810-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 30, 1996
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GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
GARRETT (Somerset Co.)
Emily Engleka (Engle-ka) is 13
years old. She gets away with
more fiddling around than most
kids do, and nobody scolds her for
it.
That’s because when Emily fid
dles around, she isn’t fooling
around ex' wasting time. She is
playing bluegrass or gospel music
on her fiddle.
She enjoys bluegrass Addle
contests and has won a trophy or
prize money at quite of few of
them.
For instance, on November 9,
she won a third place in the Mid-
Atllantic Grand Fiddle Contest
held in Cumberland, Md. Earlier,
she had won honors at the Pen
nsylvania State Fiddle Competi
tion, and had won her school’s
talent contest at Rockwood.
Emily was eight years old when
she decided she wanted a Addle of
her own. She had seen and heard
bluegrass music played on televi
sion and really liked it.
Her parents, Nathan C. and
Sharon Engleka agreed to buy the
Addle and bow. They are very
glad now that Emily knew what
she wanted.
Ellinor Benedict who lives near
Grantsville, Md. is Emily’s
instructor. Mrs. Benedict abso
lutely loves music and plays more
than one instrument.
The funny part is Mrs. Bene
dict, at one time, played classical
music in a big city orchestra.
Because the instrument she played
was a cello, Mrs. Benedict was a
ids
A Kid Who Just Fiddles Around
professional cellist. But the
fiddle? No indeed, she didn’t play
The violin and the fiddle have
the same shape.
“Physically, there’s no differ
ence in a fiddle and a violin,”
explained Mrs. Benedict “If you
are playing the Beethoven Violin
Concerto, it’s a violin. If you are
playing ‘Turkey In the Straw,’ it’s
a fiddle,” she said, laughing
because it sounded confusing.
When she moved to Garrett
County, Md., and no longer play
ed in an orchestra, Mrs. Benedict
became interested in learning to
play the Addle. Soon she began
teaching it to pupils.
Emily and her mother saw the
advertisement and arranged for
her lessons to begin.
Low and behold, when they
Arst arrived Mrs. Benedict wasn’t
even home. She had forgotten
about the date. The next week,
though, she remembered.
The teacher and pupil got along
really well. Soon they were enter
ing the same bluegrass Addle con
tests. They played in different age
divisions.
Emily, who earns high grades,
and completes her homework in
school, admits her tummy still
flutters before she goes on stage.
"I’m nervous before I get up,”
she says, “but once I’m up, I’m
fine.”
It also helps her when people
clap, she said, and when they say
nice things to her.
“I like to pick out my relation in
the audience,” she says. It’s really
nice to have them come out.”
It may be small, but a fiddle has
some amazing parts. A frog, for
instance, and a bow made with
long hairs from a horse. These can
be tom. There’s a scroll, peg box,
sound holes, tail piece, strings,
finger boards, a bridge where the
strings pass over, and those aren’t
all of them.
“You have to get the bow over
the middle and stay away from the
Anger board,” Mrs. Bendict tells
Emily who is preparing for the
next contest in two days.
They play a waltz. Mis. Bene
dict is at the piano.
Holding the fiddle between her
chin and shoulder, Emily crosses
the strings with her bow. It’s a
new sound.
Her teacher likes what she
hears.
“That’s very, very good,” she
says to Emily
“Emily is working out her own
style which is very good,” she told
Emily’s mom.
“She is already doing things
with her fiddle that she wasn’t
taught by her teacher.”
For the contest Emily must be
ready to play seven tunes, like a
hoedown, a waltz, and several
others.
She, her mom, and her grandma
play in a group with three other
people.
Her mom plays the banjo.
Grandma plays the guitar.
Someday, Emily will play a
violin. She will learn how to play
classical music. She would like
that, she says. *
Emily has other interests
besides playing the fiddle.
“I like basketball and drawing
Disney cartoons,” she says. “I like
school, too.”
Even her chores, she doesn’t
mind doing. Sometimes, instead
of watching television, she finds
other interesting things to do.
After school she gives food and
water to the dogs.
She helps to clean the house.
During the summer, she mows the
grass and pulls weeds in the
garden.
Emily has one brother who is
age five. His name is Aaron.
oriie
Emily Engleka, 13, began taking fiddle lessons five years
ago and loves going to contests.
Emily Engleka concentrates on playing her fiddle as
instructor Elllnor Benedict plays the piano.
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