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Irish Fiddle

There can be few if any fiddle traditions so rich, dynamic, and with such a high international profile as that of Ireland. Traditional music and dance have maintained a central part in the culture of ordinary Irish people in a way that can only be envied by the English, and the Irish fiddle has a central part in that tradition.

Irish fiddle Repertoire
The largest group of tunes known to most fiddlers will be reels, with four beats to the bar split into eight quavers. Most reels have repeated eight-bar sections, making 32 bars (eg. the Star of Munster, the Merry Blacksmith, );far less common are 3-part (48 bar) reels such as the Flogging Reel or the Moving Cloud. Reels can be fast and flashy, showing the fiddler's technique to good effect.
Jigs have a bouncy rhythm based on the dotted crotchet or three quavers; they are usually in 6/8 time (the so-called Double Jig), for example Haste to the Wedding or Lannigan's Ball. Less common are single jigs, or slides, in 12/8 time and usually played as part of a dance set (eg. Kathleen O'Hehir). Slip jigs , such as The Butterfly and The Kid on the Mountain are in 9/8 time and have a relaxed and airy feel. Jigs are occasionally three-part (such as Dingle Regatta) or four-part (The Lark), but like most Irish tunes are usually 2-part.
More straightforward, and often associated with dancing, are the polkas, in 2/4 time. These tunes are played most commonly in Cork and Kerry, in the South West of Ireland; examples include Maggie in the Wood, The £42 cheque, and Dennis Murphy's Polka.

Hornpipes are thought to have originated in England. Like reels, they are a late-comer to Ireland, probably being introduced in the end of the 18thC. They are in 4/4, like a reel, with a bouncy or even swingy rhythm alternating a dotted crotchet followed by a semiquaver. Examples include Harvest Home and Off to California.
Slow airs, derived in part from the sean-nos (old style) gaelic singing, are only occasionally played at sessions, and make more demands on tone and intonation than do the dance tunes. Planxty Irwin is a fine example, and is just one of the many compositions by the blind harpist Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). His extensive output of ambitious and imaginative tunes remains very much in the repertoire today. There are also many beautiful waltzes in the Irish fiddle repertoire, such as Give Me Your Hand and Fanny Power

There are many fine collections of Irish fiddle tunes in print, some of which concentrate on those numbers most commonly played at sessions, but a special mention must be made of "O'Neill's Music of Ireland". This vast collection of over 1000 tunes represented the repertoire and life's work of Chicago Chief Superintendent of Police Francis O'Neill, a late-19th Century emigre from West Cork.

Worried that this music was in decline, he enlisted the aid of fellow policeman and namesake James O'Neill, from County Down, to transcribe what he could remember of the tunes he had heard as a boy. Though a talented flautist, the chief could not write music. James on the other hand was a trained violinist and had both the patience and enthusiasm to write down the tunes his friend played. Soon this endeavour became known to other musicians in Chicago,and in no time fiddlers, pipers and flautist were lining up to have their tunes copied in this way. The chief would book them in, and the three would sit together; James annotating the tune then playing it back to the performer, who could comment on and correct the transcription. O'Neill was always on the lookout for new blood, and as soon as he heard of a new musician arriving in the country, he would invite them to Chicago, often with the offer of a job on the force.
His collection grew rapidly, and over 2000 tunes were published in two collections; "the music of Ireland" in 1903, and "Dance music of Ireland" in 1907. The significance of these collections cannot be overemphasised. Whilst others had tried similar endeavours before (Edward Bunting published a set of Harp tunes in 1792, and George Petrie followed in the early 19th C with several collections of Irish Airs), these earlier collectors had little real understanding of the music they were listening to, and ended up with tunes written in the wrong key,with inappropriate accidentals, piano accompaniments, and intended solely for the drawing rooms of the nobility. For actual practitioners of folk music they were next to useless.

O'Neill, on the other hand, was surrounded by such practitioners, and went to great pains to get as accurate as possible a record of the tunes as actually played.

Irish fiddle ornamentation

Without the rich array of ornaments and bowing patterns which the fiddler learns along with his repertoire, the tunes display little of the colour and sparkle which make Irish music so exciting. The bowing is crucial, usually very short and sometimes fiercely accented. Bowed triplets can be produced with a tiny flick of the wrist to split a crotchet into three equal notes; this is sometimes called trebling. (Playing five bowed notes in a crotchet is called double trebling, but I think that's just showing off!)
The simplest fingered ornament is the cut, a single flicked grace note used to separate two notes of the same pitch.

The double cut adds two grace notes, within the same bow as the main note. There are also long and short rolls; five notes going first above, then below, then back to the main note, all within the space of a crotchet or dotted crotchet. The placing of all these ornaments is learned along with the tune though, with practice, they can all be varied and placed wherever seems appropriate.

Regional fiddle styles
Much as spoken dialect varies across the length of a country, so does the style of traditional music playing; in the case of Irish fiddling the regional variations have been well studied and documented.
The style of Donegal, in the wild north west corner of Ireland is fast and aggressive, with an emphasis on short powerful bow strokes and frequent bowed triplets. Fingered ornamentation is sparse. Droning and double-stopping reflect the influence of piping, whilst the schottisches and strathspeys betray the strong Scottish influence. Among the leading exponents of this style today are Tommy Peoples (one-time member of the seminal group The Bothy Band);

Tommy Peoples

Paddy Glackin ,who preceded him in the same group ; and the leader of the leader of the highly successful Altan, Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh.

The fiddle style of Sligo has been very influential, largely thanks to Michael Coleman, who emigrated to New York from Sligo, and produced some of the earliest recordings of traditional Irish music during the 20's and 30's. His is a light, bouncy style, rich in ornaments and combining the bowed triplets of Donegal with much of the rolling and slurring found further south.

Michael Coleman

Among the leading players in this style today is Kevin Burke, yet another alumnus of the Bothy Band, and more recently acclaimed for his work with Open House, Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival.

The Clare style is different again, and is particularly characterised by the slow tempos , the subtlety of ornamentation, and the use of long, fluid bow strokes covering many notes at a time. Champion of this style is the widely revered Martin Hayes, now resident in Seattle; he achieves what he calls the "lonesome touch" by deliberately copying the breathing and sensitivity of the human voice. Galway has many fiddle tunes in E an Bb. (This is unusual, as most Irish tunes are in G or D, C or A or a relative minor thereof.) This style is exemplified by Frankie Gavin of DeDannan.

Cork and Kerry, in the southwest, have a strong tradition of polka playing, with a simple but very rhythmic style ideal for dancing. Dennis Murphy has given his name to numerous polkas, while Matt Cranitch, from Cork, is noted for his playing of slow airs.

Man on the Moon
Finally, there are some important players who are noted for their individuality more than for the regional style which they represent. Eileen Ivers, best known for her work with Riverdance, has used her impressive virtuosity to branch out in all manner of musical directions; Nollaig Casey combines mastery of the traditional fiddle with a first rate classical pedigree, whilst Belfast-born Sean McGuire has been to Irish music what Scott Skinner was to Scotland. His mission has been to elevate traditional fiddle to the same level as the classical violin with the use of high positions, unusual key changes and virtuosic variations. His version of the Mason's Apron remains a technical accomplishment which to many is the fiddler's equivalent of putting a man on the moon!

Nollaig Casey

The continuing vitality and integrity of the Irish fiddle tradition owes much to the culture of competitions in Ireland both for children and grownups, of which many of the above fiddlers are veterans and many-time champions, as well as to such organisations as Comhaltas Ceoltoírí Éireann (pronounced, roughly, Kyol-tas Kyol-tori Erin) and the Willie Clancy Summer School.

The Irish Pub Session

More perhaps than any other style of folk music, the "session" is the heart and soul of Irish traditional music. Everyone from beginners to the top professionals spends time at these informal gatherings learning and swapping tunes. They take place almost exclusively in pubs or bars; the musicians will take over a corner which will be theirs for the evening; those taking part do so largely for their own enjoyment; the other drinkers in the pub will not have paid to get in, and will not generally be expected to keep quiet, dispite the fact that there will be no amplification. Some will hardly notice the music, but the landlord obviously believes that the overall ambience benefits from them being there; a steady supply of Guinness may well be supplied "on the house" to keep things going.

Sessions are a curious mixture of informality and etiquette. In any given town or village the regular players will know that certain pubs will have sessions on a certain night of the week, but this will almost certainly change over time; some will fall by the wayside only to reappear somewhere else. There is often a core group, maybe just of a couple of people who have arranged things with the landlord, and can be expected to be there most weeks. Sometimes they'll be virtually on their own, some weeks the place will be heaving . Strangers are always welcomed, but it's always a good idea to ask if it's ok before you get out your fiddle and join in. It's also wise to take note of the standard of playing before you consider joining in; if the other players are all experts, rattling away at the most demanding tunes with obvious ease, then a near beginner is obviously going to cramp their style. Conversely, if the other players are plodding carefully through the Boys of Bluehill at half the normal speed, they may not be impressed if you launch into a high powered Masons Apron with all the trimmings, which is obviously going to leave them standing. The general aim is to find a level at which most of the players can join in together. Everyone respects good players, but egos ,along with firearms, are generally left at the door.
There is a repertoire common to players all over the world; regular session goers will know hundreds of tunes, some of which will be considered "overplayed" and will therefore be rarely heard in a "happening" session, whilst new material, either newly written or recently recorded by a popular artist, will suddenly be all the rage.

Someone will usually start a "set" just by launching into a tune, probably without comment or introduction; everyone who knows the tune will immediately join in, and run it round 2 or 3 times, at which point someone-usually the person who started the set, will change tunes without break or pause. Often there will be an established order for the tunes of a set, so that people have a good idea of what might be coming next. This order will take into account continuity of style, feel and tempo, and a natural progression of keys. It's normal for some people to drop out when the tune changes, or for others to join in. It's not a concert, and a bit of hesitation or deviation is fine, but if you don't know a tune, it's not a good idea to blaze away regardless ;either play very quietly, or not at all. Variation, improvisation or plain noodling will get you some black looks. Unison is the order of the day, and even well-thought out harmonies may be frowned upon. The end of a set will generally come when the person who started, perhaps with a nod to the others,ends a tune without starting another. After a pause for a drink and a chat, It'll then be someone elses turn to kick off, and so it goes for maybe hours on end. If you’re new to the session, don’t kick off a tune yourself unless invited to; think of the session as if you were sitting down at someone else’s picnic! Sometimes, maybe on request, a player may do a solo party piece which the others will all listen to, and there may be the odd song .Fiddles, flutes, whistles, Uillan pipes,accordions and bodhran are all common at sessions, and, since the "folk revival" of the 60's, guitars, four-string banjos and even bazoukis. Irish traditional tunes will predominate ,but increasingly you may hear something more exotic, whether American, French Canadian or Balkan. The highly unconventional "Music for a found Harmonium" by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra has entered the regular repertoire since it was recorded by Patrick Street.

Chris Haigh is a fiddle player based in London; he has a large repertoire of Irish fiddle tunes, and performs either solo, with an irish singer/guitarist, with a larger Irish trad/contemporary band, or with the ceilidh band QUICKSILVER. He has worked with Riverdance. He also works with the celtic/jazzfusion band Carmina

Contact Chris Here

If you fancy playing in an Irish session , but don't know any other musicians, here's a great idea! Get in a crate of Guinness, get out your fiddle, and go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/ for an amazing virtual session with lots of tunes to read and play along with.

LINKS:

Standingstones; has a detailed breakdown of different regional styles of Irish fiddling

The Donegal Fiddle Pages: An amazingly comprehensive look at Donegal fiddling

Sean Keane: his homepage

Irish Fiddle.com

Kerry Fiddles-Irish fiddle holidays for absolute beginners!

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