Siblings with pluck

CAÑON CITY - Last summer, Eischen Harkins was the Grand Champion of the Fiddlers Along the Arkansas competition, beating out nearly 40 competitors — about a third of them adults.

She was 12.

In the championship play-offs, Eischen competed against her brother, Grady, 10, who had won another division.

“I never mind that,” she said at this year’s competition, held in late July.

Grady rolled his eyes. “It used to be first and second all the time,” he said, pointing to his sister and then to himself. “It was kind of nice when she moved into the next division.”

The Harkins, who live in Cañon City, have made a reputation for themselves as formidable opponents on the Western fiddle circuit. They travel to about eight competitions a year.

Grady’s playing is deemed laid-back and emotional, while Eischen’s is touted as techically pristine — even as she decorates her songs with improvised licks or short musical ornaments.

In 2006, Eischen placed fourth in her age group at the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest in Weiser, Idaho — the biggest fiddle competition in the country. This year, she moved into the teen division and placed eighth.

Liz Harkins said her children’s talents stem from hard work, organization, and beginning to play at a young age. Eischen and Grady began playing the violin at 2 and 3, respectively.

In a way, the root of their talent dates back more than two decades before their birth — to 1974, the year their mother studied in Japan. She stayed with a family whose 4-year-old regaled her with Vivaldi. The girl was taught according to the Suzuki method, which emphasizes ear-training over reading music.

“The idea is to teach young children to play naturally in the same way that they learn to speak,” Harkins said.

Still, she never envisioned her kids as competitive fiddlers, playing toe-tapping Texasstyle contest classics like “Say Old Man Can You Play the Fiddle?”

Eischen kicked off her set with the tune, notes piling onto one another in a frenetic crescendo, inspiring hoots from the crowd.

She followed with the lilting “Memory Waltz” and then launched into another racing number, “Don’t Let the Deal Go Down.”

“Not bad for 13!” the host called out when she was done.

Eischen and Grady transitioned from violin to old-time fiddling five years ago, when they moved to Colorado from Arkansas. Harkins had been driving them 2½ hours to Tulsa, Okla., for Suzuki lessons. She suggested local fiddling lessons in Cañon City. They agreed and excelled — soon finding themselves driving 2½ hours to Denver each week for more advanced instruction.

Eischen and Grady don’t mind the weekly drive.

“Sometimes I play guitar in the car,” said Eischen. “It’s sort of dangerous to play fiddle, though — for the fiddle. You can break the bow.”

Their teacher, Chris Dering, said learning by ear is wellsuited to the largely unwritten tradition of fiddle playing.

When her children became serious about fiddling, Harkins retired from her longtime job as a petroleum engineer — to which she had been so devoted she named Eischen after a petroleum well.

“My time is their time,” she said. “I had to concentrate all of my efforts on getting them to and from anything that had to do with fiddle.”

Yet she doesn’t expect her children to become professional musicians. Eischen said she wants to be a pediatrician.

“One thing the Suzuki method has done is helped them concentrate and have discipline,” said Harkins. It may have contributed to Eischen skipping two grades in school.

According to Dering, it’s this rigorous mindset that sets Eischen and Grady apart as students. “It has to do with that willingness to focus,” she said.

Dering arrived at this year’s Fiddlers Along the Arkansas competition in time to hear the winners announced for each division. Grady came in first in his age group for the second year in a row. Eischen placed second behind 18-yearold Aarun Carter.

Eischen took the news in stride; there would be another competition in Kiowa in a couple of weeks (she and Grady took first place in their divisions), and one after that in New Mexico.

She offered to accompany her brother on the guitar during the championship play-off.

A 20-year-old from Missouri won.

But as he waited to play, Grady was hopeful.

“OK, buddy. You gotta smoke them,” called out his father, Larry Harkins.

He watched his children warming up.

“Do you know Eischen can play the fiddle while doing the hula hoop?” he said. “Very few people can do that.”