About the SCVFA: Who We Are

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The Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association (SCVFA) is a non-profit, all volunteer-operated public organization dedicated to the preservation, teaching, and enjoyment of traditional music for the fiddle and other instruments. The SCVFA was founded in 1973 in San Jose, California.

The purpose of the organization is to carry on activities intended to revive, study and perpetuate the traditional music that constitutes the cultural heritage of our forefathers. We perform and teach a wide variety of styles including old-time, country music, bluegrass, western swing, Celtic, Scandinavian, swing jazz and other traditional styles. Our music is played on acoustic instruments such as fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins, string basses, resonator guitars, accordions, and harmonicas. We offer a jam and open mic, open to all, on the first Sunday of each month at Hoover Middle School in San Jose. Participants often range in age from under 8 to over 80.

Currently we have about 250 members, living primarily in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, which includes San Francisco, Oakland and Livermore to the north, and Gilroy and Santa Cruz to the south.

What We Do

As our founder Bill Wein put it, ”music self-played is happiness self-made.” Most of our activities involve performing music, and teaching and learning tunes and technique. Members and guests perform at our monthly jam and open-mic session. Members also perform, by arrangement, at various community events and at community venues such as senior centers and retirement facilities. Payments received for such performances help fund our activities, particularly our youth programs.

Membership  Any individual interested in traditional music can join the SCVFA. Individual memberships are $20 per year, which includes a subscription to our monthly newsletter, the Fiddler's Rag. Additional members living in the same household are $2 each. The newsletter provides articles on music history, people, instruments, tunes, music events of interest to members, and information on the activities of the SCVFA itself.

Monthly Jam  Since 1973, our monthly jam has been held on the first Sunday of each month in San Jose from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. It is currently held at Hoover Middle School, 1480 Naglee Ave., at Park Ave. in San Jose. The jam is open to the public and offers attendees a chance to hear and play music on stage and in informal groups that gather on the school grounds outside. Any attendee can sign up to perform 3 or 4 pieces on stage, solo or as part of a group, and we usually have a full schedule for the afternoon. A Beginners' Circle slow-jam group led by an experienced musician helps newer players learn tunes, technique, and the ins and outs of jamming.

The jam admission fee is $6 for members or $8 for non-members, which goes toward paying our school rent and insurance. Children 17 and under are free. Occasionally well-known fiddlers perform, and we charge extra for those concerts. In Summer months we often move to the nearby Rose Garden park (Naglee at Garden Dr.), where admission is free. See the Jams page for more about the jam in general, and the Events page for specific details about upcoming jams.

Youth Programs  One of our important goals is to encourage young people to learn traditional tunes and musical styles. Our youth program consists of our KidFiddle workshops and our Youth Fiddle Contest. These programs are primarily funded by donations to the SCVFA and by fees for our performances in the community. Donations to SCVFA are generally tax-deductible because we are a federal and state registered 501(c)(3) organization.

Updated 1/26/12 (RB & PSS)

The SCVFA is a California non-profit corporation, registered with the California Registry of Charitable Trusts.

We are classified by the IRS as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3). Donations to the SCVFA can generally be deducted from the donor's Federal (and often state) income tax. Consult your tax advisor about your specific situation.