I am into my 3rd month of fiddle, taking private lessons and even went to fiddle camp (I was in over my head but I am glad I did it!!!). This whole fiddle adventure has created a MONSTER!!!!  

I work and I fiddle.....my poor guitars sit idle.

I am looking for Mexican fiddle tunes and I have researched on the net famous Mexican fiddlers (Melquides Rodrigues from the 1930s) but I need to find something easy to start since I am a beginner.  I came across a Mexican tune called Sobre los olas---translated to a fiddle tune called "Over the Waves".  I would like to find others and wonder if anyone here can steer me to something like a Ludiker's Beg. fiddle tunes book except Mexican fiddle tunes in fiddle notation.

I will surf thru youtube fiddle songs but hope some one here has more ideas. I am on Babysteps 1 learning to read music (something I told myself I would NOT do....rigghhht)......I can point out the d on the page-hahahaha!

Thanks!

I don't know much about Mexican music, but you might find something you like here:  http://www.juneberry78s.com/sounds/ListenToMexican.php

Thanks-I have been crusing this site of 78s-what a treasure trove of old stuff. 

Try "Over the Waves," or "Clarinet Polka" both are Mexican compositions. The latter is also known as the "Jesse Polka," and "Jesusita in Chihuahua."  The polka and the waltz are the dominant forms.  The violin in Mexican music, especially in Mariachi ensembles, is highly formalized with extensive instruction with  defined technique and bowing.  But there are also a number of regional styles (e.g. Veracruz, Jalisco, Norteno) and it isn't very accurate to lump them altogether as "Mexican" music. 

There are Mariachi schools in California that have teaching materials, though these are probably in standard notation.  They are probably on-line.

Check out a CD entitled El Fidelero Del Valle by José Moreno.  Nice Mexican fiddling and mandolin playing.  A group in Chicago, Sones de Mexico, plays the whole gamut of Mexican traditional music quite beautifully too.

Chirps

Check out "La Golondrina". It is a great sounding waltz. I have often heard this music played as background music in movies. Send me your email address and I will send you notation and a sound file.

Juan Reynoso (the Paganini of the Hot Lands) was probably the best know exponent of the Tierra Caliente tradition.

This thread was posted a few years ago:  http://www.fiddlehangout.com/archive/17418 

This might guide you toward what you're looking for.  Good luck.

Try the simple version of the song Over The Waves. Its not too hard to learn and its a very familiar tune.

Get in touch with Paul Anastasio, if I recall correctly, he's big into Mexican fiddle.

I sent him an email but never heard back.

I just came across an interesting little book titled "Musics of Multicultural America," by Kip Lornell and Anne Rasmussen (1997).  It has 12 chapters, each featuring a particular regional ethnic style, with good bibliography and recording suggestions.

Chapter Six is  "Mexican Mariachi Music: Made in the USA," by Dan Sheehy, presently Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Center, and a crackerjack Mariachi trumphet player. Extensive style discussion history and some written samples.

I found a good used copy pretty cheap at Amazon.