READIN: Fiddling (as of July 20, 2013)

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Fiddling

I've played violin for a bit more than 30 years -- except that for about 20 of them, I wasn't playing violin. Suzuki lessons from about 5 years old to about 14 years old, quit in disgust, took it back up when I was 35. I have a lot of fun with it nowadays.

If you're looking for abc notation of fiddle tunes, be sure to check out The Fiddler's Companion.

I'm currently playing fiddle with the band Mountain Station.

READIN started out as a place for me to keep track of what I am reading, and to learn (slowly, slowly) how to design a web site.

There has been some mission drift here and there, but in general that's still what it is. Some of the main things I write about here are reading books, listening to (and playing) music, and watching the movies. Also I write about the work I do with my hands and with my head; and of course about bringing up Sylvia.

The site is a bit of a work in progress. New features will come on-line now and then; and you will occasionally get error messages in place of the blog, for the forseeable future. Cut me some slack, I'm just doing it for fun! And if you see an error message you think I should know about, please drop me a line. READIN source code is PHP and CSS, and available on request, in case you want to see how it works.

See my reading list for what I'm interested in this year.

READIN has been visited approximately 236,737 times since October, 2007.

Saturday, July 20th, 2013

🦋 Fiddle music

I signed up! Think I am going to play (1) a medley of Swallowtail Jig, Road to Lisdoonvarna, and The Irish Washerwoman; (2) The East Tennessee Blues.

posted afternoon of July 20th, 2013: Respond
➳ More posts about Music

Saturday, August 17th, 2013

🦋 Third time's the charm

Taped some tunes tonight...

Set list

"The Halting March"
"The Road to Lisdoonvarna" (with the "Swallowtail Jig") -- this and "Halting March" I plan to play at the fiddle contest next weekend.
"The Arkansas Traveler"
"The Devil's Dream"
-intermission
"HumorÃ¨sque"
"Amazing Grace" -- the quality of performance falls off a bit after this -- none of the recordings after this are something I would play for a friend. The tunes themselves though, definite keepers. (And indeed, they are much improved by the third take!)
"The Sailor's Hornpipe"
"My Bonnie"
"Johnny Mceldoo" (which turns out to have exactly the same opening sequence of notes as "The Arkensas Traveler", making for some pleasant confusion)
"Taps"

↷read the rest...

posted evening of August 17th, 2013: 2 responses

Saturday, August 24th, 2013

🦋 At Howell Farm

I cranked out a couple tunes at the NJ Fiddle Contest at Howel Farm. (to wit, Halting March and The Rd to Lisdoonvarna) -- My strategy of practicing everything a shade slower than it should be performed has really paid off.

(On the other hand, of course, I realize now that I've been recording these songs at practice speed rather than performance -- I should record a new version of the Halting tape.)

posted evening of August 24th, 2013: 1 response
➳ More posts about the Family Album

Saturday, August 31st, 2013

🦋 Let's listen to

Ashokan Farewell.

You're welcome.

posted evening of August 31st, 2013: Respond

Thursday, September 12th, 2013

🦋 Summertime fiddle

posted evening of September 12th, 2013: Respond

Sunday, March second, 2014

🦋 Autographs

Check it out,

posted morning of March second, 2014: 1 response

🦋 Turkey in the Straw

Having a nice weekend with a lot of musical content -- here's my contribution, played on my newly autographed fiddle!

posted afternoon of March second, 2014: Respond

Thursday, August 6th, 2020

🦋 Jamming with myself

For a long time I've been wanting to get a jam going with the tin-can cello and my Stroh fiddle. The problem is, I can't play them both at the same time.... Multiple tracks to the rescue!

Here is the method I've hit on: I compose a rhythm section in Noteflight, then jam against that with fiddle and cello, recording the instrument I'm playing while the rhythm section is playing in headphones. I use Audacity to mix the instruments and vocals with the rhythm section, so I can hear the cello while playing fiddle or vice versa.

Below the fold, a take on "Jagged Sixpence": pretty good although it falls apart a bit near the end. Needs another take of the cello part for the instrumental break at the end. Should see if some better singer than I would be interested in singing this one (and playing guitar). Maybe Malcolm.