Fiddle compared to violin?

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:57 pm

Rhadge wrote: I will try fiddlehangout.com as you recommended.

There's a luthier who frequents Fiddlehangout by the name of Steve Perry. He's explained in the past how much work he does to property set up a violin to bring out its best voice and what it costs him in man hours.

Perhaps you can find that explanation in their archives.

Another list that is good to at the very least lurk at is Fiddle-L
Here are their archives
http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi- ... 0=FIDDLE-L
Fiddle-L is a bit more old fashioned in format that Fiddlehangout but its where more fiddlers who play professionally seem to hang out.

O’Sluagahadain · Post by **O’Sluagahadain** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:01 am

I was introduced to a friend's father a few months ago. The man is in his mid 80's and played fiddle all his life. I encouraged him to break out one of his instruments. I was amazed that even with significant hearing loss you could tell that he had been very, very good! He described taking old 78 records when he was younger and playing them over and over very slow to learn the tunes.

I asked him if there was a difference between a fiddle and a violin. He said, "If I'm playing Bach, it's a violin. If I'm playing Blackberry Blossom,
it's a fiddle!"

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:35 pm

O’Sluagahadain wrote: He described taking old 78 records when he was younger and playing them over and over very slow to learn the tunes.

and least we forget, doing that is not the same as the slow down software we have now.
Slow down a record and you change the key. You have to constantly be extrapolating the intervals to within the key everybody else plays the tune in.

I have no brain for that, not yet.
If I learn a tune on a five string banjo in double C tuning, for the life of me I just don't get it on the fiddle played in the key of D until I slap a capo onto the second fret of the banjo and try it again.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:01 pm

I'm no fiddler/violinist, but isn't there a common, if not universal, practice among fiddlers concerning the shape of the bridge that violinists don't employ?

One could say that that might be the difference, if used.

boatgirl · Post by **boatgirl** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:45 am

I was told the difference between a violin and a fiddle is that one has "strings" and the other has "strangs". This was from a lady in the deep south with that typical southern accent. That put it all into perspective for me an now I am happily learning the fiddle!

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:34 am

When I'm riding a bus late at night and some stranger eyes my case and asks me what's in it, least they think its worth a lot of money and they then want to hit me over the head and steal it, I tell them its a fiddle.

If they ask me what the difference between a violin and a fiddle is I tell them a fiddle is a violin that's had beer spilled on it way too many times.

Rhadge · Post by **Rhadge** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:21 am

hyldemoer wrote:When I'm riding a bus late at night and some stranger eyes my case and asks me what's in it, least they think its worth a lot of money and they then want to hit me over the head and steal it, I tell them its a fiddle.

If they ask me what the difference between a violin and a fiddle is I tell them a fiddle is a violin that's had beer spilled on it way too many times.

That's a good one! :-O

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:59 pm

Nanohedron wrote:I'm no fiddler/violinist, but isn't there a common, if not universal, practice among fiddlers concerning the shape of the bridge that violinists don't employ?

One could say that that might be the difference, if used.

No. Some fiddlers prefer a flatter bridge, especially for American styles, but it's by no means a general practise.

missy · Post by **missy** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:23 am

I know a lot of people that were "trained up" on Old Time fiddle. I also know a lot of people that were classically trained on violin.

While this is in no way a universal truth - it's been my experience that an Old Time fiddle player will play with a "shuffle", using a very small portion of the middle of the bow, while a violinist will use all the bow.

I have NO idea where Irish fiddle fits in this!!!

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:20 am

missy wrote: I have NO idea where Irish fiddle fits in this!!!

It all depends on which areas of Ireland's fiddle styles one is trying to emulate,
but to me all of the Irish fiddle playing these days sounds more Classically influenced in technique

especially when I compare it to specific areas of American Oldtime
(and I'd have to specify which area of Oldtime fiddling not to confuse it with all the other areas of Oldtime fiddling one finds in the America. Oldtime in various parts of America might and usually does use more Classic technique depending on who is interpreting it these days).

We need to remember, fiddle playing came to America before fiddle playing evolved as much as it has in Europe.

That said,
a fiddler is one who fiddles. They generally (but not always) aren't as tied to the printed page as the Classic tradition of violin because
they are traditions that are generally passed on by aural methods, no?