Suzuki Violin Training by Brian Wicklund

THE AFM STORY

A small prairie town in Minnesota was not necessarily the obvious place to grow up for a young bluegrass fiddle player. But a few years of Suzuki violin training, a good ear, and perseverance helped Brian Wicklund to parse out those tricky licks on fiddle records and led him on a path to contest winnings and internationally touring bands. With a degree in education and a knack for making difficult concepts simple, it was natural that he should become a master fiddle teacher. The waiting list for people wanting to learn from Brian grew to years.

In 1998, he turned his successful curriculum into the best-selling, American Fiddle Method which has sold over 100,000 copies. With a membership to AFM, you can learn from his Video Lessons anytime and anywhere. You can also learn from him in person with his online Live Courses or along side his hand-picked staff at a Fiddle Pal Camp!

Brian Wicklund

Becky Buller

Katie McNally

Jessie Burns

BRIAN WICKLUND (Marine on St. Croix, MN)

Brian Wicklund is widely regarded as among the top fiddle teachers and performers in the country. He is the author the best-selling books, The American Fiddle Method published by Mel Bay and heads AFM online school. He is an instructor at top camps and workshops in the US, Canada, UK and Sweden including his own AFM Fiddle Camp. Brian has been a member of bluegrass bands for decades including: Stoney Lonesome, Judith Edelman Band, Kathy Kallick Band, and Chris Stuart Band. He currently fronts Minnesota-based progressive bluegrass band Barley Jacks.

BECKY BULLER – (Nashville, TN)

Becky Buller is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter who has written songs for Grammy award-winning albums: she co-wrote “Freedom,” the lead-off track of The Infamous Stringdusters 2018 Grammy-winning album Laws of Gravity as well as “The Shaker” on The Travelin’ McCourys self-titled release that brought home the 2019 Best Bluegrass Grammy. Becky is the recipient of 10 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards, including the 2020 Song Of The Year, “Chicago Barn Dance” (co-written with Missy Raines and Alison Brown); 2020 Collaborative Recording for “The Barber’s Fiddle”; 2016 Fiddler and Female Vocalist and the 2018 Gospel Recorded Performance for the song “Speakin’ To That Mountain”. She tours extensively with the Becky Buller Band and has released three albums on the Dark Shadow Recording label, including Distance And Time, which was a nominee for the 2021 IBMA Album Of The Year.

Equally passionate about bluegrass music education, Becky has 20 years experience teaching fiddle, singing, and songwriting at workshops and camps around the world. website

KATIE MCNALLY Portland, ME

Katie grew up steeped in the vibrant Scottish and Cape Breton music community in Boston and is a graduate of Tufts University where she majored in Music and Child Development. She has performed across the US with Galician piper Carlos Núñez, fiddle supergroup Childsplay, and in her own trio. http://www.katiemcnally.com/

JESSIE BURNS Lyons, CO

Jessie is originally from Suffolk, UK and grew up steeped in Irish fiddle tradition. A master performer, she toured for six years with Gaelic Storm. She currently keeps a busy teaching schedule at her studio and online. Jessie can be seen and heard performing nationally with fiddle trio, “The Bow Tides” and on their new release “Sailing On”.

Zack Kline

Eric Christopher

Chris Silver

Zack Kline (Minneapolis, MN)

Zack Kline is a fiddler, composer, and teacher and loves all 3 equally. As a teenager he became involved with the Bluegrass scene in Colorado and soon found himself playing with bands all around the area. College brought exploration into Celtic music, Jazz and composing. Since then he has started his own “chamber fiddle” band The Orange Mighty Trio, performed regularly with Irish singer Katie McMahon, and has been writing music for film/tv on the side. As an instructor, he focuses on finding the details that take a tune from basic to exciting, and on developing the skills for making it your own. He feels that a musician can look backward to the deep traditions of the past and forward to the most current evolutions and draw from both. Perhaps then our music can be personal and traditional at the same time. website

ERIC CHRISTOPHER – Mandolin Minneapolis, MN

As a young classical violinist, Eric discovered fiddling and the mandolin through his grandpa, a fiddler and mandolinist in country dance bands. After touring, performing and recording with dozens of alt-country bands in his late teens and early twenties, he focused on his first musical love: bluegrass. Eric toured with bluegrass legend James King and co-founded The High 48s, who went on to win the RockyGrass Band Competition and tour nationally. Eric is also active as an instructor, working with students of all ages and backgrounds at his studio in St. Paul, MN, and at workshops and jam camps around the region.

Chris Silver (River Falls, WI)

Chris Silver is best known throughout the country as a virtuoso flatpick guitar and mandolinist and can heard at festivals, theaters, and clubs and radio shows across the globe. Formerly of the bands Stoney Lonesome, Tangled Roots, and the Kate Mackenzie Band, Silver has taken acoustic his Roots and Americana music to new levels through his solo appearances and shows his own band, The Good Intentions. website