Playing waltzes on the fiddle

Tonight we learnt a Norwegian tune, called Vals, which is in the key of G. It’s a beautiful waltz, written by Vidar Skrede. Because the tune is Norwegian, there are some phrases that don’t go where we expect them to! In the second part, the tune has an awkward octave jump from a B to a high B (played with the pinkie on the E string). It’s not an interval we’re used to playing, so needs a bit of practicing to get in tune.

If you’re struggling to get particular notes in tune, it can be helpful to play through the tune with an electronic tuner switched on. Play the tune a couple of times without looking at the tuner, to relax into it. Then when you get to a note you’re having trouble keeping in tune, stop playing the tune, but keep playing that note. Have a check on the tuner to see whether it’s flat or sharp. It will help to give you an idea of where the problem is. If you try this, you might also find that it’s the note before or after the one you  were worried about that is actually the problem.

As the waltz is a tune for dancing, we worked on ways to help play the tune with a bit of a swing to it. We tried out adding a bit of a ‘spring’ in our bow strokes. Using single bows, we used the weight of our bowing arm, transferred through the first finger, to ‘dig in’ to the note at the start of each bow stroke. The natural spring in the wood of the stick then lifts the bow just clear of the string at the end of the note. The bowing hand is continually shifting between transferring the weight of the arm into the bow, to gently supporting the bow as it lifts off the strings, and staying relaxed throughout.

We also tried out giving a ‘shape’ to the longer notes in the tune. it can be very effective to speed the bow up throughout a longer note, to create a crescendo within the note. Grace notes and vibrato also add different effects. Once we had the notes of the tune sorted out, we played it through without looking at our hands, listening to the other fiddlers in the room, and focusing on playing together as a group. Getting into the habit of playing music more subconsciously, without concentrating on where our fingers might be going, will ultimately help us to play music more fluidly and expressively.

Towards the end of the evening, we played through the Aird Ranters. we also learnt a bass riff to play under the tune, which adds a good drive to the music. we rounded off the evening by playing Ramnee Ceilidh, and Midnight on the Water.

And if you sometimes find it hard learning to play the fiddle, have a look at this for a bit of light relief 😉 The Seagull, played by the New Rope String Band

 

There will be no class on Tuesday 12th February. We’ll add an extra class on at the end of term, on the 2nd April. (UPDATE – this has now been changed to 9th April!)