‘Strings’ Scholarship Winner

Strings is pleased to announce that fiddler Amanda June Ward has been named the recipient of the 2009 Strings Magazine Scholarship Award. Ward is a native of Washington who has been playing fiddle for over seven years and teaching private fiddle lessons since 2006. She plays in a variety of styles, but spends the most time on traditional and Texas-style fiddle music. “I love how the music changes from person to person, each fiddler adding his or her own special twist to a song so old that no one really knows where it came from,” she says. “I think that this type of music is really alive thanks to the many fiddlers that keep it that way.”

Learning the fiddle and playing in contests, Ward says, have helped develop her work ethic. “I have found that when I have done the work and put in the practice I always do well onstage, but if I haven’t then I will be disappointed. It helps me to realize that the only thing standing between where I am now and where I want to be is much effort I am willing to put in,” she says.

This fall, she begins classes at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she intends to major in music education and performance. After graduating, she hopes to perform with a group, tour, and do studio work before founding a music school in her hometown of Spokane. “I believe that music education is an essential part of every child’s education, a part that needs to be nourished,” Ward notes. “Through participation in music, children improve in all other aspects of their life.”

As the scholarship recipient, Ward will be awarded $3,000 to pursue her educational and musical goals.