SHAUNCEY ALI

Shauncey Ali is a fiddler, composer and educator who has won the RockyGrass fiddle competition, performed with Peter Gabriel, composed and recorded theme music for an Ambie-nominated podcast, and directs MadFiddle - his own reimagined model for youth music education - work that has taken him across the U.S., Canada, Italy, Spain and Scotland.   ​

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His latest project, the Shauncey Ali Quartet, captivates audiences with evocative compositions and daring arrangements that straddle the intersection of tradition and innovation.  Shauncey's voice artfully blends bluegrass, Celtic and Nordic fiddle styles with sensibilities influenced by pop, rock, classical music and a love for improvisation.  ​​

A new album is on the horizon - learn more about how you can support the project here!

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Shauncey has toured with the Katie McNally Trio, Graminy, SweetGrass, the Old Tin Can String Band, Blake Thomas and the Downtown Brown, Katie Powderly and Her Band, Josh Harty, La Boheme String Trio, Gaines & Wagoner and many more.

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MadFiddle, Shauncey's reimagined model for music education, is a youth fiddle school and development program that has become an anomaly in the music education world.  Created in 2012, MadFiddle has nurtured hundreds of young  musicians, with graduates attending the Berklee College of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Belmont University, UW-Madison and many more. 

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In addition to his work with MadFiddle, Shauncey hosts summer camps and has been an instructor at the Blue Ox Music Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass Academy for Kids, FiddlePal Camps, Bluegrass Camps for Kids and the UW Summer Music Clinic, as well as appearing as a guest clinician at schools and maintaining a private studio for the past 20 years.

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Ali has authored two books - Backcountry Ramble: A Collection of Original Fiddle Tunes, 

a tune book and companion cd featuring his original compositions, and MadFiddle Vol. 1: Fiddle Tunes & Folk Songs, an instructional tune/songbook that showcases selections from the curriculum he developed for MadFiddle.   

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Shauncey is also the creator of Strapsey, offering a decorative line of instrument case straps for stringed instruments.  Strapsey supports some of the most inspiring folk musicians and prominent music dealers in the country. 

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As a 3rd grader, Shauncey began playing viola in the school strings program.  He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a full viola scholarship, where he played in the symphony by day and in clubs by night.  Since then he has collaborated with bands ranging from bluegrass and old-time to singer-songwriter and class-grass to rock and jazz/Americana. ​