Superpower: Turning chaos into flow
Founder, The Cat and the Fiddle and Executive Director, Cacapon Music and Dance Foundation
Dakota Karper got her first fiddle when she was just 7 years old. “My childhood was very musical for sure, in large part because of my dad,” she says. She started taking fiddle and violin lessons, and her dad learned clawhammer banjo so they could learn and play folk music together. “I was a homeschooled child, and my mom was my K–12 teacher. She instilled in me a love for learning and creativity. Between the two of them, I feel like I had a wonderful start in life.”
The Hampshire County native spent some time in Baltimore after college, but her passion for music and community brought her back. She taught music at her home until she ran out of space, then the community stepped in. Through crowdfunding and fundraiser concerts, a folk music school, The Cat and the Fiddle, was established in Capon Bridge. Karper named it in honor of the first time she heard the word “fiddle”—in the Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme. “I wanted this to be a space where other people could have their first musical experience, too.”
Karper also established the Cacapon Music and Dance Foundation, which supports scholarships for kids to learn music and traditional folk dancing. “This provides a multi-generational connection in the community,” she says. “These are children learning music who wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Their futures are being changed because of this. Not everyone will have a career in music, but it builds your confidence, creates new ways of thinking, and helps you learn teamwork by playing music with others. It’s really rewarding to have a job that supports me and really helps the future of our community and state.”
Karper has also continued her own journey as a touring musician with the bands Hemlock & Hickory and Vandalia and as a solo artist.
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