A native daughter of the genre-bending West Coast music scene, Caroline McCaskey is equally at home in the regional traditional, improvising and classical music worlds. In high demand as a teacher and performer throughout North America and author of the AltStrings Fiddle Method, she holds degrees in music composition and performance, as well as Suzuki teaching certification in violin and cello. She has taught at Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School and Sierra Fiddle Camp, as well as Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp and Fiddlekids Day Camp.

As a classical performer, Caroline earned her Master of Music in Viola Performance at Lamont School of Music, where she earned the Recital of Distinction (as the first violist in 17 years to do so). She, along with her string quartet also won Lamont’s 2012 chamber music competition. In 2009, Caroline was also a winner of University of the Pacific’s concerto competition, playing the first movement of the Walton viola concerto. She occasionally moonlights on the cello as well, having toured internationally as the substitute cellist with the dance band Reel of Seven, as well as teaching cello at Swallow Hill Music in Denver and at Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp. A proud multi-instrumentalist, she plays all four string quartet parts on her debut solo album “Flying Leap.”

Caroline has also performed to rave reviews on the musical saw. “A revelation,” proclaimed the critic for the San Francisco Performing Arts Examiner, and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas declared her the prima donna assoluta of the instrument — in writing, with a Sharpie, on her saw. And Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition declared her to be the “[b]est thing since Jimi Hendrix.”

Today, Caroline is the fiddler for the dance bands Tartan Suite and Stringfire!, and performs regularly with Boston-based guitarist and banjo player Larry Unger. Her other duo projects include Moonrise, a classical violin and guitar duo based in Sacramento, CA and Secret Oaks, a jazz- and folk-infused string duo based in Fort Collins, CO. Caroline is the 2019 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and a two-time International Musical Saw Champion. A lifelong learner, Caroline is currently pursuing a degree in vocal jazz at American River College.

Musical Saw Player

Fiddler

Violist

Cellist