Fiddle Hell tips on playing faster from Becky Tracey

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Posted by mswlogo on Tuesday, November 17, 2015

4 people like this

Becky Tracey gave a few tips on playing faster that really hit home.

This was a class of learning to play faster.

Many tips you've heard before. I'll skip those. But here are a few you may not have.

1) Try playing the tune as LIGHTLY with the bow as you can. To the point of it sounds BAD (i.e. whispy).

There are a few things that happen when you do this. One is when you bow lightly you also tend to finger lightly.

Also you tend to use shorter bow strokes.

I have heard of playing light on the fingers to speed up. But never light on the bow, to help the fingers (that's the trick).

2) If you have a problem note. STOP before it, think, and play the right note.

This is not the same as slowing down. Which is what I've always done. But come to a complete stop and think about and do the right thing.

3) Assume or use a tune that is all or mostly 1/8 notes.

Try playing it "Dotted". that is, instead of each pair of 1/8 notes being 1/8 1/8 make them 1/16 and Dotted 1/8 (i.e. strathspey-ish).

Play the whole tune that way.

Then reverse it. Dotted 1/8 and 1/16 (also strathspey-ish)

Then play it normally.

What this does, to my understanding is, it exaggerates the problem areas. If you were having a problem with say a string crossing between two 1/8's now you'll you'll have a heck of time because now it's 1/16th before you need to make the switch. You need to stop and fix it. Maybe your to high on the bow or too low etc. Then go back and play normally.

I need to listen to the lesson again. There was more. And I'll try to update later.

There was a lot about exaggeration, going beyond a normal boundary to exaggerate a problem or exaggerate burning in something right. Like STOPPING is exaggerating playing slow.

She also reminded me that it is EXTREMELY difficult learning multiple Genre's at the same time. PICK ONE !!

I also attended another session with Becky where she taught New Mown Meadow.

It was one of the best workshops ever. She taught the Bowing and Ornaments as she taught the tune meticulously. And she has an extremely good eye and ear that the whole class is up to speed. I mostly got each part. But could not quite put the whole tune together up to speed by end of class. I practiced it for 4 days before my next lesson and my teacher was blown away. She would just like to see tighter bowed triplets.

Each of these two workshops was worth the price of admission.

One thing that happened at multiple workshops (notably Alan Kaufmans, Clayton's and Becky's) that if I didn't get the bowing right, it felt like the wrong note. I'd hunt for note and realize the note wasn't the problem it was the bowing. Once I got the bowing, the note wasn't an issue at all.

4 comments on “Fiddle Hell tips on playing faster from Becky Tracey”

UsuallyPickin Says:
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 @5:01:15 AM

Thank you . I look forward to your continued postings. Fiddle Hell is on my list of camps to attend . Maybe I'll make it in 16'. R/

dsreiner Says:
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 @9:52:18 AM

Thanks, mswlogo! We worked hard to get Becky back to Fiddle Hell after she missed a few years due to conflicting commitments. She has always been one of the very best fiddle teachers in the world, and the playing faster workshop was one that she proposed this year. She should be back next year, too :-)