This week has seen a lot of playing.  I am working on bowing and timing. I am playing some amazing Shetland pieces - some of the oldest we have.  They are both tunes from the West side of Shetland.  The fiddler was an important person and used to play at all the social events - especially weddings.  There would always be a bridal tune played to escort the bride from the church to the house and then wedding dances.  There were even bedding tunes - yes bedding tunes.  The fiddler was the only person allowed in the room, other than the bride and groom (who would be in their box bed with the curtains drawn presumably).  

The wedding tunes for processions would be quite slow as everyone would be tramping across the countryside.  Weddings would sometimes be slightly sad.  Daughters would often be moving quite a long way from home. 

The second tune, Da Muckle Reel o' Finnigirt is an old dance tune and has impossible timing, with changes in time signature but an underlying pulse all through.  It has been notated from the playing of Peter Fraser (Shetland Fiddler) who grew up on the West Coast of Shetland.  It is VERY close to Norwegian hardanger music and sounds a bit strange when you first hear it.  It has seven parts - lots of different motifs which repeat.  The original dance involved travelling parts and not dancing in pairs.  

I found these tunes during the summer (from Catriona MacDonald, also from the West coast of Shetland).   Coincidentally  I met  a dancer/fiddler, Jane Harrison there whose father collected dances.  She sent me his notes from a meeting her Dad had with Peter Fraser in 1959.  What a piece of history!  This sets out the dance - which has not been regularly performed since about 1880 when Peter Fraser's grandfather died.  This was because when someone died there would be no dancing in the house for about four years and Peter Fraser's house was where the dances were held in those days.  If it wasn't performed there it probably wouldn't be at all.  It has never really been revived since this lapse.   The notes actually say that the tune gradually quickens throughout.  That is not particularly how I was taught it by Catriona.  Jane thinks  she has an old tape recording of Peter Fraser playing the tune which she is gong to try to dig out.   Amazing!

Both tunes are played very smoothly on long bows and feel tricky, trills, doublestopping and  the issue of whacky timing - or more properly an irregular meter?    

The Canon's Gait session has been going from strength to strength.  I have had some great evenings there recently.  Ed Miller has joined us for two weeks - fantastic folk singer. 

Also visited the Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh on Friday for a lovely afternoon's singing with another fantastic folk singer - Steve Byrne from Malinky.  

He reminded me of the  Kist o Riches site (which Steve worked on for three years). AMAZING resource for Scots song. music and storytelling.   I have been delving into this from time to time. 

Went to the excellent Northern Streams weekend which is run by the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland (Edinburgh & Lothians Branch).  It was a wonderful programme of three concerts and numerous workshops over three days.

I took full advantage and went to as many events as humanly possible over the weekend.  We heard Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish song on Friday evening.  FUNI - Bára Grímsdóttir and Chris Foster (Iceland/Britain) gave us a lot of information about Icelandic folk music and instruments.   Lots of songs in lydian mode!!  Karin Ericsson Back and Maria Misgeld (Sweden) sang a capella - beautiful.   

Kim André Rysstad and Lajla Buer Storli played a mix of Norwegian song and hardanger fiddle.  My partner wasted no time and was deep in conversation with Lajla about hardanger fiddles. He has just made one.  Lajla was very friendly and interested to help. She has put us in contact with a Norwegian who look after her fiddles.  She also told me about some hardanger summer schools.  

On Saturday I took my hardanger to a Fiddle workshop with Lajla Buer Storli (Hardanger region, Norway). We learned, by ear, a great but difficult tune from the hardanger area of Norway.  It wasn't that it was technically difficult, but the sequences and rhythms are so different from Scottish folk music it was difficult for any of us to get it quickly.  

Next up was a workshop in Harmony in music with Daniel and Emma Reid (Sweden/Britain).  Daniel plays saxophone and Emma is a truly fantastic fiddler.  The tune was great and we learned some drones and rhythmic accompaniment.

Finally I learned Song & accompaniment, with Julie Hjetland (Denmark) and Jens Ulversand(Sweden) and also Annlaug Borsheim and Rannveig Djønne.  The first half of the workshop saw us learning a Danish song about cabbage and gruel - it was a hard life!.  Julie Hjetland showed us how she does body percussion - which involved hitting herself andlooked quite sore but was really effective!  n the second half of the workshop Annlaug Borsheim and Rannveig Djønne (Norway) taught us a lovely tune and lullaby.   Annlaug plays guitar and sings but she also plays the hardanger.  She was very interested in mine too. I think its unusual to see one outside Norway.

On Saturday evening we went to the second concert.  The highlights for me were the wonderful fiddling from Emma Reid - beautiful polskas (3/4/ tunes - stressing beats 1 and 3);  great songs and interesting accompaniment using looping from Jullie Hjetland (Denmark) with Jens Ulversand (Sweden); and some really pretty accordion tunes and song from Annlaug Borsheim and Rannveig Djønne (Norway).

Saw them all again on Sunday in a finale concert. We also did Icelandic dancing and icelandic singing!  
First time my hardanger has been out the house and Lajla and Annlaug gave us some great feedback on it.  I came away feeling very motivated and learned a lot over the weekend.  

Annlaug stayed on for a couple of days and so I also went out to Pathhead last night for a workshop with her.  More great hardanger fiddle tunes and it was a good experience to meet the Pathhead fiddlers.  

The SCO performed an interesting programme of baroque greats last week.  It was a full program including Telemann's Water Music Suite in C major "Ebb and Flow", Heinichen's Sonata in F major for two horns, lots of Bach of course and Vivaldi's Concerto in G minor "di Dresda".  

There was a preconcert talk with the Conductor, Richard Egarr who also played harpsichord.  Richard Egarr is internationally known for his work with period music and is now an Associate of the SCO.  It was a great concert, made all the more interesting by the baroque music that we have been playing in our own strings group.  

Richard Egarr talked about cutting through the misinformation about baroque music.  He mentioned research on tempo which would sometimes change during a piece for good musical reasons.  This was contrary to the belief of several music colleges he had visited where students were forced to stick rigidly to a tempo.  

He also talked about the harpsichord and its lack of dynamics.  This meant that the strings needed to play down.  They should also avoid vibrato.  It was interesting that during the performance I could see the conductor waving the violins down at times so the harpsichord could be heard and there wasn't a vibrato in sight.  Something that happens to us when we play baroque too.   Richard Egarr was very complimentary about the SCO's ability to be flexible and intelligent in their interpretation of the music.

It was beautiful music and a really interesting night.  

Monday was spent listening to and talking about country music.  There are lots of different styles within country music.  Its a huge topic in its own right.  I blogged about Bluegrass earlier.  Today we listened to Rockabilly and Nashville.  

Elvis and Johnny Cash were early rockabilly artists.  Both began their recording careers in the 1950s with Sun studios (run by Sam Philips).  Evis' recording contract was sold to RCA and he then morphed into more of a rock and rolls star.  Heartbreak Hotel was his first "pop" no 1 - its very bluesy.  Johnny Cash wanted to sing gospel originally but was turned down by Sam Philips. He re auditioned and went into country instead.  Cash, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl perkins all went on tour together in 1956 and were known as the Million dollar quartet.  I like the rockabilly style.  Its quite raw and gutsy, with strong lyrics. 

By contrast the Nashville style of the mid 1950s was more commercial.  It had more instrumentation, and more backing vocals - Nashville attracted lots of session musicians. It was smooth and, in my view a bit bland and safe. But it sold.  Jim Reeves and Don Gibson were important artists.  

The Nashville style led to more sophisticated recording techniques - an art in itself.  This has influenced recording today.