most fiddle contests have separate categories that might include traditional old-time fiddle and contest-style fiddle. Contest style is usually separated into three age divisions. In most contests, the top three competitors in each age group compete again for first second and third place in each category. Often there is a “fiddle off,” in which the first-place winner of each category competes for a grand trophy.

Most contests are judged by professional musicians and have similar judging criteria: common categories include rhythm, clarity, level of difficulty, creativity, and intonation. Rhythm deals not only with making sure the contestant stays in time, but also with how much drive the performance has. Clarity deals with how clean the performance is. Muffled notes, squeaks, and unclean string crossings will cause a deduction in points. Level of difficulty is exactly that: how hard is the piece? The more difficult the arrangement, the more points awarded. Creativity deals with the musical quality of the arrangement. How original is the piece? Does it sound like everyone else’s, or is it unique? Intonation deals with how well the contestant is playing in tune. Dissonance will result in a loss of points.

As far as the actual festival itself, the atmosphere is fun and relaxed. Although most fiddle contests award money prizes, the majority of contestants are there just to have fun. Contests are also a great place to improve your musicianship. Bad sports­manship is generally not a problem. People will be all around, jamming and swapping tunes or arrangements.

Fiddlers, Take Your Places
Competitors at fiddle contests are unique. Most of the time, they are all very friendly and eager to play with others. They are often a good learning resource. If someone else is playing a tune you know, they will always do something differently than you do. You can learn some of these things and apply them to your own playing style to create a better musical arrangement. Since playing in a fiddle contest is not all about taking first place, but rather learning from the experience, the stronger the competition, the more you can learn from it, and the more you will benefit. Strong competition also drives you to work harder and play better.

As for your preparation, there are many aspects to consider. First, and possibly most important, is having plenty of material ready to play. Just because there are three rounds in a particular contest doesn’t mean that you’ll only have to play three rounds of material. Often there are ties between contestants, in which case a tie-breaking round will be played. No matter how good your material is, if you don’t have enough of it, you have already lost.

When you are working on the technical aspects of an arrangement, it’s important that you fix each glitch and polish every rough spot. Go through the piece note-by-note and fine-tune each double-stop, each position shift, and each string crossing. This is a very tedious process, but it’s invaluable as a practice technique.

Pay special attention to your bowing. Awkward string crossings can kill your score. Once you have an arrangement worked out as cleanly as possible, play this version over and over, making sure that you get each note right.

Do as many people have told me to do: “Play the song until you are absolutely sick of it, and then play it some more.” However, it’s important not to aim for quantity while losing sight of quality. Always stay focused when you’re practicing your piece, even if it’s the 2,873,465th time.