fiddle

Fiddle

A standard modern violin shown from the front and the side
String instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.322-71 (Composite chordophone sounded by a bow)
Developed	Early 16th century
Playing range
Related instruments
Violin family (viola, cello) Viol family (includes double bass)
Musicians
List of fiddlers
Builders
Luthiers
More articles
This article is part of the Fiddle & Violin series. Basic physics of the violin Fiddlers History of the violin Luthiers Musical styles Making and maintenance Playing the violin Violin construction Violin family of instruments Violinists

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The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin.^[1] It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, refers to various styles of music.

Common distinctions between violins and fiddles reflect the differences in the instruments used to play classical and folk music. However, it is not uncommon for classically trained violinists to play folk music, and today many fiddle players have some classical training. A lot of traditional (folk) styles are aural traditions, so are taught 'by ear' rather than with written music.

History

The medieval fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the Byzantine lira (Greek:λύρα, Latin:lira, English:lyre), a bowed string instrument of the Byzantine Empire and ancestor of most European bowed instruments.^[2][3] The first recorded reference to the bowed lira was in the 9th century by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his lexicographical discussion of instruments he cited the lira (lūrā) as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb played in the Islamic Empires.^[4] Lira spread widely westward to Europe; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009).

Over the centuries, Europe continued to have two distinct types of fiddles: one, relatively square-shaped, held in the arms, became known as the lira da braccio (arm viol) family and evolved into the violin; the other, with sloping shoulders and held between the knees, was the lira da gamba (leg viol) group. During the Renaissance the gambas were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder (and originally less aristocratic) lira da braccio family.^[5] There is a legend about roman emperor Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned. it is clearly just a legend, nothing resembling a fiddle was known at that time.

Etymology

The etymology of fiddle is uncertain: the Germanic fiddle may derive from the same early Romance word as does violin, or it may be natively Germanic.^[6] The name seems however to be related to Icelandic Fiðla and also Old English fiðele.^[7] A native Germanic ancestor of fiddle may even be the ancestor of the early Romance form of violin.^[8] Historically, fiddle also referred to a predecessor of today's violin. Like the violin, it tended to have four strings, but came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Another family of instruments which contributed to the development of the modern fiddle are the viols, which are held between the legs and played vertically, and have fretted fingerboards.

Construction and setup

In construction, fiddles and violins are essentially identical (with the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle excepted as a special case). The medieval fiddle had rear tuning pegs set in a flat headstock similarly to the Byzantine lyra and unlike the rabāb and rebec.

Bridge

Some (folk) fiddle traditions fit the instrument with a flatter bridge than classical violinists use. The difference between "round" and "flat" is not more than about a quarter or half a millimeter variation in the height of one or two strings, but is sufficient to reduce the range of right-arm motion required for the rapid string-crossings found in some styles, and those who use flatter bridges say it makes playing double stops and shuffles (long short-short long short-short rhythms) easier. It can also make triple stops possible, allowing one to play chords. In old-time music, for example, the top of the bridge is sometimes cut so that it is very slightly flattened; the Hardanger fiddle uses an even flatter bridge, and the bridge of the kontra or bracsa (a three-string viola used in Hungarian and Transylvanian folk music) is flat enough that all three strings can easily be played simultaneously.

Most classical violinists prefer a more rounded curve to the top of the bridge, feeling that this allows them to articulate each note more easily and clearly. Many fiddle players use the same top curve as well; most fiddles are fitted with a standard classical bridge, regardless of the style of music played on the instrument. Since the bridge may be changed, it does not permanently define an instrument as fiddle or violin.

Soundpost

Since some genres of fiddling favor different tone than what most violinists might prefer, soundpost position and tension will vary according to the use of the instrument.^{[citation needed]}

Strings and tuners

Fiddle is more likely to be used than violin if the instrument's strings are steel rather than gut or synthetic, as the sound of steel strings better suits some fiddling styles. Tuning steel strings is easier with fine tuners (small screw mechanisms attached or built into the tailpiece) so fiddlers may favor instruments with fine tuners on all four strings; it is very uncommon to see four fine tuners on full-size instruments played by classical musicians. Strings are subject to regular replacement, fine tuners may be added or removed, and tailpieces may be changed, so, like flattened bridges, they do not make an irreversible difference.

Bows used in fiddling

Most fiddling styles that use the standard violin also use the standard violin bow, the same as classical players; the bow stick may be usually made from wood, but bows made from fiberglass and other materials are becoming more common, as they are much cheaper and less fragile. However, there are a few styles which use other bows. One notable example is the folk music from Hungary and Transylvania used in the táncház tradition. While the violinist uses a standard bow, both the kontra and bass are played with heavy and crude "folk bows", consisting of a stout stick, usually hand-hewn, with the hank of horsehair attached at the tip and tied around the frog. Some players tension the hair by squeezing it when playing.

Scottish fiddlers emulating 18th century playing styles sometimes use a replica of the type of bow used in that period, which is a few inches shorter, and weighs significantly more.^{[citation needed]}

Fiddle playing in ensemble

In performance, a solo fiddler, or one fiddler or two with a group of other instrumentalists, is the norm, though twin fiddling is represented in some North American, Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish styles. Violins, on the other hand, are commonly grouped in sections. These contrasting traditions may be vestiges of historical performance settings: large concert halls in which violins were played required more instruments, before electronic amplification, than did more intimate dance halls and houses fiddles were played in. The difference was likely compounded by the different sounds expected of violin music and fiddle music. Historically, the majority of fiddle music was dance music, while violin music had either grown out of dance music or was something else entirely. Violin music came to value a smoothness which fiddling, with its dance-driven clear beat, did not always follow - in situations that required greater volume, a fiddler (as long as they kept the beat) could push their instrument harder than could a violinist. (Different fiddle traditions had different values, as detailed below; these explanations are meant to present the differences between fiddle music and violin music generally.)

Following the folk revivals of the second half of the 20th century, however, it has become common for less formal situations to find large groups of fiddlers playing together—see for example the Calgary Fiddlers, and Swedish Spelmanslag folk-musician clubs, and the worldwide^[9] phenomenon of Irish sessions.

Scottish fiddle with cello

In the very late 20th century, a few artists have successfully attempted a reconstruction of the Scottish tradition of violin and "big fiddle," or cello. Notable recorded examples include Iain Fraser and Christine Hanson, Amelia Kaminski and Christine Hanson's Bonnie Lasses^[10] and Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas' Fire and Grace.^[11]

Balkan fiddle with kontra

Hungarian, Slovenian, and Romanian fiddle players are often accompanied by a three-stringed variant of the viola known as the kontra, as well as double bass, with cimbalom and clarinet being less standard yet still common additions to a band.

Fiddle Styles

To a greater extent than classical violin playing, fiddle playing is characterized by a huge variety of ethnic or folk music traditions, each of which has its own distinctive sound.

Europe

Great Britain

• English Folk music fiddling, including
  • The Northumbrian fiddle style, which features "seconding," an improvised harmony part played by a second fiddler.
• Scottish fiddling, including:
  • Shetland fiddling, which includes trowie tunes said to come from peerie folk. The style is characterized by "ringing strings" and syncopated rhythms.
  • A Lowland Scots tradition strongly influenced by baroque violin technique with staccato and scots snap bowing techniques in addition to the use of double stops.
  • A Scottish Borders tradition with a repertoire heavy in hornpipes and with heavy use of double stops.
  • A highland tradition, highly influenced by the ornamentation and myxolydian scale of the Great Highland Bagpipe, as well as smoother bowing than other Scottish fiddle styles and a swinging of the 6/8 jig rhythm.
  • An Orkney tradition with simpler bowing and ornamentation but with tunes featuring accidentals.^[12]
• Welsh Fiddling (Welsh Ffidil; see Ar Log), a recently revived tradition.

Ireland

• Irish Folk music fiddling including:
  • Donegal fiddling from the northwest in Ulster, which features mazurkas and a Scottish-influenced repertoire including strathspey and highland fling dances. Fiddlers tend to play fast and make heavy use of staccato bowing and may from time to time "play the bass," meaning a second fiddler may play a melody an octave below where a first fiddler is playing it.
  • Sligo fiddling from northern Connacht, which like Donegal fiddling tends to be fast, but with a bouncier feel to the bowing.
  • Galway fiddling southern Connacht, which is slower than Sligo or Donegal traditions, with a heavier emphasis on ornamentation. Additionally, tunes are occasionally played in Eb or Bb to match the tonality of flat pipes.
  • Clare fiddling from northern Munster, which tends to be played near the slower Galway tempo yet with a greater emphasis on the melody itself rather than ornamentaiton.
  • Sliabh Luachra fiddling from the southwest in Munster, characterized by a unique repertoire of polkas and slides, as well as the use of double stops and drones as well as playing the melody in two octaves as in Donegal.^[13]

Scandinavia

• Swedish fiddling (including Låtfiol playing; see also Spelmanslag and Gammaldans), including traditions from:
  • Jamtland
  • Dalarna
• Norwegian fiddling (including Hardanger fiddling; see also Bygdedans and Gammaldans), including traditions from:
  • Røros and Nord-Noreg styles, both using the standard fiddle.
  • Finnskogen, using the standard fiddle, but featuring some flatted notes influenced by Finnish folk music.
  • Voss and Telemark styles, both using the hardanger fiddle.
  • Setesdal, which uses both standard and hardanger fiddles.
• Finnish fiddling, including the regional styles of:
  • Kaustinen
  • Ostrobothnia, heavily influenced by Swedish fiddling.

Continental Europe

• Austrian fiddling
• French fiddling, including an old tradition from Corrèze and a revived one from Brittany
• Hungarian folk music traditions
• Italian fiddling^[14]
• Klezmer fiddling^[15]
• Polish fiddling
• Mainland Portuguese and Azorean fiddling
• Romanian fiddling^[16]

Americas

North America

American fiddling, a broad category including traditional and moderns styles.

Traditional

• Blues fiddling
• Cajun and Zydeco fiddling
• Old-time fiddling, including:
  • Fiddling from Appalachia, the most well-known style today, featuring heavy use of droning and double-stops as well as syncopated bowing patterns.
  • Midwestern fiddling, highly influenced by Scandinavian music.
  • Ozarks fiddling, faster and crisper bowing than Appalachia.
  • Texas fiddling, with influences from Mexican fiddling and an emphasis on competitive playing.
  • New England fiddling, with strong influences from Quebecois and British repertoires.
  • Northwest fiddling, with influences from both Ozark and Midwestern fiddle styles, though with a strong emphasis on competitive playing like Texas fiddling.
• Tohono O'Odham fiddling, a Native American style heavily influenced by Mexican fiddling^[17] and featuring irregular counts and harmonies in thirds, fourths, and sixths.^[18]

Modern

• Bluegrass fiddling
• Country fiddling
• Western swing style fiddling^[19]

Canadian fiddling, including

Newfoundland fiddle player Patrick Moran

• Cape Breton fiddling, with a distinct Scottish influence
• French Canadian fiddling including "crooked tunes," that is, tunes with irregular beat patterns.
• Métis fiddling, of central and western Canada featuring strong French Canadian influence, but with even more "crooked" tunes.^[20]
• Newfoundland and Labrador fiddling
• Maritimes, Acadian or Downeast style of fiddling which has many similarities to Cape Breton fiddling
• English-Canadian fiddling or Anglo-Canadian fiddling

Latin America

• Forró, a type of music from Brazil, including the rabeca fiddle tradition
• Mexican fiddling, including mariachi, huapango, son huasteco and son calentano
• Peruvian violin

Other Areas

• African fiddle
• Australian folk music traditions
• Morna fiddling from Cape Verde

Relations

Variants

• Hardanger fiddle
• Stroh violin or phonofiddle, known in Romanian as Vioara cu goarnă.

Near Relations

• Cello
• Double bass
• Kontra
• Rebec
• Rabeca
• Viola

Distant Relations

• Byzantine lyra, the medieval bowed instrument of the Byzantine Empire
• Cretan Lyra
• Crwth
• Gadulka
• Gudok
• Gusle
• Hurdy gurdy also known as the wheel fiddle
• Lijerica
• Nyckelharpa

See also

• List of All-Ireland Champions
• List of fiddlers
• Hardanger fiddle
• Kontra
• Låtfiol
• Rabeca
• Rock violin
• Vioara cu goarnă

References

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (November 2011)

Bibliography

• The Fiddle Book, by Marion Thede, (1970), Oak Publications. ISBN 0-8256-0145-2.
• The Fiddler's Fakebook, by David Brody, (1983), Oak Publications. US ISBN 0-8256-0238-6; UK ISBN 0-7119-0309-3.
• Oldtime Fiddling Across America, by David Reiner and Peter Anick (1989), Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 0-87166-766-5. Has transcriptions (standard notation) and analysis of tunes from multiple regional and ethnic styles.
• The Portland Collection, by Susan Songer, (1997), ISBN 0-9657476-0-3 (Vol. 2 ISBN 0-9657476-1-1)

External links

Look up Violin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fiddle

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Fiddle.

Wikiversity has learning materials about Fiddle

• Faroese fiddle
• Fiddle and Alternative Strings Forum
• Fiddle Fork
• Fiddle Hangout
• Kimberley Fraser's Fiddle Blog - Cape Breton Fiddler Kimberley Fraser discusses issues relevant to traditional fiddle music.
• Voyager Records' catalog,organized by region, has clips of many North American styles.
• A French Violin fiddle method website - video, text, and forum with explanation (with tablatures).
• The Fiddler's Companion, an encyclopedia of historical notes on tunes from British, Celtic, and American traditions.
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Fiddling
• Traditional Irish fiddle Players

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