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The Donegal fiddle tradition is one of the distinct fiddle traditions within Irish traditional music. The distinctness of the Donegal tradition developed due to the close relations between County Donegal and Scotland, and the Donegal repertoire and style has influences from Scottish fiddle music. For example, in addition to the ”universally known” standard Irish dance tunes, there is an added volume of Scottish and Nova Scotia tunes played, with even some tunes from Shetland and Orkney. This includes standard tune types such as double jigs, slip jigs, reels, and hornpipes. It has been claimed that Donegal musicians play more slip jigs than any other region of Ireland. This is potentially due to the geographical borders/mountains keeping Donegal's repertoire more locally-known for decades. There is also a prevalence of mazurka playing. Mazurkas are historically mainland-European tunes very similar to a waltz, in its 3
4 meter, though generally livelier and with more emphasis being placed on the second beat of each measure. Another uniquely Donegal tune is called the barndance, stemming from the Germanic schottische, also similar to the Norwegian reinlander. The barndance is very similar to a hornpipe, but slower than a reel; typically they are played with less of a hornpipe's “swing” and more of the “drive” of a reel.
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught "by ear" rather than via written music.
Mark O'Connor is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and was a member of three influential musical ensembles: the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs, and Strength in Numbers.
Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. The more predominant style in Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Although fiddling has changed considerably since this time in Scotland, it is widely held that the tradition of Scottish fiddle music has been better preserved in Cape Breton. While there is a similar tradition from the Irish-style fiddling, that style is largely overlooked as a result of the strong Scottish presence in the area.
The fiddle is one of the most important instruments in the traditional repertoire of Irish traditional music. The fiddle itself is identical to the violin, however it is played differently in widely varying regional styles. In the era of sound recording some regional styles have been transmitted more widely while others have become more uncommon.
Alasdair Fraser is a Scottish fiddler, composer, performer, and recording artist.
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Strathspey. Christine Martin, in her Traditional Scottish Fiddling players guide, discusses the techniques of "hack bowing", "the Scotch snap", and "snap bowing". These techniques contrast quite sharply with the most common bowing patterns of Irish fiddling. The style has a very large repertoire consisting of a great variation of rhythms and key signatures. There is also a strong link to the playing of traditional Scottish bagpipes which is better known throughout the world.
Kevin Burke is an Irish master fiddler considered one of the finest living Irish fiddlers. For nearly five decades he has been at the forefront of Irish traditional music and Celtic music, performing and recording with the groups The Bothy Band, Patrick Street, and the Celtic Fiddle Festival. He is a 2002 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Calvin Vollrath is a Canadian fiddler and composer and is one of the few European-Canadian fiddle players playing professionally in the Métis style. He lives in St. Paul, Alberta.
Sedra Bistodeau is an American fiddler and violinist from Princeton, Minnesota.
American fiddle-playing began with the early European settlers, who found that the small viol family of instruments were more portable and rugged than other instruments of the period. According to Ron Yule, "John Utie, a 1620 immigrant, settled in the North and is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil". Early influences were Irish, Scottish, and English fiddle styles, as well as the more upper-class traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included "Soldier's Joy", for which Robert Burns wrote lyrics, and other tunes such as "Flowers of Edinburgh" and "Tamlin," which have both been claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages.
Old timefiddle is the style of American fiddling found in old-time music. Old time fiddle tunes are derived from European folk dance forms such as the jig, reel, breakdown, schottische, waltz, two-step, and polka. When the fiddle is accompanied by banjo, guitar, mandolin, or other string instruments, the configuration is called a string band. The types of tunes found in old-time fiddling are called "fiddle tunes", even when played by instruments other than a fiddle.
Canadian fiddle is the aggregate body of tunes, styles and musicians engaging the traditional folk music of Canada on the fiddle. It is an integral extension of the Anglo-Celtic and Québécois French folk music tradition but has distinct features found only in the Western hemisphere.
Quebec fiddle is a part of the Old time fiddle canon and is influential in New England and Northwest fiddle styles.
Graham Craig Townsend was a Canadian fiddler, mandolin player, pianist and composer active from the 1950s through the 1990s.
Athabaskan fiddle is the old-time fiddle style that the Alaskan Athabaskans of the Interior Alaska have developed to play the fiddle (violin), solo and in folk ensembles. Fiddles were introduced in this area by Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and Métis fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company in the mid-19th century. Athabaskan fiddling is a variant of fiddling of the American southlands. Athabaskan fiddle music is most popular genre in Alaska and northwest Canada and featuring Gwich'in Bill Stevens and Trimble Gilbert.
Mari Black is an American multistyle violinist, fiddler, and composer from Boston, Massachusetts. She has won national and international accolades in many styles of music, including being named the 2014 Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion of Scotland, 2013 & 2015 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, 2012 & 2014 Maritime Fiddle Festival Champion, 2011 Canadian Open Novelty Fiddle Champion, 2011 1st Prize Winner of the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition, and more. Mari has performed and taught around the United States, Scotland, Brazil, Canada, China, Korea, Zimbabwe, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, and France. She plays many different styles of music including Irish, Scottish, Canadian, and American fiddling, Argentine Tango, jazz, klezmer, Western Classical music, and folk.
Billy Contreras is an American jazz violinist and bluegrass fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, session player and educator.
Vivian Williams was an American fiddler, composer, recording artist, and writer. She won national fiddling titles, including the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest, and in 2013 she was inducted into the North American Old Time Fiddlers Hall of Fame.
The Maritime Fiddle Festival is the longest running old-time fiddle contest in Canada. It is also the largest fiddle contest in the region.
References
- Brokenbek, Michelle (July 11, 2007). "Local fiddler found success at national level with Scottish style" Penn-Trafford Star.
- Dobranski, Patti (July 27, 2007). "Celtic music's underlying story fascinates P-T fiddler [ permanent dead link ]". Tribune-Review .
- Wertz, Marjorie (July 15, 2005). "Living History Days to feature Scottish fiddling champ [ permanent dead link ]". Tribune-Review.
- Stacy Trevenon (August 11, 2009) "From Highlands to Coastside". Half Moon Bay Review.