Anybody Have Duncan's "Cajun Fiddle" Book ? - Discussion Forums

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ARCHIVED TOPIC: Anybody Have Duncan's "Cajun Fiddle" Book ?

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Dick Hauser - Posted - 10/15/2018: 13:57:47

I am considering getting this book but have a few questions.

1. Are there recordings for all the "easier" tunes in the beginning of the book ?

2. Are the recordings "downloadable" from the Mel Bay website ?

3. Does the book and recording provide detailed instruction ?

4. Is it spiral bound or will I be off to Kinko's again ?

Finally, I would appreciate reading your feelings about the book and recordings. My goal is just to play a few of the tunes with a decent "cajun" feel. Of course I said the same thing when I started fiddling - just learn a half dozen tunes or so. Now I have 3 shelves full of books and four 3-ring binders full of musical notation.

Thank You

Slide - Posted - 10/15/2018: 14:47:56

1. Yes....mostly. The 12th tune doesn't have one and that is a simpler one. All in all, 7 of the 70 tunes in the book don't have recordings.

2. Yes, they're only available as downloads. They went right into my Google play music when I did.

3. If you're asking is the sheet music detailed, then yes. It gives bowing. It shoes the exact notes for rolls in more advanced tunes. Apart from dynamic markings, it has every thing.

4. Couldn't say. Mine is digital

All in all, it seems like a good book. Notation is easy to read and the recordings are clear. Craig is a good, smooth fiddler with very good technique (he was of those "classical" players once upon a time). I know it contains some reasonably common Cajun tunes. Some weren't as steroptyically Cajun sounding as I was expecting but maybe that's a good thing? Authenticity and whatnot. Some do sound very Cajun and if that's what you're after, just pick out the gems and go to town. My only problem with it is that it's my only Cajun book. I like to cross-reference tunes I learn from sheet music across 3 or 4 different sources to get an idea of not only what makes that tune that tune (Some of the things common between all or most of them), but to find a version that speaks to me more than the others. With tunes in this book, I just have to take Mr. Duncan's word for it. Not the book's fault, anyhow...just a "thing"