2011 Tune-Writing Contest in Eclectic Styles in partnership with D'Addario Strings:

Strings Without Boundaries is proud to announce the winners of the national 2011 Tune-Writing Contest:

Michael Mendelson
After many years as a bluegrass guitarist and singer, Michael Mendelson switched to the fiddle. Over the years he has played a variety of styles, from old-timey and bluegrass to Texas-style and swing to New England and Cape Breton. He has had the distinct honor to work with, and write about such great fiddlers as Benny Thomasson, Hugh Farr, and Tiny Moore.
He is an eclectic composer of tunes for the fiddle, embracing many traditions. He regularly plays contradances with the bands “Chopped Liver” and the “Fiddle Tunas”, folk-rock with “Granite Tapestry” and was a member of the infamous (and now defunct) old-timey band the "Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers”. His latest CD “Fiddle Pieces” is a collection of original tunes ranging from western swing to contradance, waltzes, jigs, reels and a tango!

Download PDFs for Martin Norgaard's arrangement of Michael Mendelson's winning tune,
"Dance of the Lemmings" and audio example (strings midi) of the arrangement.

Rika Ikeda
A native of Japan, Rika Ikeda started piano at her age of 3, and violin at 4. She received Bachelor and Master degrees from Osaka College of Music, Japan, where she intensively studied classical violin with Tomotada Soh and Takako Murata. Her classical studies extended to master classes in Internationales Jugend - Festspieltreffen Bayreuth (Germany), Aspen Music School, The Bowdoin International Music Festival (USA), Cupra Music Festival (Italy), Tring (UK), Stow (UK), and Courchevel Music Alp (France).
When she finished her undergraduate study, she started to take jazz gigs, and became more interested in that direction. She is now studying performance with Matt Glaser, Rob Thomas and Christian Howes, and studying composition with Bob Pilkington as well as Eugene Friesen at Berklee College of Music in Boston as a scholarship student. She has won 2011 The Next Big String Thing Competition. In 2010, she received the String Department Chair Award for her distinction in performance.

Download Julie Lyonn Lieberman's arrangement of Rika Ikeda's piece, "Fooo." Here is the master score and a midi accompaniment.

Jim McKinney started playing guitar in 1978 and then fiddle in 1987 at age 27 at his grandfather's suggestion. He is self-taught, and first made up a fiddle tune in 1989. Since then he’s submitted several compositions to the Nebraska ASTA Fiddle Tune Composition Contest and won twice. He’s placed as high as second in the Michigan State Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Contest.He now no longer competes in the contest but serves as it's director and organizer. After the death of Michigan fiddler Les Raber in 2000, he transcribed Raber’s recorded repertoire (176 tunes) and produced a book, Come Dance With Me, which he published with his daughter Judy. He and his wife have a band, The Golden Griffon Stringtet. They play for contra dances and Civil War balls. He’s also been teaching fiddle workshops at the Original Dulcimer Player's Club's Funfest in Evart, Michigan since 1997. His favorite fiddlers are Les Raber, Rodney Miller, Becky Tracy, Kevin Burke and Pierre Schryer and his current project is transcribing the repertoire of old-time Michigan fiddler Stewart Carmichael.

Download PDFs for Matt Turner's arrangement of Jim McKinney's winning tune,
"Crying Woman" and audio example (strings midi) of the arrangement.

Sarah Hubbard
Sarah Hubbard, an eleventh grader honor student at the Williston Northampton School, is committed to mastering and performing a variety of music styles for strings. Her musical interests and repertoire include jazz violin, gypsy jazz swing, Klezmer, blues, classical, electric and a wide variety of fiddle styles including New England, Ottawa Valley, Cape Breton, Irish, Texas Swing, bluegrass, old-time, and Metis - a style developed by Canadian Native Peoples. She has placed in the top three in every fiddle contest she has ever entered as a young adult. She was the first place winner of Blandford’s Fiddle Contest in 2009 and 2010 and she won second place in the Ethnic Division at the 31st Annual Lowell Fiddle and Banjo Festival in September, 2010.
Sarah performs regularly with a number of groups. She is a soloist with the Pioneer Valley Fiddlers, a local intergenerational group, the Klezmer violinist for Paul Green and Friends, a first violinist with the Springfield Symphony's, Springfield Youth Orchestra and was featured at a master class with Rachel Barton Pine, performing Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C minor. She is also concert mistress of the Williston Northampton Schools Chamber Orchestra, recently performing the Barber Concerto.

Download PDF's for Richard Greene's arrangement of Sarah Hubbard's winning tune, "Devin's Reel" and audio example (strings midi or piano midi) of the arrangement.

Devin's Reel Parts

1st Violin
2nd Violin
3rd Violin
1st Viola
2nd Viola
Cello 

About the Arrangers (arrangements to be performed at SWB 2011):
Julie Lyonn Lieberman is the author of eight books and 6 DVDs distributed by Hal Leonard, and eight scores for Alfred Publishing with one on its way for Kendor. Creative Consultant to many prestigious music programs, she is an eclectic styles specialist and a D’Addario Elite Clinician. Julie is the Artistic Director for Strings Without Boundaries and originated the idea for the SWB Tune-Writing Contest.
Richard Greene, Grammy winner & one of the most innovative and influential fiddle players of all time, first attained prominence as a Bill Monroe Bluegrass Boy, then founded Seatrain (one of the earliest appearances of violin in rock music), The Greene String Quartet (Jazz & Americana), The Grass is Greener (Bluegrass), and other groups.
Randy Sabienis the author of the ground-breaking method Jazz Philharmonic. He is a composer for Alfred and heads the string program at McNally Smith College of Music.
Matt Turner, featured on over 100 recordings, is regarded as one of the world’s leading improvising cellists.
Equally adept in many styles, Turner performs in a number of styles.

$10 Entry Fee per tune for Individuals: mail one Paypal receipt or check (see entry form for details) with your application and tune and keep one receipt for your records. Repeat this process for each tune. Entry forms and Paypal receipts or check can be mailed together.

$50 Entry Fee per class (no more than 20 students per entry form): mail one Paypal receipt or check (see entry form for details) with your application and tunes and keep one receipt for your records.Repeat this process for each group of 20 tunes. Entry forms and Paypal receipts or check can be mailed together.