Emerald Rae and Kieran Jordan, beneficiaries of Mass. Cultural Grants Sean Smith
Special to the BIR

Even when she was a little girl, Lowell native Natalya Kay Trudeau knew that she wanted to play Irish music—to the point of fairly exasperating her classical violin teacher. “I started out playing classical, but as I got better I tried to teach myself Irish music,” recalls Trudeau, now a high school student, who drew inspiration from her fiddle-playing grandfather. “I don’t think my teacher liked it very much when I’d come in with some jig or reel and ask him to teach it to me instead of a piece by Bach or Vivaldi.”

Fortunately, Trudeau eventually found a fiddle teacher in Laurel Martin, who helped her to develop her childhood interest for Irish traditional music into a full-fledged passion. But just when Trudeau thought things with Martin couldn’t get any better, they did.

Last year, Trudeau and Martin were awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant, which enabled them to set up a far more comprehensive and intensive program of study in Irish fiddle for Trudeau. In the months to follow, Trudeau would go beyond learning tunes and develop a greater appreciation for regional styles of fiddle, particularly the County Clare style favored by Martin, influential musicians in Irish tradition, and other aspects of the music.