Tonight we spent some time working on fiddle playing techniques to introduce a controlled ‘bounce’ in our bowing action. This helps us to start to play notes more cleanly, which in turn helps with keeping a very steady pulse to the tunes we play. We started off by playing single notes. As we started the bow stroke, we used our index finger to apply a bit of pressure to the back of the bow’s stick. This has the effect of pushing the bow in towards the fiddle strings. Further into the bow stroke, we released the pressure on the bow. This allows the bow to almost bounce out of the note, creating a small space between one note and the next. It’s a useful technique for helping to play the start and end of individual notes with complete control.
Double stopping
After this we learnt ‘Fionn’s’, a tune written by Charlie McKerron. We looked at options for double stopping in the tune. We developed the chords by creating some different rhythms, placing our chords on either the onbeat or the upbeat.
There will be no class for the next 2 weeks. We’ll be coming back to Fionn’s and Inverkeithing Bay (the march we learnt last week). The class resumes on Tuesday 12th June. There are 3 more classes left this term.
Tonight we learnt the four part march Inverkeithing Bay, by the Fife fiddler Jock Ritchie. I first learnt this tune from Kevin Ritchie (Jock’s Grandson) when we were at one of Mairi Campbell’s wonderful Lismore Fiddle Retreat weekends, and it’s been one of my favourites ever since.
At the end of the evening we spent some time experimenting with double stopping, practicing placing chords on the beat, on the off beats and up beats within a bar.
I’m impressed by all the folk who braved the hailstorm to get to class tonight!
We worked on a number of techniques for playing reels on the fiddle tonight. We spent some time going over Jenny Dang the Weaver which is a well known reel in D. We looked at methods we can use to help with phrasing a tune. It can be seen as similar to punctuating a sentence. Playing a tune without phrasing sounds like someone talking without stopping for breath. It’s hard to listen to!
We tried out techniques to help us to play percussive chords using the D string in the B part of the tune. We used the chords to play around with the rhythm. We experimented with the dynamics in the phrase in the B part that goes up to the high A, and found different ways to reach a crescendo as we hit the top A. We also tried out some chords in the A part of the tune, using the open D as a ringing string. We talked about the possibilities for emphasising different beats in the tune to help to change how we’re phrasing it. It can be easy to lose control of timing when playing reels at speed. Emphasising the beats or offbeats can help with learning to keep a steady tempo in our playing.
We talked about what everyone in the class wanted to be able to do with their own playing in two years time.
We played through the waltz ‘My Cape Breton Home’, experimenting with getting more expression into the start of the tune, then played it through again, all playing as if we were our favourite fiddler.
We ended the class with playing a short phrase of a tune in different ways, and then Anne led us off in a set of reels we’d learnt last term.
Tonight we learned the Breton tune Polka Bagnolaise, which is played by the Breton band Skolvan. The music is on the tunes page.
We spent some more time experimenting with playing in a bouncy style, using the spring in the bow to lift it just clear of the fiddle strings in between notes. And we rounded off the night playing a whole heap of tunes we’ve learnt in the class (and smiling too!).
It was the last night of term tonight. St Brides will be taking enrolments for the summer term from the 10th April. The class starts back on Tuesday 17th April.
Learning to control the bow is partly about creating a relaxed and confident bow hold. Tonight we learnt the second half of My Cape Breton Home. We looked at how to start playing more from our subconscious, rather than concentrating on exactly what our fingers are doing. Ultimately we’re aiming to be able to play what we are hearing, rather than consciously remembering learnt finger patterns.
We tried playing the waltz down an octave without learning the finger positions first, and alternated playing up and down the octave.
We also spent some more time playing individually, repeating the exercise where individuals listened to a phrase and then tried to play it back exactly as they heard it.
And to round off the night, we practiced playing and smiling at the same time 🙂
We went back to the tune Da Merrie Boys of Greenland tonight, and had a go at playing with rhythm in different ways.
We played around with several things, with individuals listening to a phrase and then trying to play it back exactly as they heard it. We looked at:
How to make notes louder or quieter, experimenting with bow speed, pressure on the bow and double stopping. We put pressure on the bow by ‘digging in’ at the start of the bow stroke with our index finger on the back of the stick of the bow.
Playing on the beat really loudly, and all the other notes in a bar as quietly as we could, to really make the notes on the beat stand out. We were using very small bow strokes for the quiet notes.
Getting bounce and definition into individual notes by using the weight of our arm through the index finger on the bow to ‘dig in’ to a note and give it a clean start. The spring in the wood helps the bow to ‘bounce’ out of the bow stroke when we do this.
This week we continued to look at playing jig rhythms. We did some more playing with a very dotted rhythm. We tried out practicing the rhythm on its own first, playing a single note to get our bows swinging. Then we moved on to playing the tune.
Bow hold
We tried playing with a very relaxed hold on our bows. It’s important to keep the thumb slightly bent when holding the bow. If the thumb joint stiffens and locks, the muscles up the forearm become tense, which stiffens the wrist. It also hinders a smooth action with the bowing arm.
Using different parts of the bow to change the sound
We experimented with playing using different parts of the bow to see what happened to the sound. Using the tip of the bow gives a lighter more subtle sound. Using the heel of the bow creates a much more powerful scrunching sound.
We went over the first 2 parts of Kenny Gillies of Portnalong again. We’ll carry on working on this tune next week. The written music for the tune is on the website music page.
Last night we learnt Kenny Gillies of Portnalong – a 4 part Jig. We spent some time looking at jig rhythms. We’ll be playing this tune with a dotted rhythm.
Using the weight of the bow to cross strings
We also looked at using gravity and the weight of the bow when crossing strings. When the bow is on a fiddle string there’s a point around the centre where it is very balanced. As the bow moves across the A string on an up bow, there comes a point where the balance of the bow changes. this shoft can can be used to help move the bow onto the D string. Releasing the weight of the arm on the bow allows gravity to tip the bow over onto the D string.
We played round a D scale, listening closely to other fiddlers beside us to help improve tuning. Once we added in a harmony it became very hypnotic!
The written music for Kenny Gillies is on the music page. We’ll be doing some more work on this tune next week.
Tonight we played around with offbeats and upbeats in jig and reel rhythms. While you first start to learn to play the fiddle, there’s a lot to grapple with. You’re learning how to hold the fiddle and bow, how to move the fingers to be able to play in tune, and how to move the bow to create a pleasing tone and keep a steady tempo. If you’re new to learning to play an instrument, there’s also a lot to learn in terms of how you turn a series of notes into something that sounds musical.
So how do you move on from sounding like a beginner to playing in a more fluid and intuitive way? There’s a point at which we want to start to move from playing in a focused ‘thinking’ way, to playing more from the subconscious mind. We’ll gradually achieve this by learning patterns for different aspects of our playing. Once we’ve played as particular run of notes many times for example, it becomes easier to play it without consciously focusing on what your fingers are doing to make it happen.
We’ve talked in the fiddle class a lot about starting to learn a basic ‘default’ pattern of bowing reels and jigs. Getting to the point where different rhythms are also subconscious makes a huge difference to being able to play tunes fluidly while adding interest and colour.
If we start off by always playing reels so that we have a down bow on the beat, it eventually becomes a habit. If in the early stages, every time we play a particular tune we use the same bowing pattern, we gradually give less and less thought to how we achieve that pattern. Ultimately it becomes a subconscious process to bow the tune in that way. At that point, we’ve stopped thinking about it, knowing it will happen automatically, and we’ve establish a strong pulse on the beat. We can then turn our conscious attention to occasionally changing the emphasis to the offbeats or upbeats, to create some variety and interest in the tune.
Jigs and reels
In tonight’s class, we spent some time finding the offbeats and upbeats in some of the tunes we’ve already learnt together in the class. We played a dotted jig rhythm, and then experimented with Shetland ‘3 up one down’ bowing patterns to emphasise the offbeat in reels. We also looked at options for playing upbeats in jigs and reels – we tried them out in Jig Runrig and Da Merrie Boys of Greenland
