Musician’s Spotlight: Donna Hebert!
Each month we’ll be featuring one of our favorite artists that we have found inspiration from. If you would like to be in the spotlight, please contact us!

We’re excited to introduce you to Donna Hebert, who is considered both a master and a primary source fiddler, is also a composer, teacher, arranger, songwriter and more. Recognized by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for “outstanding artistic achievement,” Donna Hébert is a cultural treasure.  Her violin is currently for sale at our shop (see the violin on the left) that she has recorded 4 CDs with and has played on for the last 15 years.  It is a lovely, bright, and well balanced “soloist” violin.

L. Hannum  |  Cortland, New York, #5926
Contact us for a trial and additional photos

​
When did you start playing the violin?
I began playing my grandfather's Gibson A-model mandolin before I started school. My mother took the doubled string off so my little fingers could push it down. I started violin lessons at age 9 in grade school in Naugatuck CT. There was an excellent program in the schools with concert and marching bands, orchestra and chorus from elementary through high school. We played full orchestral arrangements, too. Very challenging.

Do you play any other instruments?
I learned most of my theory from playing acoustic guitar and transcribing fiddle tunes. Though I compose on the piano, I don't really play it. I've played viola off and on for years and dabble in mandolin. Perhaps my fiddle voice is too seductive for me to want to dilute it much.

Tell us about the groups that you have and/or currently play with?
My daughter Molly Hebert-Wilson sings in Irish and plays bass, so we perform together in Mist Covered Mountains. Max Cohen plays guitar with us and we've recently added three other members: Alex Bell on percussion, Rob Pruyne-Bush on bouzouki and winds, and Noam Berg on mandolin.  We have a local concert soon on July 23 at the 1795 Meeting House in New Salem MA.
 
I also teach and perform with Groovemama, which includes Max and Molly and adds fiddler Jane Rothfield and horn player Julie Sorcek as teachers. We sometimes add Rob, Noam and Alex to this group, which coaches Great Groove Band youth performances at Old Songs Festival and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. 
 
And of course, my duo with guitarist Max Cohen is the foundation for all these groups. We've been playing together for more than ten years and can complete each other's musical sentences. Our Orange on Blue CD features some of our originals as well as tunes with deep roots in tradition.

Tell us about your current violin that you play on?
I'm playing a fiddle that was given to me by a friend for my birthday. He came over, put three fiddles on the kitchen table and said I could choose any of them for my own. I was stunned. The one I chose is a little beaten-up with age, but after many years, it's nice to change my fiddle voice. That made me realize I didn't need the fine fiddle I was playing.  

How do you go about finding the right instrument?
Love at first sight. I'm usually not looking. Someone puts a fiddle in my hands and it pulls at my heart. Setup matters, of course, but I can tell if the voice is good even if the setup isn't. I also play a lot more seconding and backup for vocalists, which calls for a different voice. And I'm more likely now to favor a darker tone than when I was younger. 

What is your greatest musical achievement? 
Aside from getting to sing with my daughter on stage (and nothing tops that!), probably being published on two Smithsonian CD collections, "Folk Song America" in 1988 and "Mademoiselle, voulez-vous danser?" in 1999. And perhaps writing my Fiddling Demystified for Strings instruction materials. Learning to delineate the boundaries between fiddle styles by transcribing them one by one was an education in itself. As a teacher, I seem to have inspired three of my students to pursue further folklore studies. I hope their parents are as thrilled as I am!

What was your greatest concert experience? 
Pick one. I usually have a great time onstage because (aside from remembering what I'm supposed to play), THAT's my job. Almost every performance has a 'frisson' moment, where my skin wrinkles or I tear up with the joy of music. Of many transcendent moments over the years, performing with some of my musical heroes has most deeply moved me.  

What 3 musicians do you look up to?
1.) Itzhak Perlman - his humor and grace are equal to his talent and I never tire of him because his mind is open to all music.
 
2.) Pascal Gemme - Québecois fiddler, singer, producer/arranger and friend. Plays with Genticorum and Yann Falquet. Pascal produced my In Full Bloom CD. Lucky me! 
 
3.) Ella Fitzgerald - listening to her taught me to use my singing voice like an instrument and eventually allowed me to go back and forth between voice and fiddle. Singing the Québecois nonsense syllables in a 'turlutte' echoes jazz's scat singing and no one bends a note with more confidence than Ella did. This came naturally to me because I was weaned on her music. It also made it almost impossible for me to stay in the classical world. Bending notes, bending beats just got me in trouble in orchestra. In my first year of high school, we played the Mozart #40 in Gm - the first movement - at the All New England music festival. The conductor, a Russian from Hartt School, caught me swinging the phrases and sternly told me to "Play it the way Mr. Mozart wrote it!" I think Mozart would have liked my variations, but I kept that to myself. 
 
What are 3 recordings everyone should own?
1.) Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill . . . The Lonesome Touch - Irish fiddling at its best. Martin is the master of dynamics and isn't afraid to play slow. Delicious!
 
2.) La Bottine Souriante . . . Je Voudrais d'Changer d'Chapeau - Québec folk music at its most joyful. 
 
3.) Sara Caswell . . . But Beautiful - the most soulful jazz violinist I've ever heard. She exquisitely fills a space, or, with equal skill, leaves it wide open.
 
What is your advice for an adult who wants to try the violin but thinks that it’s “too late to start”?
Arthur Fiedler, impresario of the Boston Pops, when he was asked when he would retire, replied, "He who rests, rots." My oldest beginning student was 82. You are NEVER to old to start to play or sing. Will you get to Carnegie Hall? Only if you give the taxi-driver the address, but that's not the point. Adult learning is about the joy of discovery, the joy of learning, the joy of NOT knowing something and allowing it to unfold. Most of the problems adult learners have relate to time management and too-high expectations. These are not physical problems but they can be a distraction. The hardest thing for adults with a busy life is finding the time to play. I suggest that adult students divide their practice into twenty minute segments and urge them to stop a session as soon as they lose their focus. Three short, focused practices are better than a longer, distracted one!

---