Week Ten: Fiddling!

As promised, Piotr gave me two fiddle tunes! 

     Turkey in the Straw and St. Anne's Reel will be my focus for the next week, and I am very excited about it. Whether it's the speed, the key, or the general feel of the songs, I do not know, but I love playing them already. 

     This week, I worked on my violin three times. Up until yesterday when I received the fiddle tunes, I was plugging away at my two Christmas songs. They are slowly becoming beautiful, and I hope to have them nicely rounded for Christmas. My brother is a typical musician who loves a good jam session, and my cousin plays fiddle music in various folk competitions. I hope to be able to play with both of them when they come home this year. 

     It was very interesting when Piotr explained the difference between classical and fiddle music to me yesterday. Before we started Turkey in the Straw, I played Silent Night for him to hear. He pointed out ways for me to lengthen the notes on my bow, and to make my movements more grand and fluid. Quite contradictory to this, once we started the fiddle tunes, he instructed me to use a very short bow, fast movements, and to not worry about hitting wrong strings now and then. The reasoning behind this is the historical background of the song. Every time I learn a new song, Piotr makes me think about who would have played that type of music when it was written. In this instance, Turkey in the Straw would have been played by farmers who were out working in the fields all day. Piotr explained,

"The men would have been tired. They'd come home, sit in their chair and play light, fun songs. Not grand, complicated pieces with crazy movements!" 

     Understanding the historical context is always very helpful, especially when it comes to learning different styles of music. Fiddle music is very 'messy' compared to classical violin playing, so hitting other strings now and then only adds to the character of the song. Piotr explained to me that if it the music is too clean, you lose the effect that fiddle music is supposed to have. 

     When he discovered that my cousin is an avid fiddler, Piotr became even more adamant about me learning new songs in this style of music and promised we would work on more next week. It is all very exciting. 

     In short, my highlight this week was learning Turkey in the Straw and exploring a new genre. My lowlight was once again my lack of practice...other than that I don't really have any regrets. 
Moving forward, I will continue to work on Turkey in the Straw and St. Anne's Reel. I did not share a video this week because I only learnt the songs yesterday and am very far from anything that sounds melodic! Hopefully next Sunday will be a different story! 

Until next time!