KENT GUSTAVSON :: THE FIDDLE
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A Historical and Practical Introduction to the Fiddle!
Just read below about the story of the violin, and its journey to the United States, and its close cousin, the fiddle!
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The fiddle is an instrument that started out both as a 'classical' instrument, played in concert halls, and as a folk instrument... Variations of the fiddle, the spike fiddle, the arhu, etc. have been around for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. The modern violin took its shape in Europe in the middle ages, well into the present time.
The fiddle is a different instrument from the violin, just as people from the country and the city are different. Almost every ethnic region can claim the fiddle, or a form of the fiddle as their own. Some of the players are cultured, some are wanderers, and some are simply folks that sit on the porch and play the tunes they learned as kids.
The fiddle as it pertains to bluegrass music today has its roots in the European, mostly Irish and Scottish melodies, that came to the Appalachian mountains early in American history, and in the African-American syncopations that entered the music through the hands of agile slave-musicians on their masters' plantations. The tunes were preserved, passed down from one generation of folk to the next, and many survive today... The fiddle has the drive, the emotion, and the volume necessary to propel country dances English style and American style, clogging, square dancing, contradancing. This drive is what split off in many different ways... the old-time fiddling still exists -- in both its Irish form, with beautiful trills and embellishments, and in the rough gut-stringed mountain sound of Appalachian porch fiddle. Young fiddlers know jazz and classical music as well as bluegrass, oldtime and Irish tunes, and can turn out Stephane Grapelli jazz tunes in the same concert as a Paganini virtuosic solo piece.
The fiddle can be used in many ways... the only way to develop your own style is to play, and especially to play with others in the genre you want to explore... A classical player can easily play Irish tunes -- read the tune off of the page, then memorize it, and then it is your own! And don't be afraid to improvise -- use the notes you know, and trust your fingers to do the rest... Learn how to play chords on the fiddle, and pretend you are a one-person band -- play melodies and chords as well as rhythms -- enjoy the sound!
For this service, a fiddle can play the melody, reading off of the score, or any one of the harmonies from the Choral Edition -- or a fiddle can play chords with the guitar and mandolin, or listen to the voices and blend with them in an entirely new way. Experiment and explore your instrument... Make it sound! Play it so it can be heard!
For more information on the fiddle, google it!
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