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bsed - Posted - 12/02/2007: 08:55:45
You sound great!
I couldn't see your hand/wrist, but I*d make a good guess that you are using your wrist more than swinging your bow arm because your string crossings sound smooth.
Your intonation is very good. Didn't hear any notes that were 'out'.
On any tune (and I'll use your rendition of Ark. Traveler as an example) though I would like to hear more variations in the melody. Go back & watch yourself, and you'll hear yourself doing the same thing each time through. So goof around with it some. Find different ways to end a part, for ex. Throw in a grace note here & there or do double stops in some places, but not every place.
All that having been said, you should be happy with this performance. You show a lot of talent there.
"I can, and do, cut my own hair."
-Dwight Shroot
"I convinced my boss of my acumen in sales, and he rewarded me with these two plaques of recognition in lieu of a pay increase."
-Dwight Shroot
loy - Posted - 12/02/2007: 09:18:13
Dont know how long you have been playing and I guess it doesn't matter! Sound's really good, you are most definatly on your way.Thank's for the listen! Loy
fiddle and clawhammer banjo:priceless
FiddleJammer - Posted - 12/02/2007: 09:43:12
Hi G,
Nice to put a sound to your face. :-)
Sounding good. I agree that it would help to see your bow arm and wrist. I'm thinking you could ease up the pressure that you put on the bow and that would free up some energy for variations on the shuffle. How long have you been playing?
Terri
tunelist, musings, and podcasts at
http://fiddlejammer.blogspot.com
fiddlepogo - Posted - 12/02/2007: 10:57:28
quote:
Originally posted by FiddleJammer
Hi G,
Nice to put a sound to your face. :-)
Terri,
Yes, except his face is backwards... or mirror image rather-
at first I thought he was a lefty, but on the larger pic
on his homepage, you can see that the date on the wall
is mirror-image.
Gabe,
Tricky, very tricky!
Michael
http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1088for mp3s, blog, and "Michael's Old Time Fiddle & Banjo Hour"
"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" - Walt Kelly's Pogo
fiddlerdi - Posted - 12/02/2007: 11:00:00
I listened to your "tube" a few times. AK is pretty good overall. You are playing well in tune. To my feeling it looks like you could have a little more smoothness and control if you tried playing closer to the middle third of the bow. It will get you better articulation in the future. It is musch easier to play in the middle for the G and D string stuff, for me.
I notice that in Ark Traveler that you have a little "bump" in the B part that I think may be a bowing issue. It seems to me that you slow down just a bit from the "A" part tempo. It is however good to keep this tempo until you get it all smoothed out. To my style, I feel like the "B" part needs to have a definate drive to it. Perhaps pushing the speed just a little bit. Practice will bring this about but the "B" part has some tricky bow changes to keep it smooth. It is also hard to play by yourself and keep a steady tempo. I am pretty sure if you had a rhythm player you probably wouldn't be experiencing this.
Don't knock you "classical" practice. I've found it to be really good practice for fiddling in my lifetime. You will want to add variations. Listen to other players do these tunes and steal some of their licks, then you can make it your own. Keep up the good work.
FiddlerDi
fiddlepogo - Posted - 12/02/2007: 12:11:39
Well, if you
REALLY want feedback on your playing,
get an electric fiddle, plug it in, and play right
next to the speaker!
But the subject says Oldtime Fiddle...
OH! You want <that> kind of feedback!
I just listened...
Sounds good-
I admit after Terri mentioned the shuffle,
I was dreading listening to it, since I do get tired
of Nashville Shuffle,
but I was pleasantly surprised- you do a <very> nice
job with a Nashville Shuffle- you give it I nice little hop and bounce
that is very musical, and makes it easy to listen to,
and you're phrasing the tune, not just letting the Nashville
shuffle dictate a monotonous mechanical phrasing.
And you're in good company- there are a <lot> of good fiddlers
that use Nashville- now that I can hear patterns on a recording
better than I used to, I'm hearing it lots of places I didn't expect,
and it's the phrasing that makes the Nashville work, as it does in your case.
(Funny... it just occurred to me that the reason I can hear
the bowing patterns better than before is that I'm listening
on monitor speakers for recording that have a lot of clarity.)
I like the little trilly ornaments you put on the ends of the phrases- makes it sound <really> archaic, which is my cup of tea! Did you learn those from any particular fiddler?
Your tone is maybe a <little> rough... but right in the middle
of what is in the acceptable range for Old Time.
If it's your cup of tea, and you have enough tunes ready,
I bet there are some Civil War re-enactors that would
love to have you! Your style would set the mood perfectly!
I really like the "ritardando" you finish "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" with- you may have picked it up from classical,
but it's a nice performance touch that works well.
If you want to sweeten up your tone a little and vary
the shuffles, you <could> do that- if you want.
But what you have is working well musically, and for the style.
(It seems odd that I'm saying that, since I'm normally
Mr. Bowing Patterns around here...right, OTJ?)
About the only thing it needs is maybe just a little more
confidence that will come with time and experience...
and you could perhaps relax a little... it would also help
your endurance if you get into any long jams or play for any dances. And as a side benefit, your tone would probably
sweeten up a little.
Something about the way you phrased the request makes
me wonder-
are you in a place where there aren't a whole lot of other
people playing Old Time?
Or has somebody been dissing your playing?
If so, I think they can jump in the nearest lake...
since they're all wet, anyway!
quote:
Originally posted by MunichG
Hello, I'm desperate for feedback on my fiddling, I'd love to hear any feedback at all on my playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7LGTuevKHE
Thanks very much in advance for any and all comments!
http://www.macjams.com/artist/MunichG
http://www.musicinmunich.blogspot.com/
Michael
http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1088for mp3s, blog, and "Michael's Old Time Fiddle & Banjo Hour"
"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" - Walt Kelly's Pogo
OTJunky - Posted - 12/02/2007: 12:39:43
quote:
fiddlepogo wrote:
If you want to sweeten up your tone a little and vary the shuffles, you <could> do that- if you want.
But what you have is working well musically, and for the style. (It seems odd that I'm saying that, since I'm normally Mr. Bowing Patterns around here...right, OTJ?)
Yeah, but I have to say that the more I delve into Tommy Jarrell's playing the more I'm beginning to appreciate how important nuances in bowing can be and am starting to obsess about it.
I may be joining your side.
I think a lot of of OT stuff gets played with some combination of the Nashville shuffle and sawstrokes.
I agree the Nashville shuffle can get boring quickly if you just crank into it on double stops. But when used as phrasing in single note sequences and combined with a slurred "pick up" notes it's a remarkably simple and effective way to convey the rhythm.
It's used a lot more than I'd realized.
--OTJ
"I can barely fiddle on four strings. Why would I want five?"
DougD - Posted - 12/02/2007: 17:07:25
Nice job, MunichG, although you might want to vary your bowing a bit.
If you haven't already, you might want to listen to this: http://www.archive.org/details/Gill...saw_Traveler Its two fiddlers, but one of them is pretty good.
I think Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine is not easily paired with a reel. To me its a march - the tempo of the infantry. I don't know of a good version to refer you to.
FiddleJammer - Posted - 12/02/2007: 17:20:21
<still laughing about the feedback joke>
I found David Kaynor's online lesson about holding the bow very helpful. He balances a bow on his finger to find the 'sweet spot'. So, what fiddlerdi said about using the middle of the bow is correct. But, Kaynor shows how to be a little more exact. It makes such sense... find the natural balance point and figure equidistant from that is the best portion of your bow to use. Now, you've got gravity working for you and don't have to use so much energy making the tone. You've got extra force left to allow a loose wrist to do fancier things.
Here's the link -
http://www.expertvillage.com/interv...e-basics.htm
And, for the next question: Is your fiddle tuned ADAE?
Terri
tunelist, musings, and podcasts at
http://fiddlejammer.blogspot.com
carroll - Posted - 12/02/2007: 20:29:50
I think you sound great! Good intonation & rhythm, tasty choice of notes. My advice: keep doing what you are doing, and if you get a chance to play fiddle in a group, any group, take it. I have a recording of Bonaparte Crosing the Rhine on my homepage if you are interested. I like the way you did it. Might steal a lick or two.
- Carroll
MunichG - Posted - 12/03/2007: 06:48:49
Thanks for the "feedback"! Wasn't as ear-splitting as I thought :)
I'm not too clear on what the Nashville Shuffle is, could someone enlighten me?
I hadn't thought of the speed of Bonaparte, or whether it fits so well with AT.
I'm in Munich, so there aren't a whole lot of oldtime fiddlers around, but luckily I have the internet! Thank you all again for the constructive comments.
Gabe
http://www.macjams.com/artist/MunichG
http://www.musicinmunich.blogspot.com/
DougD - Posted - 12/03/2007: 09:50:58
Gabe, you can read about "Bonaparte" here: http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/BOH_BONIN.htm
If you don't already know that site, its a terrific resource for fiddle music. Has a description and the history of each tune, with references to printed collections and recordings. Then through some magic you can turn the gobbledegook at the bottom into printed music for the tune.
Many people learned that number from the recording by the Fuzzy Mountain String Band, and you can hear a sample at Amazon.com (its a little faster than I'd remembered). Their CD is still a great source of many fine tunes.
Nothing wrong with combining tunes with different tempos; its done all the time in Scottish and Irish music, but I think you need to preserve the character of each one. It seems that a lot of younger fiddlers tend to play everything at the same tempo and with the same bowing techniques, often too fast for the slower pieces. Or maybe I'm just getting old and can't keep up!
OTJunky - Posted - 12/03/2007: 10:10:44
quote:
MunichG wrote:
I'm not too clear on what the Nashville Shuffle is, could someone enlighten me?
It's explained on Dave Reiner's excellent thread on "Bowing Patterns"
http://www.fiddlehangout.com/forum/...TOPIC_ID=233along with a dozen other bowing patterns - and discussion about their worth.
--OTJ
"I can barely fiddle on four strings. Why would I want five?"
Edited by - OTJunky on 12/03/2007 10:43:10
fiddlepogo - Posted - 12/03/2007: 11:19:05
quote:
Originally posted by MunichG
Thanks for the "feedback"! Wasn't as ear-splitting as I thought :)
I'm not too clear on what the Nashville Shuffle is, could someone enlighten me?
It's the pattern that corresponds most directly to
the banjo "bump-ditty" rhythm and the guitar or Nashville
drumming "boom chucka" rhythm-
long short-short, long short-short
The first three are usually down-up-down, then the next three
are up-down-up.
quote:
I'm in Munich, so there aren't a whole lot of oldtime fiddlers around, but luckily I have the internet! Thank you all again for the constructive comments.
Gabe
http://www.macjams.com/artist/MunichG
http://www.musicinmunich.blogspot.com/
Yeah, once I checked your links, I figured that out!
Yes, it is amazing what resources are available over the internet.
I don't even watch youtube videos that much, since I'm still on dialup,
but I think I've reached the place where I have more
resources to listen to than I ever had "back in the day"
when I was learning.
Still, some development only happens in live jamming,
and that sounds like what you need.
Have you checked out Deutsches Fiddle Forum?
There isn't much activity in the Old Time section,
(the Irish and Scandinavian sections are quite active)
but if you messaged one of the moderators, they
might be able to clue you in to some stuff that's happening-
I did get the impression that there was actually more
happening in Bavaria as far as Old Time than in other parts
of the country, but that doesn't mean it's close to Munich, of course. They also gave me the impression that
the German Old Time enthusiasts are more likely to be <playing> than posting on-line about it... so keep looking!
There have also been top-name Old Time performers
on the order of Brad Leftwich IIRC and maybe even Bruce Molsky
that have toured over there- if you could catch a concert,
it might also be a way to network with the local Old Time players.
There might be a way of e-mailing such performers and finding
out who has European tours planned.
Michael
http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1088for mp3s, blog, and "Michael's Old Time Fiddle & Banjo Hour"
"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" - Walt Kelly's Pogo
FiddleJammer - Posted - 12/03/2007: 18:00:15
On a slow day, I jam with digital recordings. Not much for company, can't answer questions, and certainly can't give me any feedback. But, I still have to listen for patterns, work on my speed, experiment with chords and harmony, and so on.
If I were you, G, I'd organize a series of jams and see who shows up. Flyer it around other folk music venues, universities, international neighborhoods. The other thing is busking more and in different locations. See who strikes up conversations. Easy for me to say, I know. But, sometimes you never know who's out there or passing through.
Good luck!
Terri
tunelist, musings, and podcasts at
http://fiddlejammer.blogspot.com
