When Zoe Darrow ’12 plays the fiddle, she closes her eyes and softly beats her foot on the ground. Her fingers nimbly move over the frets as her bow skips over the strings. She is totally Zen. You can tell her sense of pleasure and absolute bliss that she feels when she’s playing, and it’s contagious. She has been playing the violin since she was four years old, when she discovered the instrument while watching her sister play, and soon took up playing as well. It wasn’t long, however, before Darrow discovered Celtic music and was inspired to begin fiddling. Darrow draws a strong musical influence from Irish and Scottish music, especially Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Darrow, a native of nearby Blandford, studied music during her day-to-day curriculum because of she was homeschooled and she studied with local teachers as well.

Darrow’s love for music and ability in performing continued as she performed in recitals regularly while growing up. Darrow is very much intrigued by the kinds of connections she has with people who’ve come to see her perform. “A lot of people just hear the music and see me and it’s as if I’m not really there, not in a negative way. It’s the fiddle that’s doing all the talking. In a performance, afterwards people feel like they know you and they come up to you and be really friendly with you. They really want to connect with you when in fact it’s all the fiddle that does that. And that’s amazing to me that a sound can connect people so intensely and make you feel like you know a performer even though they haven’t said a word.”

Around age 12, Darrow took part in a local amateur band along with her dad, who plays guitar and uncle, who plays piano. The response was great, and the group got requests for performances, and soon enough, Zoe and her father started up a band called “Zoe Darrow and the Fiddleheads.” The band includes Darrow and her dad Phil, along with family friend Tom Coburn on piano.

The Fiddleheads have played all over the country, but frequently in the Pioneer Valley. She’s played at the Iron Horse in Northampton on numerous occasions, including their St. Patrick’s Day show. Said Darrow, “The Iron horse is a cool place to play because everyone knows it and when you say ‘I’m performing at the Iron Horse,’ everyone’s like ‘Yeah, I know where that is, we can go.’ And they get all excited, and it ends up being a really high-energy show. It’s not the biggest venue that we’ve played but there’s always that cool Northampton aura about it.” The group has gained large amount of notoriety both within the Celtic music community, as well as the local community. In 2007, the Valley Advocate named the band “Best Celtic Band.”

“I find it amazing when someone enjoys my music,” said Darrow. “Every person that comes to see me, I’m so flattered. I’m blown away that they wanted to make time out of their life to come see me perform. It’s very neat, it’s very validating.”

Playing concerts isn’t something that makes her as nervous as it used to, but instead excitement. She and her dad used to play on the streets of Northampton to help her get over her jitters. Still, performing in front of large crowds hasn’t seemed to help with her public speaking skills. “I get terrified if I have to speak in front of people. If I have to speak or do a presentation in front of class, my palms start sweating and I start getting butterflies in my stomach, but I like playing my violin for people.”

The Fiddleheads have played three shows this semester, though the group plays most of their shows during the summer, while Darrow has more free time to rehearse and travel. Darrow’s father Phil maintains a large amount of the planning that goes into running a band. “He does like a third of the work during the performances and 100% of the work outside of the performances,” said Darrow. Though now that she’s getting older, she wants to take more responsibility in managing the group and organizing performances.
Darrow attributes Mount Holyoke to her success, especially the small class sizes and attention from professors. Darrow is majoring in anthropology and is interested in studying ethnomusicology. She loves world music, especially international string music. “I’m really interested in types of fiddle music from all over the world, especially Mongolian and Indian,” said Darrow. “Right now I’m learning a whole different fiddle instrument. It’s called a Rebab and I’m playing with the Smith Gamelan ensemble. The teacher there has been nice enough to drag me into this completely new type of playing, completely new songs. It’s still technically a fiddle but still kind of terrifying, and I’m really enjoying that.”

Darrow will be playing around New England this summer. Even with the chaos of college life, fiddling is a central force in her life that she plans on continuing with for a long time.” I always want to have my fiddle, its not something that I can just stop doing. Its been such a huge part of me through a lot things. I’ve grown to respect it but also rely on it. Seeing my ability grow has been really helpful for me.”

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