Posted by mudbug on Sunday, November 28, 2010
"Fiddle Hell" was a wonderful experience for a newbie fiddler; well thought out and executed. My hats off to Dave and the staff who made it possible.
Most of what I learned, though, was about myself and the direction of my fiddling. Even though I have learned a few slow Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and New England tunes, I am none of these, and saw that I have no desire to put in the time to learn these styles properly. I saw fiddlers who were amazing at these individual styles ( also OT) and who spent most of their time with fiddlers who shared their passion for their particular style. When I dropped in on some of the classes, I stayed in the back and when a tune was being learned and disected, I found that if I didn't catch on to the tune being learned fast enough to stick with the class, I was lost. Kinda reminded me of math class in junior and senior high, where if I was slower getting something to sink in and the class had moved on, I was lost after that. This is in no way a put down of how the classes were run, just how I process information.
There were two classes though, that really got me jazzed. One was a class in the new style of chopping by Andy Reiner. He was teaching the basic concept of chopping, which is akin to playing drums on the fiddle. He taught the basic chop, showed us some advanced concepts, and made sure everyone there could execute the basic chop.
The "backing up a singer" workshop by Dave Reiner was also wonderful, and made me realise that what I most enjoy doing is Song Fiddling. Being a backup instrument, and putting just the right lick in to compliment the song. Maybe it's my many years singing and playing songs on other instrument, but I seemed to instinctively know what tone and phrasing and licks are needed in a country song. I'm not saying that I'm good at it, but I can see the direction to head in. I also realised that I need to work in keys that I've been avoiding.
So, I've been jammin along with simple country songs, trying to get better at keys I wasn't comfortable with before, and trying to find the perfect lick that makes a song come alive.
6 comments on “What I Learned at "Fiddle Hell"”
harwilli55 Says:
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @9:25:17 AM
Sounds like you got what you needed from Fiddle Hell Steve....and that is a wonderful thing.....finding the direction you want to go !!! Bravo !!!
eerohero Says:
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @10:57:51 AM
You`re sure lucky finding all the good stuff at these places, I wish I had been there also, well, theres more trains to come....I love to sing with the fiddle.
Andah1andah2 Says:
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @11:15:12 AM
I got a lot from Dave's workshop also. You definitely have an ear for the back up Steve. Could you post some of the tunes that you started with early on?
mudbug Says:
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @1:02:37 PM
Thankyou, all. Stew, it was great meeting you, I'll post some tunes I've used.
KCFiddles Says:
Sunday, November 28, 2010 @5:18:04 PM
jamming along with CDs is a great exercise,. IMHO. Be sure that you record yourself occasionally, though. I've found that I get to thinking I'm better than I am, and recording lets you hear what you're missing.
bj Says:
Monday, November 29, 2010 @6:27:42 AM
It's great when you have the lightbulb moment on a direction to go with fiddling! I'm glad you had yours, and fiddle hell is a great place for that!
My former teacher helped me toward mine. Kept playing me tunes by certain fiddlers and asking me what I liked about that fiddler. Started with John Hartford (what's not to love?) and got me narrowed down to which of John's tunes I liked the most. Did the same thing with Chubby Wise and Curly Ray. Based on my choices he started playing me tunes by people like Bruce Molsky, Rafe Stefanini and Matt Brown. He never said a word. But then after an hour he just told me to start listening to anything in the Oldtime genre. He was right. And I shortly after had my lightbulb moment listening to those archaic sounds of crosstuned modal fiddles.
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