Fiddle
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(Redirected from How to Play the Fiddle)
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[edit] Parts of the Violin and Fiddle
Here are the various parts of the violin
: 
- Fingerboard -- This is where the fiddler's fingers are placed to change the note being played.
- Tuning Pegs -- These are used to tune the strings of the fiddle, and are located underneath the scroll, a small spiral-shaped ornament on the top of the neck of the fiddle.
- F-Holes -- These are f-shaped holes in the fiddle that are important in the fiddle's production of sound.
- Bridge -- This is one of the smallest parts of the fiddle that suspends the strings above the fingerboard. It is set directly between the 2 center points of the F-holes.
- Fine Tuners -- These are used for tuning the fiddle's strings within a very small range (the tuning pegs change the note a lot more than the fine tuners).
- Chinrest -- This is where the chin of the fiddler is placed and is important in supporting the fiddle.
[edit] Tips on Playing the Fiddle and Violin
- When holding the neck of your fiddle, ensure your wrist is curved and your posture is perfect in order to create a rich tone.
- Make sure your left wrist does not "collapse". You should support your fiddle with your neck and shoulder. Your left hand must be free to move, though you can bring your thumb underneath a bit to slightly counterbalance your fingers.
- Keep your fingernails trimmed short. This is important for a clear sound. You should depress the strings with the tips of your fingers on your left hand and you won't do that well with long fingernails. Also, a good vibrato will not be achieved with long fingernails.
- Hold the fiddle in a relaxed manner. The use of a shoulder rest will help. The shoulder rest prevents excessive tension in the shoulder.
- Keep your fiddle up high on your left shoulder with the scroll out to your left rather than directly out in front of you as this can make proper left hand positioning very difficult.
- Ensure that you look straight ahead, not down your strings as you play. This will have the effect that it's more the left side of your jawbone that rests on your "chinrest" than your chin.
- Your bow should move perpendicular to the strings. Lead your bow with your right wrist. The stick of the bow should be slightly tilted toward the fingerboard (away from your face).
- Be very careful to keep your pinky from "floating." Instead, make sure it's firmly on the nut or shaft of the bow but without being "buckled" or bent backwards.
- Your bow should move between the fingerboard and the bridge. When closer to the bridge, it will be louder. Play closer to the fingerboard to play more quietly. (For the beginner: the fingerboard is the long, black piece running down the center of the fiddle. See the photo above.)
- When playing quiet sections of music, keep using all the bow but press down lighter.
- Practice! (As a guide, college majors are recommended to practice roughly 2 to 4 hours per day. At least an hour a day should be expected as a bare minimum for serious practitioners.)
[edit] ...And more tips
- The fiddle is tuned (from low to high) G D A E. The A is usually 440 hertz (420-435 hertz for Baroque tuning).
- The viola is played in the same fashion, but tuned a fifth lower (C G D A).
- As you play, rosin from the bow will collect on the top of the fiddle. Clean this off gently with a soft cloth regularly to ensure it doesn't harm the finish or the tone quality.
- There are several positions for your left hand depending how close to your face on the fingerboard your hand is. The 1st position is when your 1st finger on the A string plays B, the 2nd position is when it plays C, 3rd when it plays D. When a change of position is required a number is printed above or below the score to indicate which finger is used to play that particular note.
- Before playing the bow should be rubbed with rosin. You can buy some at any musical instrument store. Keep rosin in your left hand and rub the bow against it in the same way you play. Do not overdo this, since it will result in the fiddle sounding harsh.
- Fiddles do come in several sizes, but the smaller sizes are only meant for students too small to properly play a full sized fiddle. If your fiddle is less than full size, you can measure whether or not you are ready for the next larger size by placing the fiddle on your shoulder just as you would play it and reaching with your fingers around the scroll. If your fingers extend all the way around the scroll and touch the pegbox (the portion just below the scroll into which the pegs fit), you are most likely ready for the next size up.
- Playing with vibrato involves your left wrist and/or elbow. Keep bowing with your right hand as you normally would.
[edit] Bowing
- The faster you move the bow, the richer the sound coming from the string will be. But make sure you get all the notes in before running out of bow hair.
- As you get better, pay more attention to how you move the bow. Changing directions (up to down, etc.) is, to a large extent, equivalent to taking a breath while singing. Experiment with different bowing speed and pressure.
- Sheet music will generally include bowing notation intermittently. The "up bow" mark looks like a V and the "down bow mark" like a staple or a square missing its bottom side. Up means you should start at the tip and push the bow, and down means you should start at the frog (which is where your hand is holding the bow) and pull the bow. An up-bow usually generates a softer sound, while a down-bow is stronger and more assertive. Feel free to pencil in your own marks, but remember the printed bowing marks are there for a musical reason, so they should usually be respected.
- Be sure to practice using the whole length of the bow.
[edit] Violin
- For violin playing, it is recommended that lessons are the best way to learn violin. Violin is one of the hardest instruments to play, let alone teach yourself to play. Consider this: you might consider using videos, CD-ROMs, or other such multi-media channels for violin instruction, but remember: this is only a one-way form of instruction. If your elbow isn't positioned properly, a video cannot correct you. The violin can do serious damage to the body if played incorrectly. If you are teaching yourself to play, and have strain or pain in your wrist, neck, shoulder, or elbow, stop playing immediately and pay for a few lessons to have a teacher correct your technique. Proper technique early on can prevent serious injury.
- The only difference between the violin and the fiddle is the style in which you play it, though many fiddlers will use a flatter (less curved) bridge (to make it easier to play double stops) and a few even tune the violin differently. However, it is due to the fact that different styles have different tonal requirements, that what is proper for one style could be considered improper for the other. Teaching yourself to play the fiddle is generally considered acceptable, and has less strict requirements compared to playing violin. To achieve a great result, practice as often as you can.
- Remember that everything about technique and theory in this book that involves the fiddle is exactly or almost exactly the same with the violin.
by (mark masbad)
[edit] Some Basic Music Theory
- Music theory is the study of the notes and symbols used when writing music and how they apply to playing. Generally, all instruments share much of the same concepts in music theory.
- Documents on which music are written are called sheet music. Sheet music that contains music for more than one instrument are called scores.
- Notes are written on five lines called a staff.
- Both the violin and the fiddle use the Treble Clef, which is used to write notes on higher-sounding instruments. The lines of the treble clef are from bottom to top: E, G, B, D, F; the spaces are from bottom to top: F, A, C, E. You can remember both of those with the following chant: Every Good Boy Does Fine, tells what's on the treble line. F, A, C E, tells what's in the treble space.
- A time signature appears at the first line in every piece. It tells you how many beats are in a measure, and looks like a fraction; the top number tells you how many beats each measure has. Until a player steps up to the intermediate level, the bottom number will always be 4, and the longest measures will all have 4 beats.
- The type of note tells you how many beats it has. For example, most notes are quarter notes, which have one beat. A quarter note is filled in black and has a stem.
[edit] Techniques
- Arco is when you play with the bow
- Vibrato is the slight movement back and forth of the finger to produce a wavy sound (this is really hard to do!!! but it should come naturally)
- Tremolo is the rapid movement of the bow, marked by three slashes through the note
- Trill is a rapid playing of the marked note and the note one step above, marked by a wavy line above the note
- Col legno is when you tap the string with the wood of the bow
- Pizzicato is when you pluck the strings
- Slur is when you play multiple notes on one bowing, marked with a curving line connecting the slurred notes
[edit] For more information
The following sites have information for your research:
- Music Theory: a site that provides a course on music theory
- Virtual Sheet Music: a site that provides sheet music for classical music.
