About the SCVFA: Who We Are

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

To paraphrase our bylaws, 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 old-time fiddle tunes, country music, bluegrass, and other music styles on the fiddle and other acoustic instruments.

We have about 140 member-families — most from the southern San Francisco Bay Area, but ranging to San Francisco, Oakland and Livermore to the north, and south to Gilroy and Santa Cruz. We are a family-oriented organization, often attaracting players ranging in age from under 8 to over 80.

About the SCVFA: What We Do

We believe, as our founder Bill Wein put it, that “music self-played is happiness self-made.” Most of our activities involve performing music and informally teaching and learning tunes and technique. Members and guests perform at our monthly Jamboree and open-mic sessions. Members also perform by arrangement at various community events and at locations such as community and senior centers. Donations received for such performances help fund our activities, particularly our youth programs.

Membership  We offer family memberships for $15 per year, which includes a subscription to our monthly newsletter, the Fiddler's Rag. The newsletter provides articles on music history, people, instruments, tunes, and other music events of interest to our members, as well as information on the activities of the SCVFA itself.

Monthly Jamboree  Our monthly Jamboree has been held since 1973 in San Jose, on the first Sunday afternoon of each month. We meet from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at Hoover Middle School, 1635 Park Ave. (at Naglee) in San Jose. The Jam is open to the public and offers attendees the chance to hear and play music, both on-stage and in informal groups that gather in the school grounds outside. Any attendee can sign up to perform 3 or 4 tunes on stage, solo or as part of a group, and we almost always have a full schedule for the afternoon. Regular Beginners' Circle sessions help newer players learn tunes, technique, and the ins and outs of jamming. We charge a nominal admission fee for adults ($5), to pay for the school rental and insurance. Children 16 and under are free. Occasionally we invite a well-known fiddler to perform, and admission is a bit more for those concerts.

Youth Programs  One of our goals is to encourage young people to join us in learning traditional tunes and musical styles. To this end we operate our KidFiddle program of subsidized youth fiddle classes periodically at the jams at Hoover Middle School, and have sponsored annual Youth Fiddle Contests each November since 2002. (See our events page for information on recent and upcoming events.) We have also awarded several scholarships for fiddle instruction to young fiddlers, based on skill and interest in traditional fiddling demon-strated at SCVFA events. These programs are primarily funded by grants and donations to the SCVFA and payments we receive for various performances by our volunteers.

Contact information SCVFA Trustees and officers.

The SCVFA is a California non-profit corporation, registered with the Calfornia 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.