The Fiddle Book is about Fiddles, Fiddlers and Fiddling. It is not about violins. Violins are played in string quartets and symphony orchestras. Violins play sonatas and concertos and tone poems. Violinists are people like Jascha Heifetz and Isaac Stern. Fiddles are played at square dances and hoedowns in the front parlor or the back yard. Fiddlers play jigs, reels, hornpipes and the like. Fiddlers are people like Uncle Charlie Higgins, Eck Robertson, Grandma Davis and Max Collins. This book is about fiddles. It is the most comprehensive document on the folk music fiddle and fiddling styles ever published, and includes the music to more than 150 fiddle tunes faithfully transcribed from the playing of traditional musicians.
Play Me Something Quick and Devilish explores the heritage of traditional fiddle music in Missouri. Howard Wight Marshall considers the place of homemade music in people’s lives across social and ethnic communities from the late 1700s to the World War I years and into the early 1920s. This exceptionally important and complex period provided the foundations in history and settlement for the evolution of today’s old-time fiddling. Beginning with the French villages on the Mississippi River, Marshall leads us chronologically through the settlement of the state and how these communities established our cultural heritage. Other core populations include the “Old Stock Americans” (primarily Scotch-Irish from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia), African Americans, German-speaking immigrants, people with American Indian ancestry (focusing on Cherokee families dating from the Trail of Tears in the 1830s), and Irish railroad workers in the post–Civil War period. These are the primary communities whose fiddle and dance traditions came together on the Missouri frontier to cultivate the bounty of old-time fiddling enjoyed today. Marshall also investigates themes in the continuing evolution of fiddle traditions. These themes include the use of the violin in Westward migration, in the Civil War years, and in the railroad boom that changed history. Of course, musical tastes shift over time, and the rise of music literacy in the late Victorian period, as evidenced by the brass band movement and immigrant music teachers in small towns, affected fiddling. The contributions of music publishing as well as the surprising importance of ragtime and early jazz also had profound effects. Much of the old-time fiddlers’ repertory arises not from the inherited reels, jigs, and hornpipes from the British Isles, nor from the waltzes, schottisches, and polkas from the Continent, but from the prolific pens of Tin Pan Alley. Marshall also examines regional styles in Missouri fiddling and comments on the future of this time-honored, and changing, tradition. Documentary in nature, this social history draws on various academic disciplines and oral histories recorded in Marshall’s forty-some years of research and field experience. Historians, music aficionados, and lay people interested in Missouri folk heritage—as well as fiddlers, of course—will find Play Me Something Quick and Devilish an entertaining and enlightening read. With 39 tunes, the enclosed Voyager Records companion CD includes a historic sampler of Missouri fiddlers and styles from 1955 to 2012. A media kit is available here: press.umsystem.edu/pages/PlayMeSomethingQuickandDevilish.aspx
From the author’s preface: “This book was conceived four years ago, almost to the day, at a time when I was teaching fiddle and mandolin in New York City. It was my idea then, with my students in mind, to compile a book of the most often played, most important and most interesting fiddle tunes from the various Celtic and North American traditions. The tunes were chosen by cataloging a large number of recordings by tune title. A tally was taken to find out which had been recorded most often. This established a foundation of material that could not be left out. To this list I added the names of other pieces which had not been recorded as frequently, but which I knew were played regularly and with respect. I admit to sprinkling the collection with a few lesser known tunes which happen to be personal favorites, but I am sure they will hold their own when placed next to the old war horses of the fiddler’s repertoire. . . . Although I started out with my students in mind this book has turned out to be the book that I’ve always wanted and I hope that it will serve the advanced player as well as the beginner.”
Music in the Air is a study on fiddle music and folk traditions. It is also a look into the broad influences that folk music has on fiddlers? compositions and their practices. By exploring the oral histories of seven, life-long musicians, Erynn Marshall illuminates the diversity of these music traditions and the culmination of the fiddle song genres. Through the studies of the musicians lives, oral transmissions, social contexts, and analysis of various genres within the contexts, Marshall expresses how the instrumental and vocal tradition have merged and transformed over time, blurring the preset boundaries and perceptions of the art. Included with this intense survey of Appalachian tradition is a CD of Marshall's field and archival recordings of West Virginia musicians.
Appalachian fiddle music, based on the musical traditions of the people who settled in the mountainous regions of the southeastern United States, is widely-known and played throughout North America and parts of Europe because of its complex rhythms, its catchy melodies, and its often-ancient-sounding stylistic qualities. The authors explore the lives and music of 43 of the classic Appalachian fiddlers who were active during the first half of the 20th century. Some of them were recorded commercially in the 1920s, such as Gid Tanner, Fiddlin’ John Carson, and Charlie Bowman. Some were recorded by folklorists from the Library of Congress, such as William Stepp, Emmett Lundy, and Marion Reece. Others were recorded informally by family members and visitors, such as John Salyer, Emma Lee Dickerson, and Manco Sneed. All of them played throughout most of their lives and influenced the growth and stylistic elements of fiddle music in their regions. Each fiddler has been given a chapter with a biography, several tune transcriptions, and tune histories. To show the richness of the music, the authors make a special effort to show the musical elements in detail, but also acknowledge that nothing can take the place of listening. Many of the classic recordings used in this book can be found on the web, allowing you to hear and read the music together.
(Music Sales America). This collection is a reflection of the current repertoire of "sessions" in Scotland. Included are the popular tunes of today which stand the test of time. Some of the material is fairly tricky and should offer a challenge to the increasing numbers of excellent fiddlers. Songs include: Fairy Dance * Sleepy Maggie * Ships Are Sailing * The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh * The Wind That Shakes the Barley * Loch Leven Castle * The Apple Tree * Lynne's Reel * The Old Grey Cat * Lord MacDonald * Miss Lyall * Captain Campbell * The Left Handed Fiddler * The North Shore * I Wish You Would Marry Me Now * Gladstone * Itchy Fingers * John Spence of Uyeasound * Jack Broke da Prison Door * The Shetland Fiddler * Da Ferry Reel * The Sally Gardens * The High Reel * The Boys of Malin * The Silver Spire * Sligo Maid * The Earl's Chair * Paddy's Trip to Scotland * King of the Fairies * The Firefly * Fisher's Hornpipe * The Golden Eagle * Lark in the Morning * Trip to Sligo * Traditional Jig * The Rocky Road to Dublin * Kennedy Street March * The Sweetness of Mary * Ashokan Farewell * Mitton's Breakdown * Trip to Windsor * Rory MacLeod * Ally Bally * and more.
Includes a wealth of fiddling lore and illustrations; a guide to buying a fiddle and bow; tips on learning and playing the fiddle; over 800 listings of books, records, fiddling and bluegrass organizations, fiddling schools and camps, violin making supplies, films, etc.; information about fiddle contests.
New from the Philharmonic series, this collection is an absolutely perfect way to introduce Celtic fiddling to your youngest string players! Eleven tunes from the Celtic fiddling tradition are presented first in a simplified, very easy "Basic" version of the tune printed with note names in the note heads. The tune is also presented in an "Advanced," but still accessible version of the tune. Lyrics are included where applicable.
