Photo Credit Greg Lanz
Donna Turk is using her music talent and teaching ability to make fiddle music available for up and coming fiddlers of all ages and music backgrounds throughout Alberta, Manitoba and the NWT. She teaches private and group fiddle lessons and has taught the Bow Valley Fiddlers for 17 years. Her approach to teaching and promoting fiddle music is to be flexible in her teaching style. She takes time to discover the learning method that resonates with each individual student and introduces music that is both challenging and rewarding for emerging fiddlers.
Donna has taught the Bow Valley Fiddlers from 1997-2014. She conducts private lessons in both fiddling and classical violin with students as young as four and as old as 90. In 2012 she began two group adult fiddle classes at the Mount Royal University, which are comprised of many Prairie Mountain Fiddlers looking to develop their fiddling skills. These classes focus on different bowing patterns, developing technical skills such as vibrato, learning different styles of fiddling and touching base on back-up fiddle and harmony.
She also is focusing on teaching Old Time Fiddling in Aboriginal communities with the Kole Crook Fiddle Association in the Northwest Territories and in Manitoba, within the Frontier School Division. Their annual jamboree draws up to 500 young fiddlers from across Manitoba each May. She also works with the Aurora Fiddlers of Yellowknife. She has taught at other smaller jamborees, including Churchill, Falcon Beach and Norway House in Manitoba.
Donna was born on Oct. 27, 1970 in Kitchener, Ontario. At the age of nine she moved to Alberta, where she still resides as a fiddle teacher and performer. She is married to Morgan Turk, also a musician, who plays electric guitar. They have two children, Sophie and Spencer.
Her music education began at the age of four, studying the Suzuki method. She was most fortunate in that her Suzuki teacher, Carolyn Hatch, was one of those diverse classical musicians that also loved fiddling, and led the Calgary Fiddlers. So, at the age of nine, fiddle music came into Donna’s life. Donna played in the Fiddler’s Hatchery from 1979 to 1981. She then went on to play with the Calgary Fiddlers from 1982 to 1988. In 1986 she acquired her Italian Fransisco Zakapone violin, made in 1981, which she still plays today.
Donna has participated and flourished in fiddle competitions throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC. To stay true to the essence of Old Time Fiddling, she learned each tune by ear, listening to the fiddle tunes over and over, just as the great fiddle players before her. Her fiddle contest accomplishments include winner in the Junior Junior category of the Grand North American Contest Wabamun , Alberta in 82, top five in the junior category of the Canadian Old Time Fiddle Contest (1982-85) in Shelborne, Ontario, and first in the 14-year-old championship class at the Old Time Fiddlers Contest in Medicine Hat. With the Calgary Fiddlers as a performer and later on in her career as a teacher, she toured and performed on stage at the Sidney Opera House, and traveled to Scotland, England, Germany, Poland, Australia, throughout the US and Canada.
Donna has taught the Bow Valley Fiddlers from 1997-2014. She conducts private lessons in both fiddling and classical violin with students as young as four and as old as 90. In 2012 she began two group adult fiddle classes at the Mount Royal University, which are comprised of many Prairie Mountain Fiddlers looking to develop their fiddling skills. These classes focus on different bowing patterns, developing technical skills such as vibrato, learning different styles of fiddling and touching base on back-up fiddle and harmony.
She also is focusing on teaching Old Time Fiddling in Aboriginal communities with the Kole Crook Fiddle Association in the Northwest Territories and in Manitoba, within the Frontier School Division. Their annual jamboree draws up to 500 young fiddlers from across Manitoba each May. She also works with the Aurora Fiddlers of Yellowknife. She has taught at other smaller jamborees, including Churchill, Falcon Beach and Norway House in Manitoba.
Donna was born on Oct. 27, 1970 in Kitchener, Ontario. At the age of nine she moved to Alberta, where she still resides as a fiddle teacher and performer. She is married to Morgan Turk, also a musician, who plays electric guitar. They have two children, Sophie and Spencer.
Her music education began at the age of four, studying the Suzuki method. She was most fortunate in that her Suzuki teacher, Carolyn Hatch, was one of those diverse classical musicians that also loved fiddling, and led the Calgary Fiddlers. So, at the age of nine, fiddle music came into Donna’s life. Donna played in the Fiddler’s Hatchery from 1979 to 1981. She then went on to play with the Calgary Fiddlers from 1982 to 1988. In 1986 she acquired her Italian Fransisco Zakapone violin, made in 1981, which she still plays today.
Donna has participated and flourished in fiddle competitions throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC. To stay true to the essence of Old Time Fiddling, she learned each tune by ear, listening to the fiddle tunes over and over, just as the great fiddle players before her. Her fiddle contest accomplishments include winner in the Junior Junior category of the Grand North American Contest Wabamun , Alberta in 82, top five in the junior category of the Canadian Old Time Fiddle Contest (1982-85) in Shelborne, Ontario, and first in the 14-year-old championship class at the Old Time Fiddlers Contest in Medicine Hat. With the Calgary Fiddlers as a performer and later on in her career as a teacher, she toured and performed on stage at the Sidney Opera House, and traveled to Scotland, England, Germany, Poland, Australia, throughout the US and Canada.
Photo Credit Greg Lanz
She also studied classical violin throughout university while continuing to play fiddle music. She has achieved her RCM violin grade 10, and studied Violin Performance at the University of Western Ontario. During Donna’s third year at university she had an injury that forced her to take a five year hiatus from performing and studying the violin. It was during this difficult time that she missed playing her fiddle so much that she knew music would be the main focus of her life and thus became the beginning of her teaching career
In 1997 Dean Marshall and John Crozman hired Donna to teach the Bow Valley Fiddlers. At that time the Bow Valley’s had been formed to be the farm team for the Calgary Fiddlers, ages 10-12; now the Bow Valley Fiddlers are an educational program that is part of the Calgary Fiddlers Association, and focus on traditional fiddling and performance skills in children aged 7-18. The Bow Valley Fiddlers started with 10 fiddlers and has grown to approximately 60 fiddlers, divided into four groups. Donna continued in this role until 2014. It has been her years of teaching with the Bow Valley Fiddlers which allowed Donna to embrace her passion for teaching and promoting fiddle music.
In 2003 Donna had the opportunity to teach at the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp, where her class consisted of mostly Aboriginal students. This was a life changing opportunity. She loved their enthusiasm and energy for learning fiddle music. From there she went onto working with Blaine Klippenstein in the “Under the Porcupine Music Festival” in Barrows, Manitoba. This music festival focused on teaching traditional fiddling to adults and children, operated by the Métis Community of Barrows from 2003 – 2013.
When asked about fiddlers who have made a difference in Donna’s music, she quickly notes her top three:
“Dean Marshall, he is a musical genius. He took me under his wing and has been my mentor and friend for more than 30 years.
Graham Townsend, an early influence. I have studied his tunes and the old time fiddle style as well as his performing presence.
Andy DeJarlis –I love Andy’s tunes and love his feel with his music”
Her first CD, About Tyme, was released in June in 2012, and features her original compositions and traditional fiddle tunes. She was accompanied by Greg Simm on acoustic guitar. She also recorded her all-time favorite tune, which is the Tear Drop Waltz by RegBouvette.
Donna is now focusing on teaching fiddle to adult students and would like to work on developing fiddling programs in First Nation Communities.
In 1997 Dean Marshall and John Crozman hired Donna to teach the Bow Valley Fiddlers. At that time the Bow Valley’s had been formed to be the farm team for the Calgary Fiddlers, ages 10-12; now the Bow Valley Fiddlers are an educational program that is part of the Calgary Fiddlers Association, and focus on traditional fiddling and performance skills in children aged 7-18. The Bow Valley Fiddlers started with 10 fiddlers and has grown to approximately 60 fiddlers, divided into four groups. Donna continued in this role until 2014. It has been her years of teaching with the Bow Valley Fiddlers which allowed Donna to embrace her passion for teaching and promoting fiddle music.
In 2003 Donna had the opportunity to teach at the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp, where her class consisted of mostly Aboriginal students. This was a life changing opportunity. She loved their enthusiasm and energy for learning fiddle music. From there she went onto working with Blaine Klippenstein in the “Under the Porcupine Music Festival” in Barrows, Manitoba. This music festival focused on teaching traditional fiddling to adults and children, operated by the Métis Community of Barrows from 2003 – 2013.
When asked about fiddlers who have made a difference in Donna’s music, she quickly notes her top three:
“Dean Marshall, he is a musical genius. He took me under his wing and has been my mentor and friend for more than 30 years.
Graham Townsend, an early influence. I have studied his tunes and the old time fiddle style as well as his performing presence.
Andy DeJarlis –I love Andy’s tunes and love his feel with his music”
Her first CD, About Tyme, was released in June in 2012, and features her original compositions and traditional fiddle tunes. She was accompanied by Greg Simm on acoustic guitar. She also recorded her all-time favorite tune, which is the Tear Drop Waltz by RegBouvette.
Donna is now focusing on teaching fiddle to adult students and would like to work on developing fiddling programs in First Nation Communities.
