Brandon teen runner up in international fiddle contest
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/06/2023 (1077 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Grade 12 student Jess Gregory is heading into graduation season with a lot of momentum behind him after placing second in the “Championship Division” of the 46th International Old-Time Fiddle Contest, which took place at the International Peace Garden on Saturday.
This year’s competition featured musicians from Manitoba, North Dakota and even New Mexico, who all travelled to the garden over the weekend for a shot at winning cash prizes totaling more than $2,000.
While Gregory only walked away with $300 for placing second overall, he told the Sun that this year’s result was still a pleasant surprise, especially since a lot of his main opponents were fully grown adults.
“I didn’t expect to get high up as I did,” he said on Sunday. “Everybody played so well. So overall I’m pretty happy with it.”
The 18-year-old Vincent Massey High School student revealed that he’s been playing the violin for around a decade, having originally discovered his love of music through a trip to Germany to visit with his relatives.
“A friend of my relatives owned a violin shop and we were in there one day and the owner kind of noticed me fiddling around with the bows and the instruments,” he recalls. “And she told my mom, ‘you should see about getting him some violin lessons, because he seems to have a natural way with the bow.’”
Gregory attempted to prove that violin shop owner right over the intervening years by learning the fundamentals of the instrument and then fine tuning his technique, with a lot of his success in this arena being attributable to local music instructor Marla Winters.
The 18-year-old said his mother should also share a lot of credit for his progress, since she largely served as his manager by sorting out contest dates and motivating him to stay up-to-date on rehearsals.
However, Gregory isn’t completely competition-focused when it comes to his music, having made a habit of performing at local care homes over the past couple of years.
“It’s sort of the highlight of their month, having someone go in there to take 25 minutes and play some songs for them,” he said.
Looking ahead to the future, Gregory is planning to attend Assiniboine Community College to study nursing, although he doesn’t plan on giving up music anytime soon.
“If you really keep at it and find your passion for it, then you can play great things.”
For any prospective musicians who want to follow in his footsteps, Gregory stresses that persistence is key to success, although it’s important to never lose sight of why you decided to pick up a violin in the first place.
“If you really keep at it and find your passion for it, then you can play great things,” he said.
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson