The Irish Fiddle Primer
As usual I'll start you off with a little history of the Irish fiddle. I know what you're thinking. "There he goes again with this history stuff." I promise to keep it short so you can get to the good part. That being videos of a few different styles of playing. I can hardly wait for it myself. I love fiddle music.
All right you win. I can't wait anyway. First a video, then the history lesson, and then more videos. The following is a short clip of Donegal fiddler Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh of Altan. Just long enough to whet your appetite.
Now, on to the history lesson.
Irish Fiddle, The BeginningThere is evidence of stringed instruments played with a bow in medieval Europe. However there are no records of these in old Ireland. The fiddle shows up in Ireland about the seventeenth century. There is an account in this century that the people of Cork bought up their children to dance, fence and play the fiddle. This was so even when they could afford nothing else. This must have been very important to them, lucky for us that it was.
This fiddle was most likely the violin designed in its present form in Cremona, Italy by Andrea Amanti in the sixteenth century. This area of Italy was the center of violin making for over 150 years. This is where violin designers Amant, Guarneri, Stradivari, Bergonzi and Ruggeri lived and worked. I'm sure you'll recognize some of those names. OK, Enough about Italy. Let's get back to Ireland.
By the eighteenth century the Irish fiddle had become universally accepted in Ireland. It had a good sound and with proper fingering or bowing ornamentals could be easily added in a tune. It became the dominant instrument for dance music. Before this bagpipes or harps were used to accompany the dance. The pipes had a strong influence in dance tunes of this period and even today. The evidence for this shows up in the fact that in most Irish dance tunes the music isn't played on the forth string of the fiddle.
Not much has changed in traditional fiddle music from the eighteenth century to today. The one difference is in the old days fiddle tunes were played solo only. It was as impolite to play at the same time as an other fiddler as it was to interupt one's conversation. Now days many fiddlers will play in groups.
The Regional Styles of Irish FiddlersThe Irish language has many dialects, depending on what part of Ireland you're in. The same is true for styles of Irish fiddle tunes. There are regional fiddle styles of playing. I'll touch on a few different styles and show you some examples in video. I can only show you broad examples of these styles, because within each area there are further divisions of style. For instance the Donegal style can be broken down further into North Donegal and South Donegal. I don't think my ear is really trained enough to know the difference, but an Irish fiddler would know. I think you and I can just sit back and listen to the excellent music and let the fiddlers sort things out among themselves.
The Donegal Style
You've already seen an example of this style in the Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh video at the top of this page. This style from the northwest of Ireland is fast and aggressive. It has short, fast, powerful bow stokes and many bowed triples. There are not many fingered ornamentals. This style has a strong influence from Scotland and the pipes as shown by the droning and double stopping.
The next video is Tommy Peoples another excellent fiddler in the Donegal style. This clip is from 1981. He's playing "Laird Of Drumblair" and "Little John's Hame".
The Sligo Style
This style is probably the most familiar worldwide because of the recordings of Michael Coleman in the 1920's and 1930's. He immigrated to New York from Sligo. This style combines the bowed triples of Donegal with the fingered ornamentals of the south. This is a light, bouncy style.
Be patient with the next video of Kevin Burke, he does a lot of talking at the beginning. I promise it's worth the wait. He plays "Last Train to Loughrea" and "Across the Black River" in the Sligo style accompanied by Cal Scott.
The Galway Style
This style is highly ornate with a wistful air to it. Galway has many tunes played in the keys E and B flat. This is unusual. Most tunes in other parts of Ireland are played in the keys of G or D, C or A.
The next video is "The Musical Priest" performed by Frankie Gavin, Galway style. When I say highly ornamental I mean highly ornamental just watch and listen.
The Clare Style
This style is a slower tempo, with subtle ornamentation and long fluid bow strokes. The bow stroke can cover many notes at a time.
Martian Hayes playing "The Peacock's Feather" in this next video is an excellent example of the Clare style. It kind of gets cut off at the end, but it is the best one I could find.
The Kerry/Cork Style
This is a lighter, faster style than that of Clare. The simple rhythms and light melodies are ideal for dancing. This area is noted for their slides and Polkas. Who doesn't want to dance to a polka?
The last video is Matt Cranitch (left) and Seamus Creagh. This is a good example of the southwest styles of Cork and Kerry.
I hope your Internet connection had enough bandwidth to see these videos. My descriptions can't do all of these Irish fiddle styles justice. This is a good cross section of regional styles from the north to the south of Ireland.
I hope you enjoyed these videos as much as I did. Like I've said on other pages of this section of the website, I bet you tapped your foot to the music.
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