strathspey@strathspey.org:1336

John Ward

Re: Fiddle Technique and SCD Music

March 17, 1995, 12:58 a.m. (Message 1336, in reply to message 1323)

On Thu, 16 Mar 1995 xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xx wrote:

> I have a couple of books (_A Guide to Bowing_ by J. Scott Skinner and 
> _The Calidonian Companion_ by Alastair J. Hardie) which stress the 
> importance of bowing technique in Scottish Fiddle music.  Special bowing 
> produces the Scottish snap or the unique Scottish character of the music,
> according to these sources.
>
These are good books, but they are not the complete guides to Scottish 
fiddling because there are several styles of Scottish fiddling.  Both 
Scott Skinner and Hardie are what might be called Northeast Scottish 
fiddlers, which has a different style than Highland, or Cape Breton, for 
example.  Use the books, but be aware that there are other, equally valid 
in most circumstances, bowings that can be used.
 
> Bowing is very important in classical violin playing.  For example, 
> students of the Suzuki method start learning it in Book I while they are
> just beginning to play.  In the Bach minuets, which have a waltz-like
> rhythm, the bow moves  down-up-up, not down-up-down.
> 
> Skinner and Hardie use hooked bowing a lot, particularly in strathspeys.
> This appears to have a lot to do with the wonderful Scottish rhythms of 
> these dances.  For example, a series of dotted eighth notes (longer notes)
> alternating with sixteenth notes (shorter notes) would often be bowed:
> 
> down-down  up-up  down-down  up-up
> 
> This tends to make the long notes a fraction longer and the short notes
> a fraction shorter (I think), giving the music more snap (a more pronounced
> rhythm).

Most players that I know, including myself, tend to play a dotted 8th note
- 16th note figure (dum-da), which is notated with the first note having a
duration three times the shorter note, more like a triple rhythm, with the
longer note being played roughly twice as long as the shorter.  On the
other hand, the snap, where the shorter note is first (but-ums), is
usually played with the shorter note being played very short, more like a
32nd note followed by a double dotted 8th.  Also, while the hooked bow may
be used on the dum-da sets, very often the but-ums set is played with
seperate bows. 
> 
> However, at a couple of music workshops, I have heard that bowing is not 
> too important.  I would like to hear from the Scottish Country Dance 
> musicians out there about how important technique is on the fiddle.  Is this 
> part of the reason scottish music is so unique? 
> 

I think that every musician has to consider the style used as a device to
reinforce the dancers.  SCD musicians use a dotted jig rhythm (dotted 8th
- 16th - 8th) to give some lift to the dancers, which reinforces the steps
the dancers are performing in the jig.  A large part of style is the 
bowing choices which can be made.  My understanding of the SCD strathspey 
is of a graceful dance with two major pulses to the measure.  The hooked 
bowing cited above would tend to give a feeling of four to the measure, 
so the player would have to make sure that beats one and three were 
emphasized to give the feeling of two major beats.  But, in addition, the 
player will want to emphasize some fourth beats to give the dancers 
movement into the next measure, so that the player might play a 
strathspey as ONE two THREE four, One two THREE FOUR, etc.  Alasdair 
Fraser has been known to suggest that, if appropriate, the player might 
want to take two bows to the bar in a strathspey.

	Further, different tunes call for different bowings, so it is 
pretty hard to set down some standard rule for all Scottish bowings.  I 
find that I might play one time through a strathspey with hooked and 
linked bowings, and then play the tune with separate bows for a somewhat 
different feeling.

	I think that the problem is that there are a lot of possibilities 
for good bowings in tunes, so that it is difficult to set a standard 
bowing.  On the other hand, bowing is a major element of style and goes a 
long way towards creating the feeling of a tune, which must be considered 
by the player.  Keeping in mind that the purpose of a dance musician is 
to play music for dancing, if the style is appropriate for dancing, any 
bowing that will support the style will probably work.  In a sense, what 
I am saying is that SCD style is important for SCD dances, and Cape 
Breton style is important for Cape Breton dancing, and Highland style is 
important for Highland dancing, and a musician should be aware of the 
differences in the styles and the bowing and other techniques required to 
produce the style.

> I hope the dancers out there are not bored with this.  There is no list 
> server for SCD _music_ yet, so I'm trying this one.  As a beginner fiddler, 
> I'd really like to hear from Barbera and Elke and from others.  If the 
> discussion is too narrow for this dance list server, please send e-mail. 
> 
> Hugh Goldie 
> xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxxx.xx
> 
> 
I think that it's good to discuss these thing on this list.  Sorry for 
the length, but I hope that it helps.  It will be interesting to see what 
others more experienced than I, such as Elke and Roberta, have to say.

John.