Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Johnson, Turner, Black, Crawford
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 11/22/2017
Johnson Wins Scottish Fiddling Title (Championship – 9 September 2017)
Johnson Wins National Scottish Fiddling Title
Local violinist and fiddler Joanna Johnson of Chili won the National Open Fiddle Championship Founder’s Cup competition held Sept. 9, in Edinboro, PA. (Contributed photo)
Once a year, the National Scottish Fiddling Championship, organized by Scottish Fiddling Revival Ltd. Scottish F.I.R.E., takes place at a sponsoring Highland Games.
The past several years has seen the championship held in Edinboro, PA sponsored by the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. On Sept. 9 this year, fiddlers gathered from all over the USA, from the state of Washington all the way to Florida.
The group consisted of eight competitors who qualified for nationals at various regional competitions throughout the country, or had placed first or second in the national competition within the past five years.
After hours of spectacular fiddling by each contestant, the winner of this year’s National Open Fiddle Championship Founder’s Cup was local violinist and fiddler, Joanna Johnson of Chili. She performed her own arrangement of traditional Scottish tunes, and won first place on top of Best Air for her slow tune, “Best Strathspey” (the signature type of tune in Scottish Fiddling), and over all Best Set. She is honored to represent Wisconsin as the new 2017 National Scottish Fiddle Champion.
Johnson began playing the violin at age seven and almost immediately dived into Scottish Fiddling as well. In 2013, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a violin concentration from Crown College in Minnesota.
Prior to this year, she has consistently ranked among the top Scottish Fiddlers in the U. S., receiving several awards at prior U. S. National Scottish Fiddling Championships. She was named runner-up for the 2014 U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Championship.
Johnson thanks her Scottish Fiddle mentors for helping her achieve the title of National Champion; Dr. John Turner, 10-time U. S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and head of the Jink and Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling in Valle Crucis, NC; Dr. Mari Black, 2014 Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion in Scotland, and 2015 and 2013 U. S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion; and Dr. Melinda Crawford, U. S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion.
Johnson is a violinist in the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, and is Concertmistress of the Wausau Symphony. She is also a fiddler, singer, and composer for MPK Christian Celtic Band, with whom she performs regularly.
She is an avid composer of Celtic music and turns in the Scottish Fiddle Style. She is currently available for booking for concerts as well as for private violin and fiddle lessons, in person or on Skype. Contact her at Joanna.naomi@outlook.com or 715-683-2889.
