Making music

In this workshop we spent the day exploring how to shift from playing a series of notes, to making music.

• There are several factors involved:
• Relaxation, and getting ‘in the zone’
• Tone
• Tuning
• Timing

We learnt a simple round, and the tune ‘I See Mull’

Tuning

We worked on shifting from a thinking way of playing to playing while really focusing on listening. We played the round, listening to our own sounds and those of the adjacent players, who were playing a different part. Doing this helps us to start to hear harmonies, and hear whether our own notes are in tune with those around us.

Timing

We worked on getting the bow to engage with the fiddle strings. We played percussive rhythmic open-string notes, lifting the bow, and using heel of the bow to make contact with the string. Our aim was to create very clear starts and finishes to the notes we played.

Expression

We spent some time listening closely to the notes in tunes, and how the dynamics played within individual notes can add to the expressiveness. For long notes, especially those that are at the highest pitches within the tune, we can build the volume throughout the length of the note, by speeding up the bow towards the tip.