by Peggy Sturdivant

Only before the students arrived did Betsy Alexander sit almost still in a chair, holding her violin. Once the young Suzuki students started arriving on a hot Sunday afternoon for the first fall rehearsal of The Top Star Fiddlers she seemed to have as many tentacles as an octopus.

Betsy, as all her students call her, now teaches Suzuki violin and fiddle in her home at 64th & 30th NW.The music is just part of what she hopes will become a Sunset Hill Arts District. A person of tremendous energy Betsy is ready to turn the yard into a farm, the basement into a pottery studio, the driveway into a home for her kiln and her first floor into a concert and rehearsal venue. Her corner of Ballard is already a constant work in progress.

But for a moment she sat in the dining room ready to tune her students’ violins and start a game that would introduce two new members to the other children. It was a post-summer reunion of sorts, this every other Sunday practice that will prepare the students to play at a Family Dance and Holiday Open House at Phinney Neighborhood Center, and at Folklife next May.

“I need to be tuned,” was the chorus of the younger group as they crowded around Betsy.

On Betsy’s part it was, “Get unpacked. Gather in a circle,” and then, “Pinky on top of the bow stick.”

Like so many others who live in Ballard it’s Betsy’s goal to leave it as little as possible now that she has relocated from Whidbey Island with her teenage son Nolan. In her years of teaching she has been at the Seattle School of Music and Music Center of the Northwest. She trained at the Suzuki Institute in Japan and in the 90s in the U.S. with fellow Ballard teacher Celia Nix as teacher/trainer. However Betsy has “veered into fiddle.”

Betsy checked each student’s hold on their bow for “thumb power.” Then they stood to warm up, feet slightly apart, each child moving their bow across strings until she said, “We sound like one.”

Alexander is also a multimedia artist, who works in ceramics, glass and bronze. She makes and sells shades and sconces as part of her business Stickshade Lamps. Her kitty-corner neighbor is a weaver; another neighbor is also a potter. She envisions a cluster of open studios along with house concerts and more classes.

Some of the musical pieces are new to the students, but everybody knows “Boil the Cabbage.” There’s also “Strawberry,” “100 Pipers” “Angelina Baker” and “Song of the Wind.” Some parents and a visiting grandparent stay nearby, waiting and listening. Later in the afternoon Betsy’s older group will be arriving. They call themselves The Fabulous Flying Flapjack Eating Fiddlers. She also offers a six-week adult class through the UW’s Experimental College called Fiddling From Scratch.

Feet tapping, fiddle at her chin, eyes traveling over each child, Betsy Alexander bowed the strings and then the students followed. I suspect they would follow her anywhere, with or without fiddle.

Contact Betsy Alexander at 206.351.3307 or betsyalexander61@gmail.com