Missouri fiddling is a unique style and repertoire of traditional folk violin playing practiced in the State of Missouri in the United States. Historian and fiddler Howard Wight Marshall has been active in the preservation of this musical style and has published several full-length books on the topic. [1] [2] [3]
Some historical analyses of Missouri fiddling support the idea that Missouri fiddling can be roughly classified geographically under three umbrella regions. [4] These geographic styles from South to North are termed Ozark style (Missouri section of the Ozarks), Little Dixie (Missouri) style, and North Missouri style. These classifications should be seen as rough guidelines or oversimplifications of the differences between folk regions in Missouri. However, there is still utility in their designation.
The Ozark region includes a portion of southern and central Missouri as well as parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Some elements of traditional French settler folk music persist in the Ozarks, but German and English influences overshadowed them during the nineteenth century. [5] Ozark fiddling is generally characterized by strong, rhythmic, and short bow strokes. This rhythmic emphasis combined with simple backup instrumentation helps create fast, upbeat dance music characteristic of the Ozark style. Performances within the Ozark style vary because of a departure from these traditional aspects of fiddle playing due to the influence of fiddling contests and the commercialization of fiddle playing within the Ozark area. These external factors pressure performers to play much smoother, making the hard-driving sound that defines Ozark style rarer.
Though geographically farther north than what is considered the Ozark region, the Little Dixie region is more strongly associated with the Southern historical character of Missouri. Little Dixie’s high concentration of enslaved persons before the Civil War led to it having the most African-American influence of the three regions. Though the initial settlers of this region were British, German immigrants in the nineteenth century significantly impacted the style of Little Dixie fiddling. Keys less typical of old-time fiddle tunes like F, B-flat, and E-flat are more common in works from this region due to the violin’s stronger association with classical German music. Longer bow-strokes are more prominent in Little Dixie style compared to Ozark style, and the melodies tend to be more complex. Backup instrumentation is more varied and present in tunes of this style.
The North Missouri area had a much higher concentration of settlers coming from the northeastern states. Its fiddling style has more in common with the Little Dixie region than the Ozark region, particularly in its backup instrumentation. North Missouri style is distinct in slower-paced melodies being more common. It is often referred to as the hornpipe style because it has more elegant and regal aspects that seem more characteristic of wind repertoire when compared to other fiddle styles. [6]
The Donegal fiddle tradition is the way of playing the fiddle that is traditional in County Donegal, Ireland. It is one of the distinct fiddle traditions within Irish traditional music.
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.
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portion of northern Arkansas and most of the southern half of Missouri, extending from Interstate 40 in central Arkansas to Interstate 70 in central Missouri.
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments, most often the banjo, guitar, and mandolin. The genre is considered a precursor to modern country music.
Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. 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.
Melvin Wine was an American Appalachian fiddler from the state of West Virginia. He was a lifelong resident of Copen, in Braxton County, West Virginia.
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.
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.
Brad Leftwich is a prominent American old-time fiddler, banjo player, singer and teacher of traditional old-time style. He is originally from Oklahoma but has resided in Bloomington, Indiana for most of his life. He performs solo and with his long-time musical partner and wife, Linda Higginbotham, and with his band, The Humdingers, which also includes Sam Bartlett and Abby Ladin.
Bob Holt was an American fiddler, playing old-time and for square dances. He was known for his lightning-fast, energetic style of playing. He played his signature song "Ninth of January" at as much as 144 beats per minute while playing for dances. He was born on November 25, 1930, in Ava, Douglas County, Missouri. He died March 19, 2004, in Ava.
American fiddle-playing began with the early settlers who found that the small viol family instruments were portable and rugged. 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 fiddle styles as well as Scottish and the more refined traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included "Soldier's Joy", for which Robert Burns had written lyrics, and other such tunes as "Flowers of Edinburgh" and "Tamlin," which were claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages.
Old time fiddle is a genre of American folk music. "Old time fiddle tunes" derived from European folk dance tunes such as Jig, Reel, Breakdown, Schottische, Waltz, Two Step and Polka. The fiddle may be accompanied by banjo or other instruments but are nevertheless called "fiddle tunes". The genre traces from the colonization of North America by immigrants from England, France, Germany, Ireland, and Scotland. It is separate and distinct from traditions which it has influenced or which may in part have evolved from it, such as bluegrass, country blues, variants of western swing and country rock.
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.
Métis fiddle is the style that the Métis of Canada and Métis in the northern United States have developed to play the violin, solo and in folk ensembles. It is marked by the percussive use of the bow and percussive accompaniment. The Metis people are a poly-ethnic post-contact Indigenous peoples. Fiddles were "introduced in this area by Scottish and French-Canadian fur traders in the early 1800s", where the Metis community adopted the instrument into their culture.
Charles D'Almaine was an American violinist with the New York Metropolitan Opera, a chiropractor, and a pioneer recording artist.
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.
Randy Howard (1960–1999) was an American bluegrass, country and old time fiddler.
Lonnie Robertson was an American musician, singer and composer
Vivian Tomlinson 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.
Howard Wight Marshall is an American academic, author, folklorist, historian, and fiddler. He is a professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Art History and Archeology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. In addition to his work on regional folk architecture he researches fiddling traditions in Missouri and the Ozarks, especially the style known as Missouri fiddling. Marshall is the founding director of the Missouri Cultural Heritage Center. In 2018 he received the Missouri Humanities Council Distinguished Literary Award.
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