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.
The Irish pub session
Irish fiddle tunes are learned, practiced and passed on at sessions which take place regularly in pubs the length and breadth of Ireland and in any of the far-flung corners of the world where Irish emigrants and a regular supply of Guinness coincide. Sessions appear very informal, with a welcome for anyone who wants to sit down and join in; they can range in size from two or three musicians to a whole heaving roomful, with instruments that can include fiddle, tinwhistle, flute, accordion, bodhran, tenor banjo, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and uilleann pipes. The participants take it in turns to lead the others off in a set of tunes, usually played twice each, and typically in an unbroken string of three or four. These tunes will be known to the majority of those playing, and will usually be played in near-perfect unison. A fiddler who regularly takes part in such sessions will have a repertoire of hundreds of tunes.
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. 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..
Confusingly, the best known hornpipe (the Sailor's Hornpipe) is
not a hornpipe at all, whilst the best known jig, the Irish
Washerwoman, is neither Irish nor traditional!
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.
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.
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 also works with the celtic/jazzfusion band Carmina
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.
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