Was it Jean Paul Sartre who wrote about looking into the mirror and seeing a centipede instead of his expected tongue in that very spot...I mean...his tongue became a centipede??? Something like that...been a long time since college but I believe maybe it was experiencing existential anxiety in the novel, Nausea (happy name, hey? lol), in which the unpredictable moves in on the person with ennui.

Unpredictability requires some level of predictability right? It's not about choosing a side. Watching a good fiddler play tunes with authority with variations in melody and variations in bowing is seldom boring to me. Old time jams on the other hand... don't interest me much.

quote:

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Originally posted by gapbob

It is interesting, because when I listen to beginning fiddlers, they usually have something, some "Je ne sais quoi."

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It sounds like you just prefer amateur musicianship to professional. The more mediocre the playing, the more "authentic." Case in point: you walked out of a Jon Baez concert thinking it was unmusical. Perhaps you're just missing what makes the better players better--it isn't just technical ability. 

Old time fiddlers often have very subtle variations. It's like cooking...you know...subtle spices or a lot of whammies in there.

Isn't it all about the hat you wear? Please tell me it is or else I have a lot of hats for sale!

quote:

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Originally posted by Erock77

Isn't it all about the hat you wear? Please tell me it is or else I have a lot of hats for sale!

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Keep your hats. It all IS about the hat you wear.. I change hats with each change of key...and, for Old Time music ya gotta dress Down a little.. you know, bibs, work boots and such...maybe a chaw in yer fiddle case..Works for me.

whats it all about, Alfie?

The way i see it, only sane people walk out of a Jon Baez concert.
Or are least wait until Country Joe, and the Fish, or Canned Heat starts playing.

Joan Baez plays some nice old Martin guitars. Takes me back to Palo Alto. Never met her. A friend of mine was harassed by Ginsberg one time though.

quote:

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

quote:

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Originally posted by gapbob

It is interesting, because when I listen to beginning fiddlers, they usually have something, some "Je ne sais quoi."

---

It sounds like you just prefer amateur musicianship to professional. The more mediocre the playing, the more "authentic." Case in point: you walked out of a Jon Baez concert thinking it was unmusical. Perhaps you're just missing what makes the better players better--it isn't just technical ability. 

---

There was no '"thinking" about it, it was lousy.  I've been listening to music, and playing it, for a long time—if you get past the novice stage in folk music, you might start to recognize what I am talking about, but I do not think that will happen.  Enjoy your life.

I actually do prefer amateur musicians as opposed to professional musicians...to me, most professionals tend to sound so rehearsed and contrived... it gets monotonous to my ears...lol...seriously...I'd rather hear a heart-felt amateur fiddler.

I know I told this story here before...hey I'm old and tell the same ol stories over and over...but here's what happened...several years ago we all took grandson to a sugar camp thing for kids and parents...yeah in our case even grandparents went...it was a fun day tromping around in the woods in the snow, tapping trees and lugging filled buckets to the fire, then eating bacon and warming ourselves before going back out...it was fun; it was cold...but there was this guy...this very amateur...could barely play one note at a time...fiddler, near the fire and the boiling down area...playing all day...certainly not a professional...but sincere, sincerely playing...his heart was in it...I'm sure his fingers must've been frozen...he played mainly old songs and hymns while we tromped through, laughing and talking...all echoey through the hillside...and his honest and humble fiddling wafting through all the sounds...sometimes barely audible, other times louder. It brought me to tears many times, listening to him as we shivered our way back and forth. I asked him how long he had played...I think he said six years...but...he didn't play more than one string at a time...and was a little klunky....but as I said, his heart was in it and it was a beautiful and very meaningful addition to the day spent making syrup. One of my fondest memories of time spent with family, nature, and the gentle fiddling. I mean...as awesome as Michael Cleveland would have been...I think this guy hit the notes just the right way for the atmosphere we were dwelling in at that very moment...it was very impressionistic...the whole moment...and the music froze the whole thing in time. I greatly appreciated his fiddling. I might've even been able to fiddle better than he did...not bragging...just saying...my amateur status at that moment might've been beyond his somewhat...yet...he did it just right. I really soaked in his fiddling on that day.

quote:

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Originally posted by gapbob

quote:

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

quote:

---

Originally posted by gapbob

It is interesting, because when I listen to beginning fiddlers, they usually have something, some "Je ne sais quoi."

---

It sounds like you just prefer amateur musicianship to professional. The more mediocre the playing, the more "authentic." Case in point: you walked out of a Jon Baez concert thinking it was unmusical. Perhaps you're just missing what makes the better players better--it isn't just technical ability. 

---

There was no '"thinking" about it, it was lousy.  I've been listening to music, and playing it, for a long time—if you get past the novice stage in folk music, you might start to recognize what I am talking about, but I do not think that will happen.  Enjoy your life.

 

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If I'm such a novice, you must be my biggest fan...

...well, seems like a bowing thread is still as good a way to wake up a fiddler as strong coffee...er, just about as good.

BTW Peggy - this belongs in another thread, but I've been meaning to ask you - what kind of coffee are you drinking these days? I don't really like coffee too much, but I've been doing a little experimenting.

Oh gosh Doug...that's about as involved as bowing...and probably related some way too...so it won't be too off topic, I mean in the whole scheme of existence within our galaxy, it won't be.

Anyhow..I used to drink JFG...but then discovered IGA coffee...being milder, though I still have a hankerin sometimes for that old JFG kick. Then went to 8 O'Clock, where you grind it at the store. That was ages ago...then I got into Maxwell House, but it started tasting like old cigarette butts about 20 years ago, even thought he tubs it came in were very handing for goat feed or painting, etc., but with the lousy way it started tasting... I switched to fancy coffee beans that I ground myself...that's up here...from Costco they were affordable...but I got tired of grinding plus didn't think they tasted that great, me being probably of cheaper tastes...lol...so we switched to Kirkland 100 % Arabica bean coffee from Costco...housebrand and cheap but tastes to me like the old IGA coffee from mid 70s tasted. We drink that all the time now.

Back when I worked at the university library up here, where I retired from, I tried their fancy coffees from their stands all over...like cost 3.00 for a small cup...didn't like them at all. I got cheap taste, like I said...so we stick with the kind that tastes like the old IGA brand coffee tasted, mainly. The absolute best coffee i ever had was when a prof at the university would once in a while leave a bag of Jamaican Blue Mountain hanging on my door at work...he was from Jamaica and had connections...because that stuff cost like 2 or 3 hundred per pound...but that is the best coffee in the world. African countries are supposed to have great coffee...the ones I've had I didn't like. Hawaiian is supposed to be good...we knew somebody who brought some back from Hawaii and I didn't like it either. Plain ol cheap coffee...except not Maxwell House and not Folgers...they taste to me like they are cut with "something," not sure what...old stems and stuff or something that has an off taste.

I could go on and on...all I know to tell you is drink it black...lol...for the best taste.

Doug and Peggy...I'm on the Donut Shoppe original Blend...black and cold. Like my soul.

Bowing and coffee...it's all just too complicated...I say do plenty of both and forget the rest.

"If I'm such a novice, you must be my biggest fan..."

I am sure I would not be your biggest fan, but I might find some aspect of your playing interesting.

Little rabbit hipped
Little rabbit hopped
Rabbit bit off a turnip top
I like sugar in my coffee o
I like sugar in my coffee o

Elvis has left the building

Sing it, Fiddle Nerd...sing it purdy!

How in the world the old folks know
I like sugar in my coffee o
Sugars high, coffee's low
I like sugar in my coffee o

you call it shuffle i call it bow

i still like sugar in my coffee o

Three things

1.
My Bowing Maps for “Cotton Bonnet”

Estill Bingham
A1 |,,,’,,’’|,’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,’|,’,’,’’’|
A2 |,,,’,,’’|,’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,’|,’,’,’’’|
B1 |,,’’,,,’|’’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,’|,’,’,’’’|
B2 |,,’’,,,’|’’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,’|,’,’,’’’|

Tatiana Hargreaves
(Order is reversed, so her “A” is his “B”, and vice-versa.)
A1 |,,’’,,,’|’’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,,|,’,’,’’’|
A2 |,,’’,,,’|’’,’,’’’|,’,’’’,,|,’,’,’’’|
B1 |,,,’,,’’|,’,’,’’’|,,,’’’,,|,’,’,’’’|
B2 |,,,’,,’’|,’,’,’’’|,,,’’’,,|,’,’,’’’|


2. In case y'all are interested, Bingham's recording of this tune was published in at least three fiddle books, so we can compare/contrast all three.

3. I think several of you should be ashamed of yourselves for the rude things you said about this young musician.

Daniel, #3, Yes... Tatiana is a wonderful fiddler. I admire her playing.

Have all the charts and bowing maps you want, but rude is taking things far out of context, getting defensive, and preaching bowing dogma that demeans others. If you like the pattern style then eat it up. Listen all you want. But if it can't stand up to scrutiny without getting defensive then maybe something is wrong.