fiddle

Information about fiddle


This article is part
of the Fiddle & Violin series.
Violin construction
Playing the violin
Making and maintenance
History of the violin
Musical styles
Violin family of instruments
Violinists
Fiddlers
“Fiddler” redirects here. For other uses, see Fiddler (disambiguation).
The term fiddle refers to a violin when used in folk music. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, is a style of music.

Violin vs. fiddle

A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the kind of music being played with it. The word "violin" is derived from Italian and the word "fiddle" is native to English. The two words are etymologically related, however, both ultimately deriving from the same Germanic word.[1]

Historically, the word fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have 4 strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another family of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols, which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards.

One very slight difference between "fiddles" and ordinary violins may be seen in American (e.g., bluegrass and old-time music) fiddling: in these styles, the top of the bridge may be cut so that it is very slightly less curved. This reduces the range of right-arm motion required for the rapid string-crossings found in some styles, and is said to make it easier to play double stops and shuffles (bariolage), or to make triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords.

Most classical violinists prefer a more rounded curve to the top of the bridge, which allows them to articulate each note more easily and clearly. In practice, most instruments are fitted with a rounded bridge to better accommodate the shape of the fingerboard. (One exception is the 3-string kontra or bracsa, a viola used in Hungarian and Transylvanian folk music fitted with a flat bridge to allow all three strings to be played simultaneously.) In any case, the difference between "round" and "flat" is not great; about a quarter or half a millimeter variation in the height of one or two strings. As a violin's bridge is relatively easy to replace, modifying the bridge does not permanently make a violin into a fiddle.

It is also more common to see an instrument described as a fiddle if it has steel strings rather than gut or synthetic, and fine tuners on all four strings; it is very uncommon to see four fine tuners on instruments played by classical musicians. (Fine tuners are small screw mechanisms attached to the tailpiece, which make small tuning adjustments easier.) As with the bridge, this configuration is easy to change from "violin" to "fiddle", and causes no irreversible changes to the instrument.

In construction, fiddles and violins are exactly the same. Various clichés describe the difference: "When you are buying it, it's a fiddle. When you are selling it, it's a violin," "The violin sings, the fiddle dances," "A fiddle is a violin with attitude," or, in answer to the musical joke, "What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle?", "No one cries when they spill beer on a fiddle." According to Branson performer Shoji Tabuchi, the difference lies "in how you fiddle around with it." As might be expected from the differences between classical and folk music, violinists tend to be formally trained and fiddlers tend to be informally trained, although crossing over is not uncommon.

Fiddling

In performance, solo fiddling is the norm, though twin fiddling is represented in some North American, Scandinavian, and Irish styles. Violins, on the other hand, are commonly grouped in sections. These contrasting traditions may be vestiges of historical performance settings: large concert halls in which violins were played required more instruments, before electronic amplification, than did more intimate dance halls and houses fiddles were played in. The difference was likely compounded by the different sounds expected of violin music and fiddle music. Historically, the majority of fiddle music was dance music, while violin music had either grown out of dance music or was something else entirely. Violin music came to value a smoothness which fiddling, with its dance-driven clear beat, did not always follow - in situations that required greater volume, a fiddler (as long as they kept the beat) could push their instrument harder than could a violinist. (Different fiddle traditions had different values, as detailed below; these explanations are meant to present the differences between fiddle music and violin music generally.)

Following the folk revivals of the second half of the 20th century, however, it has become common for less formal situations to find large groups of fiddlers playing together -- see for example the Swedish Spelmanslag folk-musician clubs, and the world-wide[2] phenomenon of Irish sessions.

In the very late 20th century, a few artists have successfully attempted a reconstruction of the Scottish tradition of violin and "big fiddle," or cello. Notable recorded examples include Amelia Kaminski and Christine Hanson's Bonnie Lasses and Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas' Fire and Grace.

Bows used in fiddling

Most fiddling styles that use the standard violin also use the standard violin bow, the same as classical players. However, there are a few styles which use other bows. One notable example is the folk music from Hungary and Transylvania used in the táncház tradition. While the violinist uses a standard bow, both the kontra (3-string viola) and bass are played here with short, heavy and crude "folk bows", consisting of a stout stick, usually hand-hewn, with the hank of horsehair attached at the tip and tied around the frog. The player tensions the hair by squeezing it when playing.

Violin bows used by fiddlers are usually made from wood, but bows made from fiberglass and other materials are becoming more common.

Scottish fiddlers emulating 18th century playing styles sometimes use a replica of the type of bow used in that period, which is a few inches shorter, and weighted significantly differently.

Fiddling styles

To a greater extent than classical violin playing, fiddle playing is characterized by a huge variety of ethnic or folk music traditions, each of which has its own distinctive sound, including, but not limited to:
Enlarge picture
Newfoundland fiddle player Patrick Moran

List of notable recorded fiddle players

For a more comprehensive list of fiddlers, see List of fiddlers; for a list of All-Ireland Fiddle Champions, see Fiddle champions.
  • Fred Carpenter
  • Stuart Duncan
  • Betse Ellis
  • Johnny Gimble
  • Red Herron
  • Bobby Hicks
  • Buddy Spicher
  • Paul Warren
  • Chubby Wise

American

Appalachian/Piedmont

*Vernon Derrick (Jimmy Martin's fiddler)
*Rayna Gellert
*Bruce Greene (collector of Kentucky tunes and styles)
*Ed Haley
*Tommy Jarrell
*Clark Kessinger
*Brad Leftwich
*Bruce Molsky
*Uncle Charlie Osborne
*Bridget Regan from Flogging Molly
*Doc Roberts
*John Salyer

Bluegrass

*Darol Anger
*Kenny Baker (Bill Monroe's fiddler)
*Byron Berline
*Dewey Brown
*Sam Bush
*Vassar Clements
*Clinton Gregory (also country)
*John Hartford
*Aubrey Haynie
*Bobby Hicks
*Alison Krauss (also country)
*Martie Maguire (also country)
*Benny Martin
*Mark O'Connor (also jazz, Texas)
*Ricky Skaggs (also country)
*Jim Van Cleve
*Sara Watkins

Blues

*Eddie Anthony (also jazz)
*Andrew Baxter
*Lonnie Chatmon of the Mississippi Sheiks (also old-time)

Cajun

*Dewey Balfa
*Al Berard
*Harry Choates
*Sady Courville
*Michael Doucet of Beausoleil
*Wade Fruge
*Doug Kershaw (also country)
*Dennis McGee
*Louis Michot of The Lost Bayou Ramblers
*Joel Savoy
*Kevin Wimmer of The Red Stick Ramblers

Contra dance (including New England)

*Sam Amidon
*Sarah Blair
*Ruthie Dornfeld
*David Kaynor
*Dudley Laufman
*Randy Miller
*Rodney Miller
*Lissa Schneckenburger
*Sue Sternberg
*Harvey Tolman
*Becky Tracy

Country

*Fiddlin' John Carson
*Charlie Daniels
*Doug Kershaw
*Alison Krauss
*Martie Maguire
*Ricky Skaggs
*Gid Tanner
*Bob Wills

Jazz

*Svend Asmussen
*Stephane Grappelli
*Mark O'Connor (also bluegrass, Texas)

Southeastern

*Clayton McMichen

Texas

*Chris Daring
*Larry Franklin
*Johnny Gimble
*Mark O'Connor (also bluegrass, jazz)
*Buddy Spicher
*Benny Thomasson

Canadian

*Tania Elizabeth
*Mitchell Grobb
*Don Messer
*April Verch

Cape Breton

*Joseph Cormier
*Ashley MacIsaac
*Buddy MacMaster
*Natalie MacMaster

Quebec

*Jean Carignan
*Olivier Demers
*Omer Dumas
*Pascal Gemme
*Joseph-Ovila La Madeleine

English

*Stephen Baldwin
*Phil Beer
*Jon Boden
*Eliza Carthy
*Pete Cooper
*Barry Dransfield
*Lisa Knapp
*Seth Lakeman
*Ric Sanders
*Jonathan Sevink
*Dave Swarbrick
*Kathryn Tickell
*William "Jinky" Wells
*Chris Wood

Irish

Clare

*Paddy Canny
*Bobby Casey
*Junior Crehan
*Mrs. Ellen Galvin
*Martin Hayes
*P.J. Hayes
*John Kelly
*Patrick Kelly
*Martin Rochford
*Joe Ryan

Donegal

*Neillidh Ó Baoighill
*James Byrne
*Vincent Campbell
*John Doherty
*Danny O'Donnell
*Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
*Proinnsias Ó Mhaonaigh
*Tommy Peoples
*Paul O'Shaughnessy

Sliabh Luachra

*Julia Clifford
*Paddy Cronin
*Denis Murphy (Irish musician)
*Padraig O'Keeffe

Sligo

*Kevin Burke
*John Carty
*Michael Coleman
*Kathleen Collins
*Paddy Killoran

Mexican

Scottish

References

1. ^ Mario Pei, The Story of the English Language (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), p. 109.
2. ^ The Session: Sessions. Retrieved on 28 August, 2006.

See also

Bibliography

  • The Fiddle Book, by Marion Thede, (1970), Oak Publications. ISBN 0-8256-0145-2.
  • The Fiddler's Fakebook, by David Brody, (1983), Oak Publications. US ISBN 0-8256-0238-6; UK ISBN 0-7119-0309-3.
  • Oldtime Fiddling Across America, by David Reiner and Peter Anick (1989), Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 0-87166-766-5. Has transcriptions (standard notation) and analysis of tunes from multiple regional and ethnic styles.

External links

''For the Anne Rice novel, see Violin (novel)


The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and
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This article is about the "anatomy" of a violin and some of its accessories. For information related to violin building or making, see Violin making and maintenance.

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Lightly touching the string with a fingertip at a harmonic node while bowing close to the bridge can create harmonics. Instead of the normal solid tone a wispy-sounding overtone note of a higher pitch is heard.
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The violin first emerged in northern Italy in the early 16th century. While no instruments from the first decades of the century survive, there are several representations in paintings; some of the early instruments have only three strings.
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fiddle.

One very slight difference between "fiddles" and ordinary violins may be seen in American (e.g., bluegrass and old-time music) fiddling: in these styles, the bridge is often shaved down so that it is less curved.
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The Violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 17th Century. The modern violin family consists of the violin, viola and cello, along with the double bass.
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This is a list of notable violinists.

Baroque era

  • Tomaso Albinoni (1671–1751)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
  • Thomas Baltzar (1631–1663)
  • Heinrich Biber (1644–1704)

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This list of fiddlers shows some crossover with the List of violinists since the instruments used are quite similar, if not identical (given that each violin or fiddle has its own individual character).
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The term fiddler may refer to:
  • a person who plays the fiddle, a musical instrument;
  • Fabrangen Fiddlers, an American musical group founded in 1971;
  • Tupolev Tu-28 "Fiddler", a fighter aircraft;
  • Fiddler (comics) a DC Comics villain;

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''For the Anne Rice novel, see Violin (novel)


The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and
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Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, Western art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to the 21st century.
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Etymology is the study of the history of words - when they entered a language, from what source, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.

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Germanic languages are a group of related languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. The common ancestor of all languages comprising this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the latter mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age Northern Europe.
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viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, fretted stringed musical instruments developed in the 1400s and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
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Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music which has its own roots in Irish, Scottish and English traditional music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of immigrants from the British Isles (particularly the Scots-Irish immigrants of Appalachian), as well as that of rural
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Old-time music is a form of North American folk music, with roots in the folk musics of many countries, including England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as the continent of Africa.
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A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a melodic percussion instrument or stringed instrument, for example a violin, a viola or a cello.
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The bowed instrument musical technique known as bariolage involves quick alternation between a static note and changing notes, that form a melody either above or below the static note.
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A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a melodic percussion instrument or stringed instrument, for example a violin, a viola or a cello.
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chord (from Greek χορδή: gut, string) is three or more different notes that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian sonorities that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying scale.
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Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighbouring countries, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The accordion, clarinet, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments.
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A pub session refers to playing music and/or singing in a public house.

History

Singing and drinking have probably happened together from ancient times, but evidence is fragmentary until the sixteenth century.
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bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound.

Materials and manufacture

A bow consists of a carefully chosen stick (usually wood) with some other material stretched between its ends.
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Táncház (pronounced 'taːnʦhaːz, approx. "tants-hoz", literally "dance house") is an aspect of the Hungarian roots revival of traditional culture which began in the early 1970s, and remains an active part
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''For the Anne Rice novel, see Violin (novel)


The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and
..... Click the link for more information.

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