It’s not much of a stretch to see Dr. Mona Bandyopadhyay at the Iowa State Fair.
After all, she is currently a large animal intern at Iowa State’s Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center. She was on the Farm Animal Field Services rotation and would be working at the fair when something caught her eye.
“I happened to see that there was a fiddle contest on one of the days I would be at the fair,” Bandyopadhyay said. “After chatting with a few people, I found out you can register at the fair to play in the contest that day.”
It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Bandyopadhyay began playing the violin in the 5th grade and took up the fiddle in middle school. Through the years she has accumulated lots of other string instruments and enjoys learning to play new instruments.
But first undergraduate studies, and then completing her DVM at Michigan State University. interrupted Bandyopadhyay’s musical interludes.
“Keeping up with playing music was difficult during vet school,” she admits. “I attempted to use it as a stress relief as often as I could, but it wasn’t as fun to play alone after being in various groups.
“My vet-related commitments made it difficult to get involved with the local music community.”
While she still doesn’t have a lot of time to commit to her violin and fiddle, Bandyopadhyay has decided to make music a bigger priority, whether it be attending a camp or sitting in on a simple jam session.
But back to the Iowa State Fair. On the day she attended, Bandyopadhyay brought along her violin and decided to participate in the fiddle contest, performing “Old Joe Clark,” “Josephine’s Waltz” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
“It was fun to play some music, and I had a great time watching other really talented fiddlers perform,” she said.
October 2024