Fiddle Hangout - Music Theory Forum Feed

Just Intonation vs. Equal Temperament and Digital Tuners

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Thu, 7 May 2026 08:18:48 CST

I've read that violins are played in just intonation instead of equal temperament.

I've also read that you shouldn't try to watch a tuner to refine your intonation while playing.

I've occasionally turned my tuner on while play a note to "check" the intonation, like, that F# just doesn't seem to sound right. Let me turn on my tuner and check that one note. But I find it frustrating. I would guess that digital tuners are setup for Equal Temperament. That makes me think that trying to match the tuner may be pointless if my ear is looking to hear just intonation.

Using Structured Practice to Improve Violin Consistency

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Tue, 5 May 2026 07:21:01 CST

Hi, I`m new here. And I’ve been thinking about how much structured routines can improve consistency in violin playing, especially for those of us who benefit from clear patterns and repetition. Breaking practice into small, predictable segments—like intonation, bow control, and rhythm—has made a noticeable difference for me. It reduces frustration and helps track progress more objectively. Curious if others here use structured approaches or prefer a more free-form style when practicing?

So AI is not as good as human advice?

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:02:16 CST

Which of us could come up with an answer like this in 2 seconds:

Q: what is the musical effect of emphasizing the first beat of the bar in an Irish reel

A: In an Irish reel, emphasizing the first beat (the "downbeat") is the engine that drives the entire rhythm. Since reels are in 4/4 time and played at a high tempo, where the emphasis lands completely changes the "feel" or "swing" of the tune.

Here is how that emphasis affects the music:
1. Structural Grounding

The first beat acts as an anchor. Irish traditional music is often played in large groups (sessions) without a conductor or a drummer. A strong emphasis on the "1" helps every musician stay synchronized, especially during complex melodic variations or fast ornaments like rolls and triplets.

2. The "Driving" Momentum

While some genres emphasize the back beat (beats 2 and 4), the Irish reel relies on a strong downward drive. By hitting the first beat harder, the musician creates a sense of forward motion. It feels like a cyclical "push" that resets every four beats, giving the music its relentless, high-energy quality.
3. Impact on Step Dancing

Reels are functional dance music. For a dancer, the emphasized first beat provides the necessary rhythmic cue for a heavy step or a change in direction.

The "One": Usually coincides with a strong landing or a leap.

The Flow: Without that emphasis, the music can feel "flat" or "floaty," making it difficult for dancers to maintain their timing.

4. Lift and Internal Rhythm

Interestingly, while the first beat is the strongest, Irish "lift" often comes from how the musician recovers from that emphasis to hit the third beat (the secondary pulse).

Strong 1: Sets the pace.

Slightly lighter 3: Provides the "bounce."

Internal Pulse of a Reel

In a typical bar of 8 eighth notes, the pulse usually looks like this: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 (Where "1" and "5" are the physical beats 1 and 3 in the measure).

____________________

If you’d like, I can explain how ornaments like "rolls" or "crans" are used to emphasize these beats without just playing the note louder, or I can generate a list of classic reels for you to listen to. Which would you prefer?

Arpeggios and I-IV-V

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Thu, 4 Dec 2025 08:50:41 CST

Hello.... I'm trying to educate myself on music theory and most of all this is brand new to me. I understand arpeggios to be a portion of a scale; the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a particular scale. I think I understand their purpose in that they can be played or fitted into certain tunes where they "sound good" and add to the charisma of a tune. (hopefully I've got that sort of correct). Now where I get all confused..... I've also been reading how the I-IV-V notes of a scale can do, what I'm interpreting, the same thing. But this is where I'm getting lost. I get with the I-IV-V notes of a scale, the player can take 2 of those notes to create a chord, play a double stop and use that to play back up or harmony to the melody that someone else is playing. (again, hopefully my interpretation is correct). I think my big question is do the arpeggios and the I-IV-V theories have anything to do with one another? I realize this may require a lengthy response, so hopefully that won't put off anyone who may respond.... but any snippet of thought would be a help. I can (will) continue researching and reading on my own.... but any thoughts would be a help. Thanks a lot.
John

Why do they call a breakdown tune a breakdown tune in oldtime fiddling?

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 23:24:26 CST

Does it mean you have to first break it down into small parts in order to play it with the goal to be danceable? Does it have anything to do with musical breaks like a fiddle break in bluegrass ?

I would like to understand this. I ask this because I just looked up the description of the Sally Ann Jonson tune, which is being described as a typical breakdown tune.

Comments that disappear .

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 06:19:21 CST

I added a comment to mention a blog that explained Scales and Keys to improve on the scatty confusing site . The comment disappeared . Is that healthy? Why not warm commenters first ?

What is the meaning of this ornamentation/bowing advice notation?

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 01:15:10 CST

What does this mean, B part, second and third measure, that notation under the F-note?

tunearch.org/wiki/Napoleon%27s_Charge

You can hear it being played here:

slippery-hill.com/content/napoleons-charge

I am asking how this is called so I can look up and find out how I produce this effect.

Explain this. . .

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sat, 31 May 2025 05:07:16 CST

Saw a band the other night. 3 piece: guitar/singer, bass, and a fiddle player. He had two violins one tuned a step down, he said. The guitarist played all night with a capo on one. All the Facebook pictures showed he didn't typically do this. Fiddler, didn't know how to shuffle. Read, violinist. That part is fine. Bless him. Everyone needs a shot playing music. And you don't get better by not doing it.
But what's the deal with capo on one? I surely don't know much about guitar after playing for 40 years, there's always another. . . trick?

Want the sheet music of my own version of a tune

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sun, 25 May 2025 01:46:22 CST

I recently recorded myself while playing with Midnight On The Water, where I was just varying/improvizing on the main melody, a bit based on what I learned from several different written tune versions, a bit just spontaneous bowing at the moment itself.
Now I want the sheet music of my own first interpretation, so that I can always play it almost exactly like I did during this recording - but maybe fine tune the structure of my own interpretation a bit so that it becomes more real and repeatable.

I think I have two options here:

1) use some sort of software
2) study the basics of standard notation again and use sheet music paper and a pen so I can write it down myself

I just tried melodyscanner.com, but the output is never correct. Whatever I try, it just seems the program leaves out certain notes and parts and adds unnecessary breaks. However, some parts seem correct (if I change the key, because I was cross tuning) and I could use these parts and try to fill out the blanks where the software failed.
On the one hand it will hurt my brain a bit if I have to dive into the art of standard notation again - if I want it to appear 100% correct. On the other hand... this might be very useful for future experiments to learn again how to write down a tune just from hearing it. We had to be able to do this as kids in order to pass our exams of music theory, but it is so long ago, all I remember is that we needed to study a lot to pass these exams and that scares me off a bit.

Are there easier ways? Are there better programs than melodyscanner?
Or does anyone know of a user friendly site where one can easily practice in standard notation?

ever have one of those days...

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sat, 17 May 2025 07:27:58 CST

...when things just don't sound quiet right?

Mezzo-Soprano clef

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Fri, 16 May 2025 09:13:10 CST

FWIW, I've just discovered the Mezzo-Soprano clef. This is a C clef (like the Alto, or Viola, clef) but middle C is on the line where G (3rd finger first position, D string) is on a fiddle. It works wonders for me because it lets me make sense of stuff on the C string of a 5-string fiddle as it takes the same fingering as treble clef, but moved down 1 string. I stumbled on it by accident as I was trying to score a fiddle part and got fed up with loads of ledger lines below the staff and MuseScore gave this clef as an option!
Pretty much all references I've seen on the 'net say that the mezzo-soprano clef is obsolete and no longer used -- yet it's such a useful tool that helps to transition to 5-string without needing to learn how to read for viola!
I'd be interested to find out whether anyone else is using this...

Free Basic Music Theory for Fiddle Course

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Fri, 16 May 2025 08:35:43 CST

Hi, just wanted to share in case it might be helpful for the community. I made a FREE (no gimmicks, I promise) Music theory youtube course. Link is here:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqwEUJTH5PQuoAB8ADMzCPCgITV16IPkh&si=oI1jD0tZAFsYzPCw

Feel free to message me with any questions, etc.

Also, please subscribe if you find the content helpful. It helps me get the word out!

Thanks

Will

Calico tuning

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 08:58:03 CST

Just trying to made sure I do this right. My understanding is that Calico tuning is A E A C#

To me that looks like:

Tune the G up two half steps
Tune the D up two half steps
Leave the A alone
Tune the top E ---- how? up or down? I'm afraid I'll bust something if I tune it up, so down makes more sense to me.

How'm I doin'?

Thanks!

Looking For Irish Fiddle Exercises Book

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sun, 9 Feb 2025 14:45:06 CST

I work with Peter Cooper's "The Complete Irish Fiddler" Book/CD a lot. It is the best instructional I have found about playing technique for Irish music. It IS NOT a repertoire book. What I would like to buy now is notation and recordings for ornamentation and bowing patterns in Irish music. No luck so far. My goal is to keep improving my ornamention and to get better at improvisation. Info on where ornamentation and slurring patterns could be used would be a bonus. I unconsciously started using these techniques when I play other styles. I just reduce the amount of ornamentation.

Ideas for self-guided ear training?

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sun, 1 Oct 2023 19:40:34 CST

Hey! I'm wondering how folks here improve their ears (relative pitch, chord progression recognition, recognizing sharp/flat, etc). If you could point me to any of your favorite exercises or resources I would appreciate it. So far I have just been using this web app for ear training called ToneScholar (tonescholar.com) and it seems quite good, but is not specific to fiddle. In fact it's all voice-based, so probably better for singers. I'd love to be able to improve my ear while improving my skills on the fiddle simultaneously. I only have so much time to practice ;) Thanks in advance!

Circle fo 5ths

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Sun, 1 Oct 2023 19:39:25 CST

My 12 year old niece asked me what the circle of 5ths was. How would you go about explaining it?

Fiddle Scales Practice

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 21:33:56 CST

In the interest of modern technology I uploaded a TABLEDIT file that has six scales in six keys, 36 total, for intonation and theory purposes.
If you have TABLEDIT you have complete control over the speed and looping of each scale.

TAB file

what to do with Pentatonic scales

eric@fiddlehangout.com — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 11:03:30 CST

I keep seeing and reading about how versatile and powerful pentatonic scales are. How and when are they primarily used?