I teach a lot of adults and kids too. It really was the whole package. At bluegrass festivals, my students are all over. Molly Tuttle: Molly started guitar at age eight, playing bluegrass banjo at age ten, singing at age eleven, playing clawhammer banjo at age thirteen. Victor Skidanenko: Victor is a talented bluegrass musician who plays banjo, mandolin and guitar and has been a member of several Bay Area bands. He now plays bluegrass fiddle with Cabin Fever. BGS: What experience has been the most rewarding? She played and recorded with the bluegrass band, Batteries Not Included and now plays in the Carol McComb Band. It’s a rewarding experience. It was driven by putting so much materials on paper with all the instruments. Jack Tuttle’s Student Hall of Fame. She also taught me music theory at Foothill College in the 1980’s. At some point along the way around 8 years old, my dad learned the banjo. I needed a system that was laid out in book form. It was crazy and so hard to organize, so I put them in books. I loved hearing the harmonies under the trees. Molly became the 2017 and 2018 Bluegrass Guitar Player of the Year at the IBMA Awards, the first woman to ever win this award. Jack Tuttle has taught and performed bluegrass music for most of his life. My dad decided we needed a string bass in the house, and my sister started playing that. Sullivan Tuttle: Sullivan has developed into a very fine bluegrass guitar player, and is a master of improvising in several genres. He’s a masterful performer, composer and instructor on fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin and an expert in bluegrass music. In 2019, Jack’s son Sullivan received second place at the National Flatpicking Championships in Winfield, Kansas. In March, with COVID-19 devastating communities across the world, a tornado destroying much of my beloved hometown, Nashville, all concerts cancelled for every musician I know and the specter of hunger and joblessness looming around the globe, I found myself creatively, mentally and physically drained. Anita Grunwald: A talented violinist from childhood, Anita studied fiddling methods with me as she made the transition from classical violin to the fiddle. For three decades, his bluegrass jam classes have been a mainstay at Gryphon Stringed Instruments. Overall, I love the connection with students. I used to lecture at her class once each quarter. Primarily taking my group classes, with a few private lessons, Mark has become a mainstay of the South Bay jam scene. So, I grew up hearing bluegrass and old country – and eventually learned the banjo. He has also taught at the Sore Fingers Summer Schools in the UK, the Walker Creek Music Camp, the California Coast Music Camp (CCMC), the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and the Northern Bluegrass Circle Workshop in Canada. Before it was popular, I was listening to A Prairie Home Companion. But aside from all his success as a musician and a teacher, perhaps Jack’s greatest achievement in music is his children. #7 QB 2011 Season Highlight. JT: I think going to that bluegrass festival and the organic nature of the music happening. It was a very inefficient way for me to learn what I wanted to know, so I ended up taking private lessons in music theory. She has been a member of Darol Anger’s progressive Republic of Strings and Crooked Still. He performs with many Northern California bluegrass luminaries as well as his own talented children. Multi-instrumentalist Jack Tuttle was reared in a musical family in rural Illinois, and his love for music started at the early age of five. Brittany Haas: Brittany first came to me at age eight as a talented Suzuki violin student who was interested in old-time fiddling. BGS: What is your favorite instrument to teach and your favorite part of teaching overall? Even part of it is the culture of the early lyrics of rural life. This is where I get to brag on my students – and I have had some very good ones through the years. However, this has given his lessons a new focus – adapting to a virtual world. Jack Tuttle: My dad played guitar when I was really little. Watch Queue Queue He would play Hank Williams and show me the chords. Bluegrass is such a supportive community. Tell us your story. JT: It’s a nice connection that we have. With the jam session classes over the years, it becomes a circle of friends. JT: Getting my kids into the music would be a pretty big highlight. He has mastered tons of bluegrass tunes and songs and can play a mean guitar on occasion. Jack has been awarded the California Bluegrass Association’s highest honor, the Lifetime Membership award for his great contributions to helping bluegrass music thrive in California. Elizabeth Barkley: Elizabeth is head of the music department at Foothill College and studied banjo with me. We actually got pretty big into doing that before anyone was. JT: It’s a funny thing. Above all, Jack’s primary goal is to help his students to develop total musicianship, getting them to the point where they can think for themselves on their instrument. JT: Just that I appreciate the enthusiasm from the people that support me – with gigs and lessons. Very few people play bluegrass rhythm guitar correctly because you can make so much improvement with students when demonstrating the bluegrass strum. Seeing it live and hearing it live was something different. The qualifications to make this list requires a student to have had a series of lessons in a one-on-one setting and some accomplishment of some sort related to music.