Let’s take
a look at these items one by one.
Why
fiddle tab makes learning to play the fiddle faster and easier.
Learning
fiddle tab is so intuitive and so easy that a student picks it up in
five minutes. This is true even for five-year-olds.
Here
is a brief summary of what fiddle tab is, how it relates to musical
notation and why it is the preferred method of instruction for fiddle
students, and even the majority of violin students.
First,
let's recall what standard musical notation is. The familiar dot-shaped
notes on or between the five lines of the musical staff represent exact
pitches of musical notes.
Musical
notation tells nothing about how to play the music on any musical instrument.
It is designed to be used with all musical instruments.
Fiddle
tab, on the other hand, tells exactly what string to play and what finger
to use. It’s intuitive and easy to learn.
A
fiddle tab staff looks like a musical staff at first. But it’s
really quite different. Each space of the fiddle tab staff represents
a string. The top space represents the E-string, the next one, the A-string--and
so on.
If
you placed a violin on its side, with the neck extending to the left
of the body, you would see the strings
in exactly the same relationship. If you then reached both hands to
pick up the violin, with your left hand under the neck, you would be
in position to finger the strings the normal way.
In
short, fiddle tab is intuitive, easy and fun to use.
Popular
tunes are the best choice.
In
my experience as a fiddle student, I have attended many workshops given
by “name” fiddlers. They often choose to teach obscure tunes
that are not well known. I have no idea why this is so. Maybe it’s
a personal choice. Maybe they are just burnt out on Soldier’s
Joy.
From
the perspective of a new fiddler, the most popular tunes make more sense
to learn.
They
are the tunes that are played in fiddle circles. They are known by banjo
players, guitar players, mandolin players.
Playing
music in like minded groups is the glory of playing the fiddle.
And
these are the easy winners with audiences, too. Everybody likes
to say, “I know that tune.” They’re not called “crowd
pleasers” for nothing.If you want to entertain people and increase
their happiness, be ready to play tunes they like to hear. Otherwise,
what’s the point?
I’m
aware that genuine virtuoso’s can play their own tunes and create
a great concert. Just last May I was in the audience when Mike Marshall
and Darol Anger played their own compositions. Like myself, the audience
was spellbound. (By the way, they also played a top twenty tune, Golden
Slippers.)
Fiddle
Technique Spoken Here.
Learning
new tunes is fun. Sometimes you just want to get on with a new tune
and not be bugged about technique. That’s okay. I feel the same
way.
My
job as a fiddle coach compels me to constantly be aware of opportunities
to extract a general rule from a specific tune. And share that with
you.
In
my studio teaching I’m frequently comparing a technique in different
tunes. I get students to try things that they learn in one tune in another
tune.
The
response is good. We all like to see ourselves moving ahead in a subject
we really like. We like to have more ability.
True,
there is the discipline side of the enjoyment of fiddling. And that
goes with the ambition of wanting
to play repertory that may be a little ahead of where you are right
now. If you can accept this calmly and patiently, real learning becomes
easy and fun.
