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.
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. It was a local government county from 1890 to 1930.
Niel Gow was a Scottish fiddler in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
"Ashokan Farewell" is a piece of music composed by the American folk musician Jay Ungar in 1982. For many years, it served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at the annual Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps, run by Ungar and his wife Molly Mason, who gave the tune its name, at the Ashokan Field Campus of SUNY New Paltz in Upstate New York.
Nathaniel Gow was a Scottish musician who was the fourth son of Niel Gow, and a celebrated performer, composer and arranger of tunes, songs and other pieces on his own right. He wrote about 200 compositions including the popular "Caller Herrin'".
Dougie MacLean, OBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Described by AllMusic as "one of Scotland's premier singer-songwriters", MacLean has performed both under his own name, and as part of multiple folk bands, since the mid 1970s. His most famous pieces include "Caledonia", which is often dubbed Scotland's "unofficial national anthem"; and "The Gael", which became the main theme to the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans.
Dunkeld is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundary Fault, and is frequently described as the "Gateway to the Highlands" due to its position on the main road and rail lines north. Dunkeld has a railway station, Dunkeld & Birnam, on the Highland Main Line, and is about 25 kilometres north of Perth on what is now the A9 road. The main road formerly ran through the town, however following modernisation of this road it now passes to the west of Dunkeld.
Dunkeld & Birnam railway station serves the town of Dunkeld and village of Birnam in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located on the Highland Main Line, 15 miles 31 chains (24.8 km) north of Perth and is the first stop on the line north of there, before Pitlochry. Most services are operated by ScotRail, who also manage the station. LNER and Caledonian Sleeper also call some services here.
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.
Dalguise is a settlement in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is situated on the western side of the River Tay on the B898 road, 5 miles north of Dunkeld. Located there is Dalguise House, a place where, from the age of four, Beatrix Potter stayed annually with her family throughout the summer, from May till the end of the salmon season.
The Perth and Dunkeld Railway was a Scottish railway company. It was built from a junction with the Scottish Midland Junction Railway at Stanley, north of Perth, to a terminus at Birnam, on the south bank of the River Tay opposite Dunkeld.
Birnam is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located 12 miles (19 km) north of Perth on the A9 road, the main tourist route through Perthshire, in an area of Scotland marketed as Big Tree Country. The village originated from the Victorian era with the coming of the railway in 1856, although the place and name is well known because William Shakespeare mentioned Birnam Wood in Macbeth:
MACBETH: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane/ I cannot taint with fear.
The Diocese of Dunkeld is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in southern Scotland. On 28 December 2022, the Diocese became sede vacante following the resignation of Bishop Stephen Robson due to ill health.
John Crerar was the gamekeeper to the Duke of Atholl. He entered the service of the Duke in 1776, succeeding his father, Alexander Crerar, and remained an employee for more than sixty years. He is pictured in several paintings by Edwin Landseer, including The Death of a Stag at Glen Tilt and The Keeper John Crerar with his Pony.
The Birnam Oak is an example of Sessile oak at Birnam, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Sometimes known as Macbeth's oak, as it is a relic of Birnam Wood, mentioned in William Shakespeare's play, the tree is found in a strip of woodland on the south bank of the River Tay. The trunk is 5.5 metres (18 ft) wide and its large spreading branches have latterly been supported on a number of struts to prevent them from collapsing under their own weight. The exact age is unknown, but the girth suggests an age of around 600 years old which would mean it was already a mature tree at the time of Shakespeare's presumed visit to Perthshire in 1589. The tree is listed by Forestry and Land Scotland as one of Scotland's most famous oak trees.
Lady Dorothea Louisa Ruggles-Brise, was the daughter of the 7th Duke of Atholl. She was an expert about and a collector of Scottish traditional music.
Charles Macintosh (1839–1922), known as 'the Perthshire Naturalist', was a musician and self-taught amateur naturalist from Inver, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland. He, with his younger brother James, who was a fiddler and himself a composer, represented the third generation of an important musical family in the area. Their grandfather James (1791-1876) had learned fiddle from Niel Gow, who also lived in Inver.
Tay Forest Park is a forest park in the council area of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. It consists of a network of forests managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) that are spread across the Highland parts of Perthshire, and covers 194 km2 (75 sq mi) in total. The park contains a series of disparate woods that are managed for multiple benefits, with an emphasis on recreation facilities for visitors.
The Tree of the Year competition is held in the United Kingdom in autumn each year by the Woodland Trust, a nationwide conservation charity. Nominated trees are shortlisted by a panel of experts, before going to public votes to select a tree of the year for each of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The panel then selects one of these to become Britain's tree of the year and be nominated for the following year's European Tree of the Year. The competition has been run each year since 2014.
Rectory House, formerly the Dean's House, is a historic building in Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Standing adjacent to the gates to Dunkeld Cathedral at the western end of Cathedral Street, it is a Category B listed building dating to c. 1715. It is two storeys, with a five-window frontage and later attic dormers.
