I work with Peter Cooper's "The Complete Irish Fiddler" Book/CD a lot. It is the best instructional I have found about playing technique for Irish music. It IS NOT a repertoire book. What I would like to buy now is notation and recordings for ornamentation and bowing patterns in Irish music. No luck so far. My goal is to keep improving my ornamention and to get better at improvisation. Info on where ornamentation and slurring patterns could be used would be a bonus. I unconsciously started using these techniques when I play other styles. I just reduce the amount of ornamentation.
Hi Dick,
I'm on the same path as you. Below are a couple of suggestions that I've been using. These are books that would complement the Cooper book and maybe give you some more ideas about bowing approaches for different tunes and styles within Irish music. They've been helpful to me although I confess I've been cherry-picking tunes, not going cover to cover as I probably should, and I like to 'go my own way' in some cases rather than toe the line so to speak.
1) Shannon Heaton's 'First 50' , a book (physical or e-book) that includes both her flute and creditable fiddle versions plus CD recordings of 50 tunes, with bowing patters and great comments on what is being emphasized in each
shannonheatonmusic.com/product...and-book/
shannonheatonmusic.com/product...download/
Note- there is no annotation of ornaments -- this is on purpose so the player can concentrate on other aspects.
2) The Brian Conway Fiddle Method, which features about 50 of the tunes he's taught at the Portal Irish Music week over the years. Brian is a renowned player in the New York Sligo style, and the suggested bowing and ornamentation reflect that approach. No recording is attached but you can find a number of these tunes online played by Brian. The book is not available commercially but here is a link that will give you contact information to order a copy:
facebook.com/story.php/?story_...170831468
3) The other obvious choice would be The Irish Fiddle Book by Matt Cranitch, with CD -- a good complement to Cooper.
Of course nothing out there is going to give you a 'complete' repertoire of tunes with the extra annotations plus recordings included (given that there are 1000's of popular tunes out there), but the idea is that eventually your fingers know what to do in any give tune pattern to bring out the lilt.
Kevin Burke's book "Solo" has tunes from his solo recordings, with bowing instructions, available on his web site if you Google him.
Seconding the recommendation for Matt Cranitch's "Irish Fiddle Book". Matt was my teacher for several years, and the book is designed progressively, with each tune building on the previous one; although he doesn't necessarily spell out what a particular tune is supposed to be teaching you.
But one thing needs to be clear: the bowing notations should be looked at as options to be applied as you see fit, not as rules to follow when playing a specific part of a specific tune. For example, in the notation for the tune "Connaughtman's Rambles", he introduces a bowing option for the B-part of the jig that I call "2-2-2 bowing": bow two notes, slur two notes, slur two notes. Since jigs general go *1*-2-3-*4*-5-6, this introduces a subtle syncopation, since the start of the bow stroke provides a natural emphasis. And that's a pattern you'll see applied in other jigs in the book, and that you can apply to jigs that aren't in the book in areas where it seems nice, like where there's a measure with several string crossings.
And you'll also notice frequent exhortations that fiddlers play by ear, and frequently vary bowing by applying different bowing patterns to the same passage on repeated plays, and you should be looking to do the same. If you're staring at sheet music while you're playing you risk not grasping the essence and will probably not be able to remember the tune as easily as if you listen and play. Absorb this, and before long you won't need transcriptions of the tunes with bowings and ornamentation annotated
You might also look into taking lessons from someone who's primary focus is Irish music. If there's nobody near you, a number of teachers can do online lessons
Hi! If you're still looking around for more options, one of my fiddle books focuses quite a bit on individual techniques in exercises and then transferring them to tunes. Fiddle Studio Book 3 includes the topics: shuffles, lifts, fills, jig slurs, grace notes, triplets, rolls, drones, anticipations, slides, chops. Since I tend to teach multiple styles, some topics are Irish specific and some are not. Good luck, and please let us know the resources you find helpful, I'm always interested in the books people find useful.
Great recs here!!
I didn’t know what to say, because I’ve always kind of lost interest when trying to learn out of books…
I try to learn the style by playing along with audio tracks, going to sessions, and currently I’m taking a weekly online workshop with the Irish Arts Center (based in NYC). Workshop is taught by Patrick Mangan, who learned from Brian Conway, and it focuses on ornamentation and bowing style.
Shannon Heaton is awesome…I have learned a lot of tunes from her online teaching videos (and met her in person when she came to NC!) Since she plays flute, maybe not much advice for us on bowing… but she sure knows a lot about best places to breathe! :-D
@NC — Shannon collaborated with a fiddler (I forget who) to come up with fiddle annotated versions and recordings of each tune. They are on facing pages with the flute versions so it’s interesting to compare.
@megan I should have mentioned your Book 3 too! I have it and have found lots of useful information both generally and for the tune examples you provide.
JonD, cool! I did not know that! I will have to take a look...
I have a recording somewhere where the musician talks about how the best etudes for learning Irish music are the tunes themselves.
Edited by - gapbob on 02/12/2025 13:27:05
