From the time she was four years old Shari Ame knew that she was going to play the fiddle. After five years of school orchestra she found her way to Lark in the Morning, a world-class folk music and dance camp in the redwoods, and there she fell in love with traditional Irish fiddling, Contra dancing, and traditional Scottish and English popular ballads.
Shari has been teaching private and group fiddle lessons in Corvallis for sixteen years, and she plays for contra dances with her band, Broken Top. She plays in many styles, including Irish, Scottish, Quebecois, Old-Timey, cross-tuned Appalachian, Klezmir, and Swedish.
As a teacher, she delights in teaching people young and old to hear and speak the language of music (sheet music is rare in her studio). Using many activities, games, and instructional recordings, she aims to connect to the hearts and minds of her students, exploring the great dance between mental and physical knowledge and the magical synthesis between sound and emotion. Her aim as a teacher is to teach students to find the balance point between effort and ease. And to get folks playing with a kicking backbeat!