Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
Alexander, many thanks for your reply. I had just found the section on bowing in Hunter's book last night, and it gives an excellent comparison to the different techniques. Am glad to know that it IS acceptable technique to lift the bow off-- it's certainly easier to do, and the sound is more clean. Thanks again for the post. Kate You might be interested in the straight slur/up-driven bow comments in the introduction to the following collections: Richard Carlin's The Gow Collection of Scottish Dance Music J. Murdoch Henderson's Flowers of Scottish Melody and James Hunter's The Fiddle Music of Scotland. Carlin's description of Niel Gow's up-driven bow is of particular interest. He uses a typical strathspey four note cluster consisting of a sixteenth note followed by a dottted eight, another dotted eight and then a sixteenth to illustrate his point. In his description of Gow's up-driven bow style the first note is taken with a down bow and the next three played staccato with one up bow. Both Henderson and Hunter state that to achieve this the bow must be lifted smartly of the strings with a peculiar jerk of the wrist. In the music with which I am familiar, Cape Breton fiddle, this type of bowing was quite common in reels. In fact it was frequently used where the written music had notes of equal value. In that style the first note was played with a down bow, the bow then lifted of the string and the next three notes played with an up bow bounced for all three notes to achieve the staccato effect. The result, I believe, if used sparingly, is more rhythmic drive to the music. I have used the word was deliberately. This style is now almost extinct in Cape Breton. Alexander Mac Donald Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
In the music with which I am familiar, Cape Breton fiddle, this type of bowing was quite common in reels. In fact it was frequently used where the written music had notes of equal value. In that style the first note was played with a down bow, the bow then lifted of the string and the next three notes played with an up bow bounced for all three notes to achieve the staccato effect. The result, I believe, if used sparingly, is more rhythmic drive to the music. I have used the word was deliberately. This style is now almost extinct in Cape Breton. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I've heard Alex Francis MacKay do that trick now and again. I noticed him doing that the time that I visited him. I copied that trick for a few tunes I picked up off of him. Just to make it sound more like the way he was playing them. However I don't use that kind of bowing often enough to remember doing it. :-) Or maybe I do, but I don't think about it because I started doing it in an attempt to copy what I was hearing, as opposed to consciously thinking about the bowing technique which was required in order to get that sound. It does have a cool sound. Something else I do which is kind of like that type of bowing (at least my wrist feels like I'm doing a similiar action) is a low-note substitution followed three of the exact same notes in quick succession, all played on the upbow, but with a slight separation between them. I don't know if there's a formal name for that type of bow trick. I like to do that quite a bit though, especially in strathspeys and certain reels. Do that the second time through a phrase, M... Gives it so much flavor! I'm trying to think of example tunes for this and the one that comes to mind first is that A strathspey called John R. Fraser. I'm certain I do that on alot of those modal E tunes that tend to get played with Bog An Lochan as well. They lend themselves well to that. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
Kate asked: In Irish music, I have either played notes with an up or down bow, or slurred several notes on a single bow stroke, but I've never heard of a 'straight slur' where you briefly stop then continue in the same bow direction. It's supposed to sound very staccato. But it doesn't mention in the book if it is acceptable to lift the bow off the strings! I don't know if it's ever acceptable to lift the bow off the strings Yes, it's OK to lift off the bow- it's a big factor in determining your personal style. Some folks keep their bow on the string like it's running on railway tracks, others let it fly about. I'm towards the latter :) But as Kate D says, it's probably not what you want to get your broken slur. First of all, you have to listen to examples of what it is you're trying to achieve. Get that sound in your head. If you're used to slurring notes, then you can begin by playing a waltz time: 123 123... then play each 123 with the bow going in the same direction, but make it sound like it's 3 separate bows. Then slur the first 2 notes, and play 2 strokes to the bar (still in the same direction). Once you have this, play the long-short pattern with 2 beats to the bar as in a strathspey, and gradually shorten the short note more and more, till it's as short as you can get it. The short note starts to sound like it's with the note *after* it, and the sound should remind you of the examples that you've been listening to. One thing you will probably need to work on is varying the pressure on the bow. Learners have a thing about bowing direction- is it an up or down bow? which notes are slurred? etc. When you listen to good players, much of the expression has very little to do with that. It's like learning to sing and worrying about where to open and close your mouth. Of course it's important, but it's not what makes a singer sound good. Variations in pressure (where you lean on part of each note) determines the 'pulse' which gives the music its rhythm. So you will vary the pressure as part of getting the long-short bowing to sound good. In particular, if you just stop the bow between notes, it will croak- maybe that's why you feel a need to lift the bow? Well don't lift it right off, just ease off the pressure at the end, and it'll sound good :) Hope that helps. Derek Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
Kate asked: In Irish music, I have either played notes with an up or down bow, or slurred several notes on a single bow stroke, but I've never heard of a 'straight slur' where you briefly stop then continue in the same bow direction. It's supposed to sound very staccato. But it doesn't mention in the book if it is acceptable to lift the bow off the strings! I don't know if it's ever acceptable to lift the bow off the strings I like the keep the bow on the strngs more consistently on the reels. The strathspeys I like to whip the bow around a bit more. Tends to give them more of an edge. -- Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) I don't try to be better then anybody else. I only try to be better than myself. - Dan Jansen, Olympic Gold Medalist World Record Holder, Speed Skating Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
[scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
Are there any experienced fiddlers on the list? I'm coming out of lurk mode to ask a question about bowing. There are some techniques that are unique to Scottish fiddle playing and since I've not seen it done, it isn't all that easy to understand what is printed in this book. (Caledonian Companion) Very interesting book, BTW! In Irish music, I have either played notes with an up or down bow, or slurredseveral notes on a single bow stroke, but I've never heard of a 'straight slur' where you briefly stop then continuein the same bow direction. It's supposed to sound very staccato. But it doesn't mention in the book if it is acceptable to lift the bow off the strings! I don't know if it's ever acceptable to lift the bow off the strings, so I wanted to write and see if any of you knew whether or not it's okay.It's much easier to bow the 'straight slur' this way, instead of remaining on the strings for the pause. Pardon my ignorance, but I'm completely self taught, there are no fiddle teachers in my area. I must be getting better though--my dog doesn't leave the room when I practice anymore!! LOL Best wishes to all of you for the new year!! Kate
Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings?
Title: Re: [scots-l] lift the bow off the strings? I've never heard of a 'straight slur' where you briefly stop then continuein the same bow direction. It's supposed to sound very staccato. But it doesn't mention in the book if it is acceptable to lift the bow off the strings! I don't know if it's ever acceptable to lift the bow off the strings, so I wanted to write and see if any of you knew whether or not it's okay.It's much easier to bow the 'straight slur' this way, instead of remaining on the strings for the pause. No, I wouldn't take the bow off the strings. Only for a special effect. I don't think what you want is a pause either, you just want the notes slightly detached. There are probably varying degrees of this before you'd actually indicate two up-bows instead. Try pretending that you want to come close to the kind of articulation that you get from playing separate bow strokes but then do it in one bow stroke instead. Different authors/arrangers may not have exactly the same thing in mind when they use a straight slur. I just know how we used it in our collection to transcribe Cape Breton music. - Kate D. -- http://www.DunGreenMusic.com Halifax, Nova Scotia
