She fiddled away the summer – but still won!

By Liz Smith

We’re so proud of our secretary, Karen Steven, who achieved phenomenal fiddling success in Edinboro, Pennsylvania in early September. Not only was she was awarded 2nd place, she won for playing the best march (Mrs. MacDonald of Dunach).

Karen had already placed 2nd in her category at the Pembroke Fiddle and Stepdance competitions in August, and led the very successful fiddle workshop at Glengarry Highland Games last month too. Congratulations Karen!

Here is the story of her beginnings in fiddling from in her earlier years in Scotland, to her triumph over an unexpected health challenge, and her new life in Canada - as told in her own words.

“I began learning fiddle when I was 16, around the time the Highlands of Scotland were twinned with Cape Breton Island. A high school fiddle group was formed and we toured Cape Breton for 3 weeks. That’s where I first came across such great players as The Barra MacNeils, Buddy and Natalie MacMaster. Cape Breton marked a turning point in my playing. I noticed all the fiddlers there played from memory. On returning from that trip in 1986, I started committing my repertoire to memory.

I attended many fiddle courses at Sabhal Mor Ostaig (SMO), the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye, over the years; later being hired to play fiddle for the Cape Breton Stepdance courses there. I also taught fiddle at SMO and later, alongside Alasdair Fraser on Skye and at Celtic Connections International Winter Festival in Glasgow. After graduating from the University of Aberdeen with an MA Hons Gaelic Studies degree, I took a job teaching traditional music at Thurso College (University of the Highlands), later moving to their Alness campus, near Inverness to do the same.

Then in 2005, I was struck down by a life-threatening illness, a subarachnoid haemorrhage in the brain. That led to my giving up music for 12 years. I returned to playing in 2017 and have been gradually relearning my repertoire and honing my craft. Moving to Canada in 2022 and becoming a permanent resident in 2024, I came to be aware there is quite a competitive fiddle music scene here. The atmosphere is really great to be around! The camaraderie is great and the competitions is good for making you practice hard and pay attention to which tunes might be best to play!

I’m not sure how long I will continue to compete. I have been doing some volunteering at events now too, so might step back from competitions after next year and take on more of a role on committees. I joined the SSO in June this year, helping out as Secretary and I’m really enjoying the experience, being part of the Scots community in Ottawa and the area – and meeting other musicians.

I compose too, and have a number of recordings under my belt, with the proceeds of some going to the National Health service in Scotland, NHS. My compositions have appeared in 2 books and in 2020, I published my own collection of fiddle tunes. In 2023, while waiting for my permanent residency of Canada application to be processed, I decided to complete my memoir, NUDGED...a journey from music career to brain surgery and back again, published under the Independent Publishing Network label.

This was something I started in 2007, but lost confidence in. Then, in 2017 when I returned to fiddling, the book needed a new ending anyway. After digging out all my old manuscripts and refreshing the chapters, I returned to the printer who produced my fiddle tune book and had my memoir put in print.”