Local musician receives prestigious state award

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Jefferson County resident Jane Wells Scott is one of four recipients of the 2019 Florida Folk Heritage Awards – a recognition given annually to standout folk artists and advocates alike who have made longstanding contributions to Florida's folklife and cultural resources.
Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel announced the four recipients on Tuesday, January 15, congratulating each for their commitment to fostering Florida's folk arts and cultural heritage.
“Oh man, I was overwhelmed and elated and couldn't believe it!” Scott describes her reaction upon learning of the award, which is the first-ever presented to a female fiddler.
Scott – an accomplished musician, scholar and mentor of traditional old-time and Irish fiddle – has been playing her chosen instrument going on 34 years. She is credited with playing a key role in the dynamic exchange of folk music traditions in North Florida, to which traditions she has contributed in her roles as teacher, preservationist and mentor.
“Students and peers alike regard her as a valuable resource and important fixture in the community,” State Folklorist Amanda Hardeman Griffis, of the Division of Historical Resources of the Florida Department of State, says of Scott. “Her work elegantly reflects the rich quality of Florida’s folk music heritage.”
Born in Jacksonville, FL, and raised in Alabama, Scott became steeped in Irish music early on through her mother, who was of Irish descent. Scott took up the fiddle in 1985 and never looked back, studying under such renowned fiddle masters as Liz Carroll and former Florida Folk Heritage Awardees Edward Keeney, among others.
A self-described lifelong learner, Scott has availed herself of every opportunity to learn and improve her music playing techniques, attending the Willie Clancy Summer School in Ireland and traveling to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to explore the region's unique fiddle style, among other things.
Regarded as a gifted instructor in her own right, Scott for many years taught music in the public school system at both Oak Ridge and Florida High elementary schools in Tallahassee. She also led the Irish Ensemble at Florida State University for seven years, before joining her husband Gordon at Gordon's String Music in Tallahassee, where she teaches private lessons and helps mind the business.
Through the years, Scott has performed at various venues locally and regionally and even on the international stage. She also, along with her husband, is the founder and host of bimonthly musics sessions where musicians come together to play Irish music. Starting at the former Warehouse on Gaines Street, these sessions now continue at Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub in Tallahassee.
Scott is considered a driving force in Tallahassee’s Irish music scene and has mentored multiple talented young fiddlers, several of whom have gone on to participate in the state fiddle contests at the Florida Folk Festival and beyond, according to her bio. She also, in 2011, published the Tallahassee Irish Tune Book, a collection of more than 265 pieces played at various of the Irish sessions, complete with the history of Irish music, session guidelines and an alphabetical tune index.
Scott will received her folk artist award in a ceremony at the Word of South Festival in Tallahassee on April 13, 2019.
The Florida Folk Heritage Awards Program is recognized as the state's highest honor for folk and traditional arts that perpetuate community traditions. Like its counterpart, the National Heritage Awards, the program honors Florida’s most influential tradition bearers for excellence, significance, and authenticity in the traditional arts.
Established in 1985, the awards are based on public nominations and recommendations from the Florida Folklife Council.
  The Florida Folklife Program, meanwhile, is among the oldest state folk arts programs in the nation, dating from 1979. It is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, its aim to raise the awareness of Floridians and visitors alike to the state's traditional culture through a variety of activities and projects.