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Penel - Posted - 03/11/2010: 07:15:34
Last night a teacher threw out some suggestions on how to accustom myself to shifting to 3rd pos. and now I'm wondering if there might likewise be some mechanical exercises one could do for learning what those Canadians do with their feet while fiddling. Eh?
I'd love to do a summer camp for catching this but that's not going to happen this year.
I've been practicing doing that pieds thing avec mes pieds. I can do it while listening to other's play music but not with my own fiddling.
Any hints?
Dick Hauser - Posted - 03/11/2010: 07:50:29
I keep begging Canadian fiddlers to produce a DVD that teaches someone how to do this. No luck so far. Maybe I will get in touch with that fiddler in New Hampshire that produces all those musical instructionals. On Youtube, I saw him playing a pennywhistle or something, and using his feet for rhythm accompaniment.
Glenn - Posted - 03/11/2010: 10:15:19
I've figured out how to do this in the last 2 weeks watching friends do it and using a tutorial on youtube (in French). Anyhow, I"ll break down how I think of it in a phased approach:
Phase 1: The right foot. The ball of you right foot keeps the beat (1 - 2 -3 -4). This is the rhythm most of us use when tapping our feet when playing.
Phase 2: The right foot. On the off beat, you sort of swing your foot forward from the knee so that your heel hits the floor
When you combine Phase 1 and 2, you get a nice double-time (twice as fast) tapping effect (1-&, 2-&, 3-&, 4-&)
I would recommend just practicing this for several days. This motion needs to be perfectly synchronized and there is no point introducing the left foot (Phase 3) until this is solid.
Phase 3: The left foot. The left foot taps once with the ball of the foot between the & (Phase 2) and the next beat (Phase 1). This is the "uh" of the beat or a sixteenth note.
When you combine all three phases you get: (1-&-uh, 2-&-uh, 3-&-uh, 4-&-uh).
For all you banjo players out there, its the same rhythm as the bum-ditty strum in the clawhammer style
Penel - Posted - 03/11/2010: 14:18:12
quote:
Originally posted by Glenn
Phase 1: The right foot. The ball of you right foot keeps the beat (1 - 2 -3 -4). This is the rhythm most of us use when tapping our feet when playing.
Phase 2: The right foot. On the off beat, you sort of swing your foot forward from the knee so that your heel hits the floor
I've been doing it just the opposite a bit. My right foot forward/more weight on heel at the 1 and 3 beat (depending how fast the music is. It could be at every beat if the beat is slow enough but the ratio of right to left foot doing their specific job is always equal) and then I bring the right foot back and tap more weight on the ball of the foot at 2 and 4 with the left foot taping the & of 2 and the & of 4 (If right foot taps each beat, its second tap is of the & with the left foot tapping at the "a" the follows &) per a workshop with Donna Hébert a couple summers back. I think I remember her instructing us to do it that way. I just wasn't ready at the time to synchronize it with my own fiddle playing. We spent some time stomping our feet to the Queen song "We Will Rock You". quote:
For all you banjo players out there, its the same rhythm as the bum-ditty strum in the clawhammer style
"Bum" is my right foot forward/more weight on heel than ball. "Dit" is my right foot back/more weight on ball. "Ty" is my left foot. No? One of my Irish-American friends once told me doing this is something Canadian fiddlers feel they must be able to do drunk just in case they need to convince the bartender that they're sober enough for more beer. I'll admit to being willingly gullible if the story is a good one. So far the only method I've been able to come up with is to do this pieds stuff with all music I listen to and, if given a choice, only listen to music where its done so the voices inside my head learn to expect to hear it. I'm having a dickens of a time controlling my fiddle while doing it though. Ya think there's some secret initiation on a full moon I need to go though?
Dick Hauser - Posted - 03/11/2010: 14:24:33
Listmember Glenn -
Thanks for the instructions. I saved the information and listed it. Now, I will study it when I am watching TV. Do Canadian fiddlers try to increase volume by putting certain materials under their foot/feet ? I have seen cloggers use 3/4 " piece of plywood to dance on.
Glenn - Posted - 03/11/2010: 14:31:33
I know what you mean about doing it with the fiddle going. I'm pretty much hopeless there at this point. I can play guitar and do it. Sometimes, I use your pattern but I find the other way easier. If you watch videos on the internet of older fiddlers you see a lot of different ways of achieving the basic lick so its again one of those whatever works for you deals. As long as there is an economy of motion in switching between the heel and ball of the left foot, I think any way will work. There is a good video of Jean Carrignan doing this on Youtube somewhere. An old black and white video, I believe its called "Jean Carrignan, Violoneux".
I think clogging while playing is just one those things some of us need to work on for years before playing while doing it. I have friends that had the basic step in a couple minutes and had no problem playing along using it as soon as they learned it. Myself, I spent about a week just getting the basic step to be fairly reliable when listening to music. I hope to be able to do it while playing within a year. For now, I think I'll just work on getting phase 1 and 2 while I play.
I remember playing a show outside Quebec city in an old mill, and whenever my band played a fiddle tune, the whole audience started clogging their feet. It was like having the worlds largest drum backing me up. Quite an experience.
Glenn - Posted - 03/11/2010: 14:36:10
quote:
Originally posted by Dick Hauser
Listmember Glenn -
Thanks for the instructions. I saved the information and listed it. Now, I will study it when I am watching TV. Do Canadian fiddlers try to increase volume by putting certain materials under their foot/feet ? I have seen cloggers use 3/4 " piece of plywood to dance on.
My friend's dad used to carry a board of wood around with him to dances. A lot of others do this as well, still today. My friend said his dad emphasized the importance of having a good solid boot on so that you can hear the beat while you play. He used to refer to them as his "police boots" and stressed that they be well tied, not loose and flopping around on your feet. Also, he stressed the importance of the chair height so that you don't have to lift your entire leg up and down which will wear you out. Hopefully, you don't live in an apartment with downstairs neighbours. I do.....
Penel - Posted - 03/11/2010: 14:42:17
quote:
Originally posted by Glenn
I remember playing a show outside Quebec city in an old mill, and whenever my band played a fiddle tune, the whole audience started clogging their feet. It was like having the worlds largest drum backing me up. Quite an experience.
Don't they say one way to kill a Quebecois is to tie his feet to the chair legs and then play fiddle music? or is that of any Métis? Maybe its something in the water up there.
harwilli55 - Posted - 03/11/2010: 15:27:38
You know that the revered John Hartford used to use his feet while fiddling. On my favorite album by him " Mark Twang " which was a solo album.. His instruments are listed as : banjo, guitar, fiddle, plywood, vocals !! "Skippin' the Mississippi Dew" & "The Julia Belle Swain" were two numbers I remember him shuffling on.
I bet that would have been the ultimate audience participation Glenn....how much fun that would be !!!
Harlan
transplant - Posted - 03/11/2010: 15:31:27
When Leahy came to our town, they had three sheets of "plywood" on the stage, each one with an XLR connector and a cable going to the sound desk.
drjack - Posted - 03/11/2010: 15:45:32
The Mel Bay book "Danse Ce Soir" has some instructional material in it about clogging
Jack
Skunkhound - Posted - 03/11/2010: 19:23:24
I really like this idea of keeping a complex rythm with your feet. I'm not real familiar with canadian fiddling, but I think it would be fun to try with anything. I'll have to check it out on youtube tomorrow,.
revdoc - Posted - 03/12/2010: 05:01:32
natalie mcmasters instruction video discusses the different foot patterns for different types of tunes,
bj - Posted - 03/12/2010: 05:59:05
Just to make a correlation for folks trying to dance and play at the same time. Choose a tune you know inside and out, upside and down, and can play in your sleep.
I've been working on singing while playing, and can only do it when I know the tune inside and out, when I'm really warmed up playing, and when I'm relaxed. And I simplify the tune down to bare bones during the time I'm singing.
Hope that helps.
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