Re: [scots-l] What makes a style "Scottish?"

[Kate Dunlay or David Greenberg]

>The reference was to fiddlers
>known tendency to play middle finger notes approximately mid way between
>the index and ring fingers as was described in Perlman's book on PEI
>fiddlers giving a flat C# in the key of A major; and that if this were a
>deliberate choice of interval then when playing the same or a similar
>tune in G major they should play a flatted B so as to get the same
>interval but they don't.

However, I have heard Cape Breton fiddlers use pitches between B and B-flat
(especially in the high octave) when playing tunes in G mixolydian/dorian
(such as Paddy on the Turnpike, which uses both B and B-flat already).  And
I have to say that it sounds nice to me that way, with the pitch a bit
ambiguous.  You get that teasing, bluesy flavour.

Anyway, I don't think fiddlers play a flat C# so much in A major.  I think
the "supernatural" C happens in those tunes like the King tunes, which are
in A mixolydian/dorian, in which case the example is analogous to what I
described above.  Alexander, do you often observe a low C# in A major or
were you just going by Perlman's description?

- Kate D.

--
Kate Dunlay & David Greenberg
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
http://www.total.net/~dungreen


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