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NATCHITOCHES, La. (AP) — A West Monroe High School senior who plays a number of instruments is Louisiana's newest state fiddling champion.
Joanna Calhoun won the title and $300 Saturday at the Louisiana Fiddle Championship, held at Northwestern State University as part of the annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival.
Calhoun who also plays instruments including flute, piano, mandolin, banjo and guitar, she enjoys the violin because it's the most challenging instrument she plays.
"Eevery other instrument you can just play the note automatically," Calhoun told The News-Star (http://tnsne.ws/2amffSO ). "With the violin, there are no frets, no keys, so you have to find the note every single time."
Calhoun has studied classical violin for 13 years, and took a year of lessons in fiddling.
"It's not as structured," Calhoun said. "There isn't a specific time, there is not really a specific key...It's okay to have a grittier sound, and classical music is more based on flow and beauty...Fiddling is mainly based on improvisation, and I'm not an improv person."
Calhoun has been the first chair flute at West Monroe since her freshman year, and will be the band's drum major this coming year.
She has already been offered a $3,000 scholarship to play flute in Louisiana State University's Tiger Band, said her mother, Sarah Calhoun Allbritton.
Calhoun said she's also considering Tulane University.
She plans to major in science — possibly astronomy, physics or biochemical engineering — and minor in music, she said.
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Information from: The News-Star, http://www.thenewsstar.com
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