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Not Just FIDDLING AROUND

Warren girl finds success with violin

December 1, 2012
By JACOB PERRYMAN (jperryman @timesobserver.com) , The Times Observer

It's a sight familiar to anyone who spends enough time around kids.

Leave them alone long enough and they'll start fiddling around, but it's not usually an accomplishment.

When Warren residents Scott and Cathy Pearson's daughter Aubrey does it, she wins awards.

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Warren area 7th grade home school student Aubrey Pearson recently won the Pennsylvania State Junior Fiddle Contest held in Clarion. The event is only one of many fiddling contests she’s won this year.

Aubrey, who is currently 12 years-old, has won three fiddling contests this year alone, including a state contest.

She has the background for it. According to Scott, Aubrey has been playing since she was 6 years old. She has the added advantage of coming from a family of fiddlers; both Scott and Cathy are award-winning bluegrass musicians.

According to Scott, this year, Aubrey has won competitions at the Kittanning Folk Festival and the Jefferson County Fair and won the Pennsylvania State Junior Fiddle Contest in Clarion. She also took second in the Ed Haley Fiddle Contest in Ashland, Ky.

All this follows on the heels of her second place State Junior Fiddle Contest finish last year.

"A few years ago she hated doing the state contests because she couldn't win," Scott said. "Last year she took second and was really excited. This year, she won and she said, 'You know, this is really not so bad.'"

Aubrey is a part of the Lakewood Suzuki Strings class, which teaches Suzuki method violin, in the Jamestown area. She studies under instructor Sue Tillotson. She also participates in the Warren County School District's Summer Music School program.

Aubrey, according to Scott, also plays the piano and she enjoys writing her own music.

"She likes to be imaginative and make up her own songs," Scott said. "She's into a lot of different music. She likes bluegrass but she likes the pop stuff too. She likes to do a lot of third scale harmonics."

Aubrey also performs locally. She has recently performed for a homeschool convention and at the Frewsburg Library. In addition, she occasionally shares the stage with her parents, who play fiddle and mandolin with bluegrass group Border Ride.

"She works very hard at it," Scott added. "You know, she's a typical kid. Sometimes she works real hard at it. Sometimes, summer comes and then ..."

 
 

 

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