When Rebecca Lomnicky was 5, her parents, Gregg and Yvonne, got a taste of the musical talent. That was when Rebecca began playing classical violin. Three years later, she discovered Scottish fiddling when she attended Suzuki Violin Camp.

"That year. I also heard Natalie MacMaster (perform)," recalled Rebecca, now 13. "She really inspired me."

MacMaster is a fiddler from Nova Scotia, Canada, and Rebecca was fascinated with her. But with piano, violin and voice lessons to concentrate on, not to mention school, it wasn't until last year that she finally started taking Scottish fiddle lessons.

This Saturday, she'll perform at the Oregon Scottish Heritage Festival in Albany.

She feels ready to impress the crowds with her Scottish fiddling skills.

"I like the way it sounds and feels," Rebecca said, smiling as she struggled to define what draws her back to Scottish music. "It has two sides. It can be dance-like, and it can be soft and sweet airs."

A seventh-grader at Corvallis Waldorf School, Rebecca divides her time between daily music practice, school and soccer. She practices one instrument each morning and two others at night, singing in the car and any where else she can to work on her voice. Twice a week, she has a private lesson in the morning before school starts.

Although she's still years away from attending college, she's already plans to go to a music school.

Last summer, Rebecca placed first at the junior level of the Columbia-Pacific Scottish Fiddle Competition, making her the Northwest Junior Scottish Fiddle Champion. A few months later, she traveled to Cape Breton Island, MacMaster's stomping grounds, where she attended the Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music. Next she spent a week at the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in Northern California, under the direction of musician Alasdair Fraser.

When Rebecca takes a liking to something, she heads straight for the best. Fast on the heels of her fall training, she spent January at the Mastery of Scottish Arts Winter School in Seabeck, Wash.

With so much training, Rebecca has prepared well for this year's busy schedule, which includes several Scottish fiddling performances, and a trip to Houston to compete in the U.S. National Scottish Fiddling Championship, where she'll face the country's top fiddlers.

But she's also preparing for the biggest trip of her life, when she and the rest of the Heart of the Valley Children's Choir visit China for a concert tour in June.

"We're going to sing on the Great Wall," she said excitedly.

She dreams of one day traveling to Scotland, where she'll be able to practice her craft in the home of its birth. Despite the fact that she has no Scottish ancestry, the music has inspired her to feel a deep connection to the place.

She'll be auctioning off an hour of her fiddling at Corvallis Waldorf School's fundraiser on April 16. She'll perform Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Oregon Scottish Heritage Festival at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center in Albany. Admission to the festival is $6 adults, $5 seniors and students. Kids under 12 get in free. The festival is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, go to www.oregon

scottish.org.