Don’t panic, we are still here! It’s merely time to redesign our website. After close to a dozen years or so, for sure it is about time we redesigned the site. We will return with a variety of options not offered in the past, including a forum, a type of chat room, and of course, a blog. Hopefully, we will have the site completed in the very near future, so please check back often.

In any case, the information below is mostly from our old site and cobbled together for anyone who has never been here before. Oh, you can always reach us at our email addresses: chris©texasfiddling.com and andy©texasfiddling.com.

The 1996 National Adult Fiddling Champion, Chris Daring, offers the finest in Texas Style Fiddling instruction and performance.

Chris has been twice designated as a Master Artist in fiddling by The Colorado Council on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts. She has taught fiddling as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Southern Colorado and the University of Colorado at Denver.

Her primary teachers are members of the Texas Fiddlers Hall of Fame: Terry and Dale Morris. Terry, who passed away in 1988, was a Featured Star at the Grand Ole Opry in 1976; Dale is a former member of the Sons of the Pioneers.

During the summer of 2008 at the National fiddling championships, one of Chris’ students became the National Junior Junior Champion. Another of her students is the 1998 National Junior Champion and the 2000 Young Adult Champion. Many have become Colorado State Fiddling Champions in their respective age groups, some have become Regional Champions, and to many to count have won other contests and have placed in some of the top positions at the National Championships.

An article about Chris and her family can be found at Westword Magazine's site. Fiddler Magazine featured her in their summer 2003 issue.

Over the years, Chris and her family have provided the music for the private dinner of eight world leaders and their wives at the 1997 Summit of the Eight Conference in Denver, Colorado. She and her students performed for the owner’s party prior to the1998 Baseball All Star Game.

In 1988, Chris recorded an instrumental album with the Nashville Superpickers. In 1992 she again went to Nashville; this time to do vocal recordings with some members of the Garth Brooks' studio band. She has also recorded an all acoustic album with her family.

Beginner, intermediate, and advanced sheet music (including sound files) for what will eventually become a large library of arrangements for fiddle tunes, as well as classical violin pieces and theory/agility studies is available by email.

Online Audio and Visual Instruction is Available and Easy!

Oh, the wonders of technology. Since the time Apple released iChat AV to the public, Chris has offered online, over the internet, face-to-face, audio and visual fiddling and violin instruction! Initially, it worked, but not all that well. However, because of improved technology, this method of face-to-face, or even knee-to-knee instructional delivery, now allows Chris to effectively teach Texas Style Fiddling world-wide. Currently, a partial list of her online students includes residents of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Pennsylvania, and several others.

The equipment and technology are neither expensive nor difficult to learn to use. Video cameras start at about $30.00 and go up to as much as you care to spend. Although we find the instruction works well with low-end cameras, please remember, the better your camera, the better we can see you. Microphones include those built into your computer, those that come with the video camera, and those purchased specifically for this purpose. Like the camera, the better the microphone, the better we can hear you.

You must have a cable or DSL connection. Sorry, but dial up connections just are not fast enough. This does not mean you have to be at your house. We have several students who drive to a different location to borrow a computer that has the faster connection. Some students even use the computer lab at a local grade school.

Most of the time Skype is used to make the actual video and audio connection between us. Other delivery systems include AOL Instant Messenger and others like it, or, if you have a Mac we can both use iChat AV. Any of these are very easy to use, so do not worry about having difficulties learning to use the technology. And remember, we can help you.

The entire process is much easier than it sounds.