Playing Fiddle

I own 4 fiddles at the moment. (Brian, if you find this, do NOT tell me about the next one I need!)

I started playing fiddle on my grandmother’s old violin. And I love it! I will never get rid of it just because of that connection. I never heard her play but gather she and her sister learned violin and mandolin in the early 1900′s. I wish I had my great aunt’s mandolin as well but that has gone somehow.

Anyway, I started playing on this fiddle and it’s nothing special physically but has the emotional connection. After I’d been playing a bit I picked up a Gotz, which is about as old as I am. It is sweet. Has a different feel and a very different tone than my Grandma’s violin. I then designated my grandmother’s violin as the GDGD fiddle, since I was getting into cross-tuning. And it sounds much better in GDGD than it did in standard.

My next purchase was a brand-new Chinese violin, a “beach fiddle” as they say. It was not expensive, but is decent. It’s a bit harsh to my ear, yet the more I play it the better it sounds. I think it needs breaking in. It’s now my “odd tuned” violin. Currently that means Calico (AEAC# see this minor list of tunings) but it changes periodically as I play with GDAD and others. I break more strings on that fiddle….

My favorite… hmmm and suddenly I hesitate to say fiddle… What is that emotional discordance between the words fiddle and violin? Anyway, my prize instrument, my favorite to play, was my recent Christmas present to myself, a 1926 (I think) Roth. It’s sweet. And the sweet spot of bowing, where it sounds good, is much broader than any of my other fiddles. I can play way up next to the bridge or go softer as I move down.

So now they hang on my wall, all tuned differently. (The Gotz has become my AEAE.)

When I pick one up, I feel the narrowness or thickness of the neck, the chin rest variations, the tuning pegs smoothness or stickiness, the spot where I should be bowing. They are all unique yet similar. My left hand adjusts somehow, despite the neck variations. I’m just now learning to play in 2nd and 3rd positions and there is a similarity somehow between shifting positions and playing on different violins. My left hand slides into nearly its place, then finds its place, and the fingers adjust and land where they ought. (Or nearly!) My right hand has a harder time adjusting where to bow on each but I’m working on that.

They’re all the same… yet uniquely different. Like having a conversation with different old friends. You talk/play, listen, adjust, feel, reach out, adjust, talk some more, adapting as you go. And the reward is a sweet conversation between your ear (or printed music) and your fingers and your bowing hand.

I’ve been learning a few Scottish tunes. Listening to Old Blind Dogs was what sparked my interest in learning fiddle. I sounded out a few tunes, like Margaret Cromar’s and Leaving Lochboisdale. Lately I started practicing them again, as well as some I’ve learned from listening to Alasdair Fraser older albums, in particular Return to Kintail and The Driven Bow. Some I have sounded out and others I have started with the transcripts in The Fiddle Music of Scotland, a great book I picked up a while back.

I’m committed to working on my bowing this week. I’m sloppy. I don’t get the pronate thing naturally. I tighten up. My shoulder moves. But I look at these guys who play without any extra movement and I’m blown away.

I can sight read songs and memorize them. But the bowing is the key. Well, that and memorizing I think. You can’t get the speed up if you’re thinking at all about the notes rather than just hearing the melody in your head and playing it.

I’m still confused by what tune this actually is but tonight I learned (that is memorized) the 3rd song in a set by Pete Sutherland. Apparently there are multiple songs out there with the same names AND the same tune with multiple names. The one I learned tonight starts like this:

I got a new cross-A tune to learn today, Camp Chase, from this mp3 available on Amazon: Falls Of Richmond/ Camp Chase.

That, among other things, led me to update my practice lists. I keep the new stuff in the front of a binder and the old stuff separated into rough categories, somewhat alphabetically. But somehow the front of my binder was way overloaded with stuff I had definitely already memorized. So I added to my practice lists and shuffled papers tonight. Now, I feel like I can practice with a clean mind somehow.

I’m going to go figure out how to make a page of downloads first though, in case anyone is interested in making their own practice sheets. I find them invaluable for reminding myself of songs that have slipped below the mental radar.

Part of my reasoning behind starting this fiddle blog is that I want to keep track of what I learn, when. The backwards building thing is a great way to learn songs but if you let too much time lapse between playing them, the edges of memory start to fray.

John had a practice grid he gave me that I modified a bit for my own purposes. I’ll upload it later. Basically, it serves as a reminder to practice tunes you’ve memorized periodically. You can practice them less and less frequently as time goes on, while you practice the newer tunes more often. So I broke my list into a “daily” list and a “weekly list.” But now I’ve got enough tunes in my head that I need a monthly list as well.

Memorized Tunes

The Moon and Seven Stars
Jenny on the Railroad
Jenny Lynn (cross A)
Chez Seychelles (sort of Cajun)
Georgia Boys (from John Hartford)
Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat (some 2nd position)
Lady of the Lake (Barry Shultz)
Coleman’s March (aka Lady of the Lake?) #1 (Pete Sutherland)

Formerly memorized but needed refreshing

Coleman’s March (aka Lady of the Lake?) #2 (Pete Sutherland)

Check out this site: http://comhaltas.ie/music/archive/C62/

I’m trying to memorize Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie this week. My teacher likes the Frankie Gavin version but I’m having an easier time listening to Martin Hayes slower version, Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie.

Last night I tried to play through most of the Celtic tunes I’d memorized at some point or another. Many needed some refreshing but I was pleased with how quickly they came back with a quick glance at the music or playing of a recording. I’m still trying to memorize an adapted version of Sharon Shannon’s Jean’s Reel though. Some songs just seem to get stuck partway done.

These songs were pretty solid:

• 99 March
• Lucy Farr
• Bobby Casey’s Hornpipe
• Banshee’s Wail
• Blind Mary
• Caisleean na n’Or
• Calum Squire
• Girl That Broke My Heart
• Jenny Dang the Weaver
• Love Won’t You Marry Me
• Miss Susan Cooper
• Pretty Peggy
• Stool of Repentance
• Whistler from Rosslea

So now I should go practice some of those songs that were less than fresh!

As I was practicing some newer pieces tonight, I realized, anew, that sometimes just getting the right rhythm is far more important than the right notes. And I know this blog is supposed to be about playing fiddle, but I think that’s true in life as well. If you hit at least some note in the right place, it’s better than hitting the right note in the wrong place.

The notes can be adjusted and fine tuned much easier than the rhythm it seems.