How Crazy Does a Person Have to BE to Play a Fiddle?

   When I was wondering what to write about, Rick suggested I try a topic on fiddling. How crazy does a person have to be to decide to learn to play the fiddle? That’s the question. I wish I knew a bunch of fiddlers to ask because I can’t pretend to know. I started trying to learn because I love the background licks and sweet refrains one hears from the experts. Now, fiddle tunes themselves are another story. These tunes are dedicated to those who are ambidextrous, ambi-fingered, left – right brained and the talent to put all this together.

I own a fiddle…. And, I own a mute…

Jack Kuykendall: (I would call Jack a Old Time fiddler who grew up among music and has it in his soul).

   Once one gets start fiddling, and your heart is into it, then it will draw you to it. I think there are prerequisites, such as, an ear for tone, control of many shapes of rhythm, and the mind that can absorb and remember melodies that lead to playing off them in different ways as this is to me what fiddling is. This last part is to me the ‘crazy’ part. If you cannot conform to rules, you might be a fiddler. If you can spend hours working out a song that is changed by you each time you play- You might be a fiddler. Can you take your own worse criticism from yourself- you might be a fiddler? If all of this makes sense to you and you believe in yourself, you might be a fiddler. Remember, this is a pure art that comes from the heart, not everyone can do this. You should know that this if you don’t feel a rewarding within the instrument itself. So, know when to say, “it’s not for me,” or “I can play bass and be happier.” I didn’t start the fiddle until I was in my thirties, mostly because I could not stand that high screech in my good ear. I had a real tin ear. Which means, as you develop you ear and music knowledge, you may start later, you may not be ready just at this time. As my elder brother, Dave says, “many are called, few are chosen.” P,S, One thing I noticed all along my fiddling years is that there seems to be a huge decline as the old ones have passed and are not being replaced. This gave me encouragement as I felt like I am maintaining a receding American art form. I see lots of string bands without a fiddle. I have to say, ‘you gotta have a fiddle in the band.’

   It can make you crazy, if you aren’t already. To learn as an adult, it helps to be crazy tenacious. As a child, it was hard in a weird way. It always sounded best when my teacher played the piano while I played my songs. I liked the twin violins too. By myself, oh the wail! Somewhere between ages 4 and 5, I broke my bow over the back of that little yellow chair. I cried and I cried! I got a new one, too bad they didn’t have fiberglass bows then. I guess that even then I knew that the problem was in the bowing! They had a little talent show in grammar school. I still remember playing “kitty cat’s meow”. My mom said that they had to get the hook to get me off stage! I was in kindergarten. My mom played violin and piano. We used to play and sing around the piano, my two siblings and I with our mom. In the days before built in car radios, the whole family sang old Navy songs of my dad’s traveling down the road. All that said, it’s like no other sweet sound when it’s right. I’m still practicing, 58 years later, hoping to get better.

Rick Cornish: (I haven’t known Rick long but one can tell he plays from the heart. He once pondered about how the music can flow from head to hands so easily).

   Oooooooooh, do I have horror stories. I started way, way late, in my forties, and I knew if I didn’t let the fiddle COMPLETELY take over my life I would never, ever be able to play it. So that’s what I did. For three years I literally practice 5 to 6 hours a day. I’d get up early and play before going to work; at work I’d sit out on the loading dock and practice; and at night, as soon as dinner was finished, I’d started my main practice and play until bed time. Three years of that. In the mornings when I played I would follow Lynn from room to room as she readied herself for work. How does this sound? Can you hear an improvement? What about this song. It drove her mad…she still complains about it.

Here’s far and away the WORST moment of that entire experience. I’d been going at it a couple years when one day, at a fiddle lesson, my teacher, a guy name Greg Burger, played a tune he wanted me to learn. Now, Greg had been playing his whole life. He was a great teacher and a great fiddler, yet when he played that new tune it sounded LIKE SHIT. It absolutely freaked me out. How was it possible, I finally got up the nerved to ask. Oh, he said, you can hear it. Of course you can, you can hear it. Hear what, I asked. The fight I had with Sharon (his wife) this morning. Say that another way, I asked. It’s like this, Rick, no matter how long you play, no matter how good you get, your emotions will ALWAYS find their way to your bowing arm, and when that happens, man, you are SCREWED.

Worst news I could have gotten, and boy oh boy oh boy did he prove to be right.

Nicki Carlisle: (An extraordinary fiddler, contest winner and music teacher, Nicki plays with several bands including a group of her own students – Shingletown Bound, along with a swing band and for a Scottish dance group).

   Learning the fiddle or violin is not a crazy idea if you have the wherewithal to dedicate some time for practice on a regular basis. Some good advice is to get some time in with a teacher to learn the basics and to begin with the correct way of handling the fiddle and especially the bow. The next step is committing to PRACTICING one thing for a certain amount of time each day (try 3 or 4 times a week), 10 minutes with a tuner to improve your intonation and 10 minutes with a metronome to improve your timing and then 10 minutes on bowing exercises. Focusing on one thing at a time will improve your playing each time. There are different techniques for a beginner, especially an adult, that should be repeated weekly. A retired person will be able to make the time for this practice. Once you find a song to learn, the fingering and the bowing will be more natural as you play. Trying to learn songs without developing some technique will make it all seem hard and a bit crazy.

    Playing along with other musicians can be very helpful, even in the very beginning stages of learning. Before you do this, be sure to practice your timing. Start with the basic 1-2-3-4 count. 1 down bow, 2 up bow and so on. Maybe, if you are feeling daring try 1 down up, 2 down up etc. On a fiddle (mandolin and bass) the 1st note of the chord and the 5th note are strings next to each other. For example G & D, D & A, A & E – wonderfully easy right? The 3rd tone in each chord may be added later… If you put your finger in the 1st position on each string you have A & E, E & B and so on again. When you are familiar with this, you will be able to play a complimentary tone to each chord that is being played on the guitar. And thus you will be playing along in a jam!

George Fredson: (George is a retired veteran and school teacher, a great guitar player and singer and an almost great fiddler).

   I’ve always liked the sound of the fiddle and when you combine the fiddle with the banjo, the sound of the two of them together seems to connect with something in my soul that was left over from a former life. I’m sure that sometime in the past I was a fiddle player on some old front porch somewhere tucked away in a hollow in the Appalachians. Old Time Fiddle tunes just seem to be a part of my DNA.

   Being associated with the California State Old Time Fiddle Association, District 6, I’ve been exposed to some really great fiddlers. I’m sure that has helped awakened my passion and desire for playing the fiddle. That, combined with the fact that our group probably has more banjo, guitar, and mandolin players than we do fiddle players these days, and the fiddle players we do have are, for the most part, in their twilight years, I have taken it upon myself to be standing by some day to possibly fill their ranks when they retire their fiddles.

   Over time I’ve owned a fiddle or two and had them hanging on my wall but no matter how many fiddles I’ve owned none have ever grown frets and been able to play a tune like I’d like them to. I’ve even loaned them to others but they have always been returned without having been taught to play a tune. So, 2016 will be my year to put in the time and effort that it takes to be able to qualify as a beginning fiddle player.

   Now there are some things I’ve already learned: 1.) Practice, practice, practice is probably the most important thing, but then I do have other things that always seem to get in the way, like sleeping, eating, and so on. 2.) When learning a new tune, starting out slowly and then increasing the speed is good in theory but when you love those tunes played at break-neck speed they just don’t sound good played slow. 3.) Playing with other fiddle players has its benefits too but they are all quick to point out that I don’t do anything correctly (bowing in the wrong direction, hand position is wrong, holding the fiddle wrong, holding the bow wrong… and on and on). I figure that if I can just saw out a tune that sounds like it is supposed to, that’s all I need to be satisfied.

   There’s nothing I like to see and hear more than an “Old Fiddle Player” sawing away on some traditional tune that’s been handed down through the generations. Well, I’ve got the “Old” qualification down. I just wish I’d taken up the fiddle fifty years ago so I could qualify for the “Fiddle Player” part.

   Look for me this summer, somewhere near Camp SPAM, and get in on my fiddle debut. Hopefully I have enough years left in this lifetime to be called an “Old Fiddle Player” someday. 

Leslie Peacock: (A second grade teacher, fiddler and a banjo student? I have never heard more beautiful notes than the ones that sing from Leslie’s violin. Her fiddle tunes have that same beauty if just at a slightly faster pace).

   I would often practice in front of the mirror, just as my teacher instructed me, so I could observe and critique myself. The goal: perfection. Perfect posture, perfect intonation, perfect timing. My Suzuki books were comprised of scribbled pages of notes, reminders, and constant corrections. Each practice began with scales and arpeggios, and each practice ended with more goals and more scribbled notes.

   I was a violinist. You see, we, violinists, prided ourselves in our art. We continually sought to execute the great composer’s historic symphonies, minuets, and sonatas just as they intended. Performing with ensembles and quartets was a classical art form, rigid with rules and expectations passed down throughout the centuries of classical music performance.

And then, after 15 years of classical training, I moved to Redding, an area saturated with country, bluegrass, and old time fiddling. I quickly met fellow musicians and was invited to my first jam. It was a sloppy gathering. No one had good posture or came prepared with sheet music. During pauses in between pieces, people would jam on their own or take a swig of beer instead of discussing intonation corrections and hypothesized intentions of the composer. No one took notes. Nope. We just played music.

   Three years later, I am now capable of slouching while playing, not wincing when I hit an imperfect note, tapping my toe to the beat, and not caring what the composer desired because it’s MY interpretation. And boy is it a blast! I have a way to go, but the fiddle is addictive. It brings with it excitement, friends, stories, festivals, improvisation, laughter… and beer. My fingers may be that of a violinist, but I think my heart has always been that of a fiddler.

Me:

   There are so many talented fiddlers out there that I know I will never measure up but I still keep trying. There is that moment when the strings are JUST right that makes it all worth it.