Fiddle music
 

Does anyone here play Irish ( or Scotch-Irish ) fiddle music?

Stan,

Do you mean on the bass? If so, I've played some traditional fiddle tunes (some probably Irish in origin) on the bass (pizzacato not arco) as an exercise (and because its fun). Since the violin is tuned in fifths and the bass in fourths, I think it's a good exercise to find the notes using tunes I can sing in my sleep. It would be fun to do them arco, but I need to develop better bow skills before I try it.

Yeah, I mean on the bass.

So you took some fiddle tunes and play the melodies pizzicato? Interesting. Do you have recordings?

I want to learn some of the fiddle music I've been listening to, with the bow. Bass fiddle, right? I like the way they throw their bow around and play across the strings percussively, and I like how you can hear lots of little shifts in weight during a single bow stroke. The stuff I'm listening to now is from Nova Scotia - very different from anything I've heard before. I hope to get time to play something like it. Summer project, I guess. Between bouts of house painting.

Do you mean like the great virtuoso Paganini would bounce the bow and play a different note with each little bounce?

Stan-

Have you tried the Fiddler's Philharmonic books by Bob Phillips? They have a pretty good intro to all different styles of fiddling. They come in a classroom set. Good place to start.

Brian

I have seen that one, thanks for reminding me . . .

Hard to describe . . .
 

No, I don't think we're talking about the same thing.

What I mean is something like the opposite of a smooth, connected, "Bel CAnto" sound. A certain recklessness with the bow. Audible space between string changes. Large dynamic peaks and valleys within phrases. Uneven little swells (changes in velocity and weight) that happen within a note. Things you try to avoid when preparing for orchestra auditions. Things that are very hard to notate.

I actually play a bit of fiddle music on my DB, I was chasing the music for Orange Blossom Special but (you know me) lost the sight that I'd tracked down. I play an arrangement of Sally Goodin' that I developed myself and do that 'fiddle chord thing' in G around the octave harmonics. I think it's a good sound and easy to do, though double bowing is tough (like they do on OBS). I also worked out a 'harmonics' arrangement of Turkey in the Straw, but haven't got around to practising it up... too busy working on that cello suite no 1.

In case anyone's interested, here's how I decided to pursue this:

I found out I really like some Irish Airs, too. Hence "the Potato Famine SOng" I kept quoting. So, I'm going to do some transcriptions of these when time allows (summer project, I guess)

Also, I found out about the music of Buddy Macmasters (Cape Breton Island fiddler) - he does exactly the kind of stuff I like listening to, some there's some more transcription I will do (there's a lament I want to start with)

As posted in another thread, that Rabbath solo "Breeze" will soon be on my reperoire list.

Any other recommendations or thoughts are appreciated.

Sorry if I'm rambling to myself here, but I want ot keep this thread alive. . .

I worked up an arrangement of the song (reel, I think?) "Rakes of Kildare" for solo bass over the last couple of weeks, as well as the Air "Ashokan Farewell". Both of them were dug up from a book John Kennedy published for his string students - I've yet to do any transcribing or research into other stuff. IMO, this stuff is really well suited for solo bass - I hope to make some ensemble arrangements, too.

I would love to hear from anyone who does this kind of thing.

<crickets chirp>

Missed this....somehow
 

Yes, I play fiddle tunes on the bass: Irish, Oldtime, Romanian, Klezmer etc.
I also work up slap arrangements of tunes (kind of like clawhammer on the bass) Here are some links to some of my stuff I've put up on youtube etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPcRaJEZJLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4NM0uKvDtQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntpFuGWMAx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlJuJFGkoJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4HSsN0107s
http://www.myspace.com/jasonsypher

Cheers,
Jason

Hey, nice playing Jason!
I play a few fiddle tunes too. I'll have to get organised and put something on Youtube.

huh?
 

Lefty? Hey, you were not Lefty last time I saw you and neither was your bass. Why is every video inside out here? Did I miss something?

Great playing by the way..

The lefty thing...it's just my mac camera, reverses everything and you need quicktime Pro to flip the image. Thanks for the listen.

My version of Sally Goodin'. Sort of fiddle music. This was a one off take - I probably should have warmed up more beforehand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snoPlrA96PI

richard, that´s great, i like it!

Thanks, old buddy.

Great. That sent me back to Sally Gooden. I had worked it up a bit at some time but the definitive version (Eck Robertson's) has a three octave range and I had a hard time making it work in my head. I'll see if I can get it where I like it and post it sometime. It's nice to add some improv to it, I do that all the time but tend to stick to the tune when I record something. Nice ideas.

Here's that version: http://files.me.com/bassnote/aizmgf.mov

What amazes me is the drive and fluidity and stream of good ideas. When he finally lays on that minor it's a real release.

Jason, I've got to be honest and say that I've only ever heard one version of Sally (Richard Greene, with a band called Seatrain) and that was in the 1970s. I was unable to bring up your link. My piece only contained the violin riff (as I remembered it) and was really just an improvisation. It is really just a piece inspired by a violin player I liked.

And a great piece of work it is! Funny thing is, as I listen again, you actually intuited a lot of what is found in that great piece of fiddling I put up on my server. There is some really high stuff that I really struggle with (at the end of the fingerboard) that I bet you could pull off easily. I'll check the link and see what I can do.