Starting Out On Fiddle - Fancy Yourself Fiddling

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fancy yourself fiddling? Starting Out on Fiddle2. By Sean Kenan, 2008. Photo above: Kevin Burke’s bow hold. The Bow Q. How much do I tighten the bow? Enough to allow a pencil to be passed between the hair and stick. Make sure you release the pressure after playing. Avoid touching the hair as this will cause ‘dead’ spots while bowing due to grease from the fingers. Q. How much rosin should I use? A new bow will require a good load. Try fifty rubbings down and up the whole bow length. For short practice sessions ten rubs should do. Q. How often should I get the bow re-haired? Kevin Burke is a professional player and he changes his strings every two months and gets his bow re-haired every six to nine months. Most fiddlers would get away with a re-hair every one or two years, sometimes for longer periods. Photo above: Avoid playing with a crooked bow. Draw the bow in a parallel line between the bridge and fingerboard. Q. How do I hold the fiddle? Most players these days use a device called a shoulder rest. These fittings are quite a recent invention and have only been available commercially for about 70 years.The famous classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin detested shoulder rests even though there is one brand for sale bearing his name. Kevin Burke prefers a small cushion attached with an elastic band. Other players hold the fiddle in the original manner, the instrument resting directly on their shoulder. The main thing is to try to ‘balance’ the instrument lightly on the shoulder rather than clamping the fiddle tightly between the chin and shoulder. Photo above: Left hand finger exercise. Try holding down the four fingers approximately in the above shape. This will develop strength and finger independence. Q. How do I bow the string? Start off with long slow bows on open strings. Aim for smooth long strokes with a minimum of scratching. Gently stroke the string to get it ‘spinning’ and play very lightly with a smooth continuous tone all the way from one end of the bow to the other. You will need to support a lot of the bow’s weight as you near the lower half or you will scratch. Aim for 30 seconds per bow stroke. Sean Kenan teaches fiddle in Melbourne at the Fancy Yourself Fiddling music school and produces the monthly newsletter, Fiddle News. Tune downloads, quotes and Fiddle News archives are available online at www.seankenan.com w w w . s e a n k e n a n . c o m
fancy yourself fiddling? Fiddling Starting Out on Around Fiddle3. by Sean Kenan By Sean Kenan, 2008. Q. Can I use one finger to play across two strings? Starting Out on Fiddle No.3. Yes. This is called the barré and is most useful as it frees Q. up Can the I other use one fingers finger to be to used play for across other tasks. two strings? Yes. This is called the barré and is most useful as it Q. How do I check I am playing in tune? frees up the other fingers to be used for other tasks. Check often with open strings! When you play a fingered Q. How note do that I check corresponds I am to playing an open in string, tune? that Check is a G, often D, A or with E note, open play strings! the open When string you to play a check fingered your finger’s note that location. corresponds These notes to an will open be string, that is a G, D, A or E note, play the open string to either an octave apart or in unison when the 4 check your finger’s location. These notes will be either an octave apart or in unison when the 4th finger is used in first position. Also try playing a scale slowly, checking your pitch with an electronic tuner. This takes lots of patience and you will find that as little as a millimetre can Above: Keep L.H. fingers clear of open strings. Above: Keep L.H. fingers clear of open strings. change the pitch. A slight roll forwards or backwards Left Hand Technique of the fingertip can bring you to the correct pitch. Left Hand Technique Of course the fiddle must be perfectly in tune to make Can you play two strings without the fleshy bit of Can you play two strings without the fleshy bit of this worthwhile. The fiddle actually resonates when it one one finger finger interfering interfering with with the the string string underneath? underneath? is played in tune especially with octaves, thirds and You You will will need need to to create create a clear a clear tunnel tunnel underneath underneath fifth intervals. the playing finger finger so so the the string string underneath underneath is is ‘alive’. This is is most most important for double for double stopping stopping or chordal playing and and also also will will allow allow you to you use to use ‘crossbowing’ where where the the bow bow circles circles back back and forth and forth between between two two strings. strings. th Fiddling Around by Sean Kenan Q. Can I use one finger to play across two strings? Starting Out on Fiddle No.3. Yes. This is called the barré and is most useful as it frees up the other fingers to be used for other tasks. Q. How do I check I am playing in tune? Check often with open strings! When you play a fingered note that corresponds to an open string, that is a G, D, A or E note, play the open string to check your finger’s location. These notes will be either an octave apart or in unison when the 4 finger is used in first position. Also try playing a scale slowly, checking your pitch with an electronic tuner. This takes lots of patience Above: Keep L.H. fingers clear of open strings. and you will find that as little as a millimetre can change the pitch. A slight roll forwards or Left Hand Technique backwards of the fingertip can bring you to the Can you play two strings without the fleshy bit of correct pitch. Of course the fiddle must be perfectly one finger interfering with the string underneath? in tune to make this worthwhile. The fiddle actually You will need to create a clear tunnel underneath resonates when it is played in tune especially with the playing finger so the string underneath is octaves, thirds and fifth intervals. ‘alive’. This is most important for double stopping or chordal playing and also will allow you to use ‘crossbowing’ where the bow circles back and forth between two strings. th Fiddling Around by Sean Kenan Q. Can I use one finger to play across two strings? Starting Out on Fiddle No.3. Yes. This is called the barré and is most useful as it frees up the other fingers to be used for other tasks. Q. How do I check I am playing in tune? Check often with open strings! When you play a fingered note that corresponds to an open string, that is a G, D, A or E note, play the open string to check finger your is used finger’s in first location. position. These notes will be either Also an try octave playing apart a scale or slowly, in unison checking when the your 4 pitch with an electronic tuner. This takes lots of patience and you will find that as little as a millimetre can change the pitch. A slight roll forwards or backwards of the fingertip can bring you to the correct pitch. Of course the fiddle must be perfectly Above: Keep L.H. fingers clear of open strings. in tune to make this worthwhile. The fiddle actually Left Hand Technique resonates when it is played in tune especially with octaves, thirds and fifth intervals. Can you play two strings without the fleshy bit of one finger interfering with the string underneath? You will need to create a clear tunnel underneath the playing finger so the string underneath is ‘alive’. This is most important for double stopping or chordal playing and also will allow you to use ‘crossbowing’ where the bow circles back and forth between two strings. th finger is used in first position. Also try playing a scale slowly, checking your pitch with an electronic tuner. This takes lots of patience and you will find that as little as a millimetre can change the pitch. A slight roll forwards or backwards of the fingertip can bring you to the correct pitch. Of course the fiddle must be perfectly in tune to make this worthwhile. The fiddle actually resonates when it is played in tune especially with octaves, thirds and fifth intervals. 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Lower example: This downloads, quotes and Fiddle News archives are downloads, quotes and Fiddle News archives are is a little easier as the open ‘D’ string is on the other side available online at www.seankenan.com of the tunnel. available online at www.seankenan.com Created by trial version, http://www.pdf-convert.com Created by trial version, http://www.pdf-convert.com w w w . s e a n k e n a n . c o m
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