Posted by FiddlerJones on Sunday, August 30, 2009
After being completely out of the musical scene for, gosh, more than 25 years, I began hanging around the Old Town School of Folk Music last spring. A couple of things I noticed made me feel as if I'd fallen asleep for a couple of decades and had awakened to a brave new musical world.
Several guitar and banjo players had these odd flashing electronic devices clamped to their instruments up near their tuning pegs. What the heck is that about? I was too embarrassed to ask, but eventually I realized they were electronic tuners. Well, isn't that a humdinger! The little light turns green when a string is tuned exactly.
Me, I'm still using a tuning fork and don't anticipate changing my ways. I like to get the A string as close as possible to the 440 fork and then hold the vibrating fork against the bridge. If the string's in tune, it will vibrate in sympathy with the fork, and you can feel it quite easily with your thumb.
Another odd new thing at the school was this new-fangled banjo I saw.
After warming up for a while in a practice room, I came out into the common area and this banjo player said, "well, what do you want to play?" As I was thinking of a tune to suggest, I noticed there was no tuner where I'd expect it to be on the guy's banjo, a third of the way up his instrument's neck. To my perception, the absence of a tuner there says "tenor banjo."
"Wait," I said, "is that a five-string? Where's the fifth string?"
He laughed and pointed out that the fifth string goes into a hole at the spot where I'm accustomed to seeing the fifth peg, runs along the interior the neck, and is tuned with a fifth tuner that's up there with the other four. I'd never seen such a marvel before.
Well, that's new the new technology at the school. There are other things at home as well.
When I was a kid, you had to go out and buy LP recordings of your favorite fiddlers, and if you wanted to learn one of their breaks, you might play the record at 16-1/3 RPM on your turntable. Now, you can find virtually any of the great fiddlers on You Tube, record the video with some audio recording utility, and even slow it down. Then you can load the audio file onto an mp3 player and listen to it through an earpiece while you're learning the tune. The thing is, when you slow it down in Windows Media Player, the tune retains its original pitch. Amazing!
Then there's the matter of printed music. In the old days, you'd go to a music store for fiddle books such as Mel Bay and the like. In the 70's, marvels like the Vassar Clements and Kenny Baker books appeared.
Now, you just go to you favorite search engine, type in the name of a fiddle tune and "PDF," and chances are good you'll eventually find a copy of the sheet music you can download and print, usually for free.
For years I had liked the Bill Monroe tune "Wheel Hoss" but had never gone to the trouble of learning it the old-fashioned way. Then one day I searched for it online and found it within minutes. I pretty much had the tune down that evening.
All of these changes--it's enough to make a fellow feel like an oldster!
6 comments on “Rip Van Fiddler”
FiddleCat Says:
Sunday, August 30, 2009 @4:07:43 AM
Great ain't it. I basically just walked into this musical world so I can't say I understand how you fell, but I can only imagine how alien some things may be for you know. Most for the better maybe?? Then some changes not so great. And in case you want to play along with a back-up and can't find anyone that's not bust, there are places online you can go and the back up is there for you. Kinda neat huh? You can do a search on FHO about it, I don't know the web addresses. Ya just gotta take in what you need.
Is your Blog photo your fiddle??? I like it!! The color is beautiful and I don't see any purfling on it !! I LOVE that look!!
FiddlerJones Says:
Sunday, August 30, 2009 @4:29:03 AM
Yes, that's my fiddle. She's a beaut. And yes, all the new technology's good. Nice thing is that you can take it or leave it.
bj Says:
Sunday, August 30, 2009 @7:05:22 AM
Yeah, some things are much easier with technology, for sure. But in the Oldtime community, the technology doesn't necessarily replace what we've lost, which is the OT fiddlers who learned directly from other OT fiddlers, and who weren't influenced by all those outside influences we can't help but being influenced by, since we're all of us so wired up. I'm not much of a Bible thumper, but I'm reminded of a Bible quote-- The Lord Giveth and The Lord Taketh Away.
A few of the fiddlers in your favorites list, though they played mostly BG, had strong OT backgrounds, which, I believe, made them into the strong and dynamic fiddlers many later fiddlers chose to emulate. If you listen to NewGrass, a lot of those edges have been smoothed right out.
Point being that we all need to realize how we may be shaped by what we choose to use . . . or not use.
Ozarkian DL Says:
Sunday, August 30, 2009 @4:57:48 PM
Quote : All of these changes--it's enough to make a fellow feel like an oldster!
Heck.....I'm so old I can member bein inside and having ta go outside ta tha batroom.....now if'n I'z outside & has ta go...I has ta go inside.
fiddlepogo Says:
Sunday, August 30, 2009 @5:29:32 PM
Actually that "new" style 5th string tuner is quite an old feature of English made banjos. I believe the Windsor "zither" banjos had them about a century ago.
I hear you about being a Rip Van Winkle fiddler.
I was out of contact with other fiddlers for 14 years, but continued playing,
then I got rid of the fiddle and wasn't playing for 15 years.
Then I got another fiddle and started getting in touch via the Internet four years ago. Some things HAVE changed... and others have stayed the same. Like it took me a while to get a clue as to who Bruce Molsky, Bruce Greene and Rayna Gellert were. But people are still talking about Tommy Jarrell and Henry Reed.
And it's strange in a way talking about this old fashioned music on these new-fangled compewters!!!!
ChickenMan Says:
Monday, August 31, 2009 @6:42:27 PM
I believe the banjo is nicknamed a 'Stealth' model - Neckville maybe is the brand.
And a telephone in a pocket....... and a stereo in the phone....
It might feel a little like what it felt like at the end of the fiddle's heyday with the onset of recorded music and other modernizations etc...
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