What\u2019s the difference between a fiddle and a violin? I once posed this question to a teenager from San Pablo named Caroline McCaskey, and she replied, \u201cA violin is meant to listen to; a fiddle is meant to dance to.\u201d<\/p>\n
She knew what she was talking about. She\u2019s been playing the fiddle since she was 9 and by 12 was already good enough to join the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, a group of more than 200 aficionados of Scottish and Celtic music founded in 1986 by Alasdair Fraser, who has led and inspired them for the last 40 years.<\/p>\n
The musicians meet every month to play their favorite tunes and learn new ones, but the highlight of their year is the three concerts they play every spring, featuring as many fiddlers, cellos, drums and guitars as they can cram onstage, often 65 or more, playing spirited dance tunes and haunting melodies. The event is called a Stravaig, a Scottish word meaning to wander, digress and stray beyond limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may look like an orchestra, but we\u2019re really an unruly mob of rabble-rousing musical adventurers,\u201d Fraser says. \u201cPlaying this music fills us with joy, and we can\u2019t wait to share it with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of last year\u2019s Stravaig, Fraser announced that he was retiring as musical director, and I wondered who could possibly succeed a larger-than-life man like him. I needn\u2019t have wondered because the answer was obvious: Caroline McCaskey, of course.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a talented, fiery, passionate player with a great sense of humor. What more could you ask?\u201d says Fraser. \u201cI couldn\u2019t think of a better person to hand over the baton to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other musicians second the emotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a brilliant choice,\u201d says pianist Patti Cobb, of Oakland. \u201cShe\u2019s a natural-born teacher, a brilliant player and a fantastic arranger with dazzling improv skill who can harmonize at the drop of a hat. She can pretty much do everything. She gets people up and moving and singing along with us. That\u2019s something that Alasdair brought and Caroline continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retired cardiologist Pate Thomson, of Berkeley, a proud kilt-wearing member of Clan Thomson, concurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s grown up amongst us and has a joi de vivre and a very pleasant way of both challenging and inspiring us. The affection we have for her is the one you have for a member of your own family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caroline returns the compliments.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlasdair is not only a legendary world-class traditional musician, of course, but he\u2019s also made a huge impact on the direction of so many lives,\u201d she says. \u201cAlasdair is the reason many of us play the fiddle, myself included.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s spent a lifetime showing us that it doesn\u2019t have to require auditions, stress or judgment; he\u2019s given us this beautiful alternative scenario in which you can play music and actually experience joy, connection and belonging instead. It\u2019s truly an honor to be chosen to continue Alasdair\u2019s legacy. He\u2019s left some big kilt socks to fill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also grew up with this group, and after going away to music school it feels like a family reunion. It\u2019s so great to come back and use these skills I learned to serve the group that helped raise me. I immediately reconnected with these guys, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Fraser announced his retirement from his post at last year\u2019s Stravaig (although he\u2019ll continue touring all over the world with cellist Natalie Haas) Caroline surprised him by playing a tune she wrote in his honor, just as he once wrote a tune in honor his father. It\u2019s titled \u201cHimself,\u201d she explains \u201cbecause that\u2019s who he is.\u201d You can watch her and the other fiddlers play it for him online at bit.ly\/4csWZCB<\/a>. It\u2019s a charmer.<\/p>\n The Stravaig will take place on at 7 p.m. May 8 in Davis at the Veterans Memorial Theater, 7 p.m. May 9 in Berkeley at The Freight and 2 p.m. May 10 in Aptos at the Crocker Theater. Tickets are $32 to $35 and free for kids accompanied by an adult. For more information, visit sfscottishfiddlers.org<\/a> online.<\/p>\n But wait! There\u2019s more! I guess if you\u2019re good at one bowed instrument you\u2019re good at all bowed instruments. In addition to her virtuosity on the fiddle, she\u2019s also one of the best musical saw players in the world, a two-time winner of the International Saw Championship in Santa Cruz. Here she is playing the \u201cHabanera\u201d from \u201cCarmen:\u201d bit.ly\/4tsIPZH<\/a>.<\/p>\n