Hi! My name is Mia Marine. Welcome to my Groovy Fiddle Academy!
This is a growing platform for learning and networking, with a bunch of my favourite technical exercises and tunes. There are also lessons on how to make your own second voices/arrangements, on how to become better at playing fast, playing with blue notes, improvising, phrasing and more. There are films for playing along with arrangements, sheet music to download for all the tunes and lots of different ways for meeting likeminded people and discussing learning experiences with each other.
You can buy a subscription for 1, 6 or 12 months at the online academy, and if you do, you'll get access to over 300 films with lessons, tunes, arrangements and other fun stuff. If you are curious to see what you will find if you log in, look at the sneak peaks here, or try some of the free video lessons here. Read some reviews if you want to see what some subscribers have said. If you want to read more about my ideas for this learning platform, just scroll down from here.
Find inspiration to develop not only your playing but also your understanding for violin technique in general and the specific techniques involved in playing Swedish/Nordic traditional music in particular. Sharpen your tools for arranging, improvising and more.
When you log in with a subscription the first time, take your time to look through the pages and see what you can find. The idea is that you can jump in just about anywhere and go for it. I have written some tips on exercises which could be a good help for playing a specific tune, or links to where you could go to find more information about something, or see the dance associated with the tune. There are also work sheets for making your own practice method, and tips on how to structure your process.
There are a bunch of ways to communicate with me and fellow academy students. Visit the forum, called "Fiddlers' Society", which is meant to be a platform to discuss the material, or other aspects of learning or playing music.
Once a month, there is an online meeting on Zoom. There, you'll have a chance to ask questions live, or raise topics for discussion. I'll be there to host the meetings, and if you feel like there is a question you'd like me to prepare for, you can email me a few days in advance. You're also free to just join and hear what others have to say. Sometimes we will have a specific theme for a meeting, and I may teach something or explain something that I've seen that several participants have been asking about.
In the shop, you can find some tune books and CD's, and under "News" you can see what is newly posted on the website (as a tip to people who have been on the platform for a long while, and want to know what's new). I will also post some info about upcoming concerts or workshops there.
...and please...
It's not allowed to download film material or recordings, or to share them with anyone who isn't part of this Academy. This is a one person business, to support me through a time when culture workers everywhere are struggling to make ends meet. If one of your friends is interested in the website, I hope you encourage them to get a subscription instead.
Feel free to use the tunes, methods and arrangements though! If you're a teacher using my exercises, please also refer to me by name. I have made them myself, and haven't published them yet. Downloading sheet music and text documents is fine. :-)
I'm a musician, touring all over the world, who plays mostly traditional and contemporary folk music from Sweden. One of my biggest passions is to teach, and to meet musicians and music lovers from different genres and cultures. This online academy is my way of trying to make the world smaller, to meet you! I'm an educated teacher, and I teach at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, Sweden.
I hope you'll enjoy yourself at the Groovy Fiddle Academy!
I'm so glad to have you here!
/Mia