Fwd: Country/Rock Fiddle Parts question

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would second everything Scorcher said in his post on the subject.

D is probably the most common key,followed closely by A and G, along 
with D minor, E minor, and A minor. At least in SCottish tunes. 
Fiddlers seem to HATE flat keys like F and Bb.

A lot of fiddle tunes are in some mode or other of the major scale, 
often mixolydian or dorian. That makes second and third positions 
useful.

There are also many tunes that can be played in two positions. For 
instance, some major tunes do not use the 7th degree of the scale, 
hence can be played in first or second positions. SOme minor tunes do 
not use the 6th degree of the scale and can be played in third or 
fourth, or do not use the 2nd degree of the scale and can be played 
in 4th or 5th.

Using an XB-40, I can bend for, say, the major 7th in 2nd position. 
This gives me the freedom to choose a comfortable, convenient, or 
interesting position with less attention to how closely the tune mode 
and the default notes on the harp match up. I can also play a medley 
of tunes with key changes without changing harps.

One reason for playing in the upper two octaves on diatonic is the 
need for a full diatonic scale. You have to bend for the 4th and 6th 
degrees of the scale in the bottom octave and this can be tricky at 
the fast tempos that are common with fiddle tunes.

This is one reason that having a low D harp is a really good idea. 
I've been playing a 364 in Low D (after sealing the wood comb, 
installing screws, and setting up the reeds for hard playing).

While my ideal is to be able to play softly and resonantly, the 
present reality for me, especially when onstage, is that adrenaline 
tends to take over and make me play hard. I'm working on this, but 
for the present I do find it's best to set up reed action for the 
actual playing situation.

Learning to deal with the speed of fiddle tunes can be daunting at 
first. Also, they tend not to have any resting points. Much of this 
music originated as unaccompanied dance music, so the fiddler had to 
be playing all the time.

For speed, the best thing you can do is to break a tune down into 
short licks and practice them with a metronome at a slow tempo. Get 
to where you can play a lick without having to wonder where you are 
going next at any point - you have it ingrained and can go there 
without thinking. Then bump the tempo up a notch. Learn a whole tune 
this way, at first phrase by phrase, then stringing the phrases 
together and learning to get all the way through the tune at a slow 
tempo, etc.

Also, learn to sing the tune. If you can sing the tune then you know 
the melody. If you learn an unknown tune on an instrument, you're 
learning two things - how the tune goes, and how to find that unknown 
nmelody on your instrument. If you can learn to sing a tune from 
memory, then it gets easier to find on your instrument.

Some other tunes good to know, in no particular order:

Miss McLeod
Smash the Windows
High Road to Linton
Fairy Dance
Squirrel in the Tree
The Sailor's Wife
Braes of Mar
Saint Anne's Reel
Myra's Jig
Caber Feidh
Brenda Stubbert's Reel
Devil among the Tailors (aka Devil's Dream)
Speed the Plough
Big John McNeil
Flowers of Edinburgh
Maid Behind the Bar
The Mason's Apron
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Wind that Shakes the Barley
Billy in the low ground (Lost indian)
Back up and Push
Girl I Left Behind Me
Irish Washerwoman
The Old Man and the Old Woman
Maple Sugar
Crooked Stovepipe
My Lagan Love
Da Slockit Light
Wabash Cannonball
Orange Blossom Special
Arkansas Traveller
Turkey in the Straw
Buffalo Gals


- --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxx> 
wrote:

Hi All,

  this is kind of nebulous question, i know, but it's
stuck in my brain a little. i love the fiddle parts in
some country/rock music, like the Tarbox Ramblers,
Uncle Tupelo, and Son Volt. i suppose most of y'all
have never heard of those bands, but still...
  it's hard to make out excatly what's being played
most of the time (what with the crunchy guitar in the
foreground) but does anyone have any suggestions for
playing fiddle parts on harp? for a diatonic, might
certain positions be favored, for example? and of
course, if you know this music, are there any songs
you could give specific pointers on? 
 

    thanks in advance,
                   --Jp