gordon stobbe

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, presenting Gordon with the Member insignia of the Order of Canada on September 6, 2018 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
   

order of canada

photo - Sgt Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall, OSGG

   

"Gordon Stobbe's passion for fiddle music has enriched our cultural heritage. A performer, composer, teacher and publisher, he has toured with several band,s including his own trio, for more than 40 years. In the 1980's, he hosted a popular variety show, Up Home Tonight, that featured local talent and helped launch the careers of many successful artists. Devoted to the preservation of fiddle music, he has tirelessly built a nationwide network of workshops and camps to introduce the joys of this rich tradition to others."

 

Gordon, originally from Saskatchewan, has made his home on the East Coast of Canada since 1977. His musical interests lie in the field of traditional music, especially as it is expressed in the wide variety of North American fiddle styles. He plays several instruments including fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and clawhammer banjo.


His musical career is wide and varied.

 

 

gordon and fiddle 

His performance history, besides his work in bands, includes co-creating, hosting, and musical directing eight seasons of a traditional music television variety program on the ATV / CTV Network, called Up Home Tonight in Halifax, Nova Scotia; five years of performing and touring with the NDWT company, a theatre company in Toronto specializing in developing and performing Canadian theatre pieces; twelve years of hosting a weekly Bluegrass radio show "Bluegrass Express" on CHFX in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and many recording projects and radio and television appearances. He performed in Halifax's Neptune Theatre's productions of Foxfire and Fiddler on the Roof. He has also been commissioned to compose and record scores for CBC radio dramas as well as musical work on other film and television projects. He has also been a musical coach for actors in Hollywood-produced movies shot in Nova Scotia.

 

mandolin

 

Gordon developed a teaching program at Musicstop's Canadian Conservatory of Music at its inception, and continued to teach there for over 30 years (now the Long and McQuade Music Education Centre), in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is a repeat instructor at numerous fiddle workshops and fiddle camps across Canada, including the Maritime Fiddler's Association Workshop and Shivering Strings Music Camp in N.S.; Tobique Fiddle Camp in New Brunswick; Ottawa Fiddle Camp, Tamworth Keep It Simple Workshops and Candian Grand Masters Camp in Ontario; Shivering Strings Winnipeg in Manitoba ;John Arcand Fiddle Camp, the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp, Kenossee Camp and Shivering Strings West in Saskatchewan; Calvin Vollrath Fiddle Camp, The Hills Are Alive Cultural Camp, Shivering Strings Calgary and workshops in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer in Alberta; Hope Fiddle Camp, the Kootenay Fiddlers in Castlegar, Fiddlefest Workshops in Smithers, Fiddle 'Treat in Gavin Lake and Sunshine Coast Summer School of Celtic Music in Robert's Creek in B.C.; the Yukon Fiddle Camp in Whitehorse, Yukon; Kole Crook Jamborees in Hay River and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.


Gordon developed his two-hour stage show "The Fiddler's History of Canada" with the Valley Youth Fiddlers of Smithers, B.C. which was performed in the spring and summer of 2012. This show traces the spread of fiddle music through the history of Canada. Gordon is currently working with other youth fiddle groups who would like to perform this show.

Gordon travels to the Canadian North working with First Nations and Inuit children in Nunavut, the Yukon, Northern Manitoba and the Northwest Territories .

Gordon has been an invited judge and Master of Ceremonies at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championships, as well as adjudicating at the Nova Scotia Kiwanis and other festivals. He is also interested in the connection between traditional instrumental music and dance. He can often be found calling a square dance.

 

Gordon is a composer on the fiddle and has many recording and publishing projects to his credit. His CD, 'Small World' was nominated for Best Roots / Traditional Solo Artist at the 2003 East Coast Music Awards. He has published many fiddle books with more to come. He has written several fiddle instruction books and has published tune collections of traditional as well as original music. These resources are now being used by fiddle teachers across Canada and the United States. He has recorded with artists across Canada. He has co-written fiddle music with Calvin Vollrath, John Arcand, Patti Lamoureux, Oliver Schroer, Shamma Sabir, Paul Gitlitz, Bernie Jaffe, and others.
Gordon was a regular contributor to
Fiddler Magazine for many years.

Throughout his performance career Gordon has played with a variety of bands, including the Dixie Flyers in Ontario, before settling in the Maritimes where he played with the Ladies Choice Bluegrass Band, Those Fabulous Clichés, the Mighty Oak String Band and the Gordon Stobbe Trio (traditional fiddle styles of North America), and a variety of musical configurations. When he is not solo teaching and performing, he now mainly works with the duo Twin Fiddles with JJ Guy.

 


contact

Gordon Stobbe can be reached by:

mail : Gordon Stobbe

17 Gaetz Lake Drive
Seaforth, Nova Scotia
Canada, B0J 2L0

phone : (902) 827 - 3433 -----------------------fax : (902) 827 - 5887

email : info@fiddlebooks.com


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