Fiddle Music around the world

Fiddle Music For Different cultures.

By Carl V. Johnson

& Jack Galliett

Music is the language that connects the world, and with each culture that can be found, a variations is bound to be discovered. One style of music that can be found all over the world is fiddle and folk music. This video can be used to demonstrate most all of the different styles of fiddle music around the world ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uAZtKBc6oc ). Each culture has its own unique way of expressing the values of their lifestyle and livening up the party. In the style of old time fiddle, a melody is played on a lead instrument, with a number of other instruments playing chords to support the leading melody. This could be an example of the Western Functional Harmony. In her book Thinking Musically, Bonnie Wade talks about western styles using multiple chords in their music to create a functional harmony. Fiddle music is known to live up to this functional harmony to create new sounds and different stories for each song. These harmonies can also be found in other styles of fiddle music, but with their own twist.

One style of fiddling that has a unique sound is the Irish fiddle. This style of fiddling has survived since the the middle ages and is most commonly found in pubs today. The Irish fiddling style is based heavily on ornamentation of the notes. The most common type of ornamentation is the “bowed triplet”. where the triplets are split into three short notes that gives a certain flourish to the tune. There are many other “ornaments” that Irish Fiddlers use to create this unique style, such as “Cuts, rolls and slides”.   Cuts are used to create a “grace note in between two different pitches. Rolls create the illusion of making three notes sound like five notes and are usually used in jigs. Slides are when the fiddler plays a half step down from the desired pitch and then slurs up to the desired pitch. Irish music has been widely used a music for dancing. Instruments that accompany the Irish fiddle include guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion/concertina, tin whistle, drums, bouzouki, harp and uilleann pipes.  Here is an example of two Irish jigs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV90v6pyK18… Although the fiddle is an important part of the folk music in Ireland, fiddle music is also found in other parts of europe.

Music in Europe has seen many different styles of music through classical symphonies and the music of the church.  But in the north country of Sweden, the fiddle music was the main instrument for dances and playing folk music. Main types of swedish fiddle music included the waltz, Schottis, and the Polka. The Swedish style included multiple traditions from the medieval times with the structure of the baroque area.  One instrument that is special to swedish and scandinavian music is the Hardingfele. With the unique designs and the extended peg box, this instrument is one of legend and is can be tuned in 26 different ways to create differents sounds for different songs or times of the day. Swedish Fiddle music ( https://youtu.be/GtieqppKClw ).

Fiddle Group Called Nightingale

New England fiddle music has been a part of fiddle history since the 1600’s. As the immigrants came over from the eastern world, they brought their tunes from France, Germany, England and many other places. With this combination of all these styles, it also brought many different instruments. The normal instruments such as the fiddle were part of this style, but also guitar, piano, drums, accordion, clarinet, flute, and many others. This style was and still is used for contra dancing and other forms of dance. To hear an example of new england use the link    ( https://youtu.be/nSpI7k4iN1Y ).          

Most of these fiddle tunes have a story behind them. These stories can range from telling happy memories to an accidental shooting of a doe. However most the time these stories are happy ones, so they are played faster and in major keys, while tunes that  have a sadder story are played in minor keys and played slowly. Waltzes, typically are songs about love.

Fiddle music is a language of music that has its own accent all around the world. with each little ornament, instrumentation, and combination of styles, it can create a world of musicians that love to share their music through performance, camps, or dances. Fiddle music is a music that is used to bring people together from any age and is used to express the feelings of all that play it.

Works Cited

"Folk Music of Ireland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Sept. 2015. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music_of_Ireland>.

Haigh, Chris. "Irish Fiddle." Irish Fiddle. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://fiddlingaround.co.uk/ireland/index.html>.

Haigh, Chris. "Scandinavian Fiddle." Scandinavian Fiddle. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://fiddlingaround.co.uk/scandinavia/index.html>.

Schneckenburger, Lissa. " Lissa Schneckenburger: New England Fiddler and Folk Singer." Lissa Schneckenburger. N.p., 2008. Web. 04 Oct. 2015. <http://www.lissafiddle.com/faqs/new-england-fiddle.htm>.

Wade, Bonnie C. Thinking Musically: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Work Divided

Carl: Swedish and New England Research

Jack: Irish and Pictures