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Melinda Crawford - Bio
Awards:
- 2003 U.S. National Scottish Fiddling
Champion
Melinda Crawford, a U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Champion, is a frequent and
popular performer throughout the United States and beyond. Always drawing a
crowd, she has been heard at everything from highland games and Celtic festivals
to a Hard Rock Café and Esterházy Palace in Austria.
Melinda has won numerous awards for her solo playing and her original
compositions at regional and national Scottish F.I.R.E. competitions. She achieved
fiddling titles such as the Allegheny Mountain Fiddling Champion and the Potomac
Valley Fiddling Champion several times prior to winning the 2003 U.S. National
Scottish Fiddling Championship and becoming a sanctioned Scottish F.I.R.E.
competition judge. She was a finalist for the 2008 Niel Gow International Scottish
Fiddle Composition Competition held in Pitlochry, Scotland.
A well respected teacher, Melinda has been repeatedly invited to present
educational sessions at national conferences to school string teachers about how
to teach traditional Scottish fiddling in the classroom. She is an instructor at the
Jink & Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling in North Carolina. Melinda conducts
workshops on Scottish fiddling all over the US and teaches Scottish fiddling
privately and internationally to many students over the internet. She frequently
judges Scottish F.I.R.E. competitions at highland games and has judged previous
F.I.R.E. national championships.
Melinda is currently residing in western Pennsylvania where she is an assistant
professor of music at Westminster College. At Westminster, she is the string
education specialist and directs both the symphonic orchestra and Ceòl na Teud,
Westminster's Scottish string music group. Though she most frequently performs
with pianist, Dan Perttu, she also performs with Pittsburgh-based, Scottish/Irish
group, Road to the Isles.
Melinda is also the national president for the Scottish fiddling association for North
America, Scottish F.I.R.E.
In addition to fiddling, she enjoying cooking, hiking, biking, gardening, and making
jewelry.
popular performer throughout the United States and beyond. Always drawing a
crowd, she has been heard at everything from highland games and Celtic festivals
to a Hard Rock Café and Esterházy Palace in Austria.
Melinda has won numerous awards for her solo playing and her original
compositions at regional and national Scottish F.I.R.E. competitions. She achieved
fiddling titles such as the Allegheny Mountain Fiddling Champion and the Potomac
Valley Fiddling Champion several times prior to winning the 2003 U.S. National
Scottish Fiddling Championship and becoming a sanctioned Scottish F.I.R.E.
competition judge. She was a finalist for the 2008 Niel Gow International Scottish
Fiddle Composition Competition held in Pitlochry, Scotland.
A well respected teacher, Melinda has been repeatedly invited to present
educational sessions at national conferences to school string teachers about how
to teach traditional Scottish fiddling in the classroom. She is an instructor at the
Jink & Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling in North Carolina. Melinda conducts
workshops on Scottish fiddling all over the US and teaches Scottish fiddling
privately and internationally to many students over the internet. She frequently
judges Scottish F.I.R.E. competitions at highland games and has judged previous
F.I.R.E. national championships.
Melinda is currently residing in western Pennsylvania where she is an assistant
professor of music at Westminster College. At Westminster, she is the string
education specialist and directs both the symphonic orchestra and Ceòl na Teud,
Westminster's Scottish string music group. Though she most frequently performs
with pianist, Dan Perttu, she also performs with Pittsburgh-based, Scottish/Irish
group, Road to the Isles.
Melinda is also the national president for the Scottish fiddling association for North
America, Scottish F.I.R.E.
In addition to fiddling, she enjoying cooking, hiking, biking, gardening, and making
jewelry.
- National honors for set arrangement: "Best Set"
- Four time Allegheny Mountain Fiddling
Champion
- Two time Potomac Valley Fiddling Champion
- Two time winner of the Southern Maryland
Celtic Festival Scottish Fiddling Competition
- Three time winner of the Monroe Eagle Award
as the Fiddler of the Day
- Virginia Scottish Highland Games
- Clan Cochrane in North America Plate
- Richmond Highland Games
- Sergeant Donald McCallum Award for Best Set
- Clan Leslie Award for Best Air
- Honors for Best Strathspey, Best Reel, and
Best Set - Virginia Scottish Highland Games
- The Vira I. Heinz Scholarship
Education:
- The Ohio State University - Ph.D. in Music Education -
emphasis in string pedagogy - The Ohio State University - M.A. in Music Education
- Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University -
B.S. in Music Education
| Quick Facts |
Discography:
2013 - "The Sheiling Braes" - Solo recording of traditional and original music for the
Scottish fiddle, produced by Strathmon Music
2011 - "Garden of Daisies," produced by Music-Tree
2008 - "The New Caledonian Four," produced by Fiddletree Music
2006 "The Wandering Suitcase of Stirling" - Solo recording of traditional and original
Music for the Scottish Fiddle, produced by Strathmon Music
2005 "Seven Wonders of the Wild West" - Discovery Channel Two-Hour Special - Fiddle
soloist on soundtrack
Fun Facts:
Primary Acoustic Violin: a 1930 Ernst Heinrich Roth violin.
Electric Violin: a navy-blue Skyinbow that was made in the Shetland Islands of Scotland! Melinda plays it with a
gun-metal colored carbon-fiber bow with navy-blue hair!
2013 - "The Sheiling Braes" - Solo recording of traditional and original music for the
Scottish fiddle, produced by Strathmon Music
2011 - "Garden of Daisies," produced by Music-Tree
2008 - "The New Caledonian Four," produced by Fiddletree Music
2006 "The Wandering Suitcase of Stirling" - Solo recording of traditional and original
Music for the Scottish Fiddle, produced by Strathmon Music
2005 "Seven Wonders of the Wild West" - Discovery Channel Two-Hour Special - Fiddle
soloist on soundtrack
Fun Facts:
Primary Acoustic Violin: a 1930 Ernst Heinrich Roth violin.
Electric Violin: a navy-blue Skyinbow that was made in the Shetland Islands of Scotland! Melinda plays it with a
gun-metal colored carbon-fiber bow with navy-blue hair!
- Two Time Runner-up for the U.S. National
Scottish Fiddling Championships
- National Honors for self-composed air: "Best Air"
- Diane Worth Clinton McLean Award for Best
Strathspey
- Ronald Duncan Gonnella Memorial Award
- The Niel Gow International Scottish Fiddle
Composition Competition - Finalist
Keppoch na Fasach (trad.)
- from CD, "Sheiling Braes"
- from CD, "Sheiling Braes"
