Fiddle Playing in County Antrim (3)

[Ptarmigan]

Fiddle Playing in County Antrim ~ The History & Influences

This paper will examine fiddle playing in County Antrim and specifically the influences and history of the fiddle and the County Antrim style of fiddle playing.

The fiddle is supposed to have been introduced into Ireland sometime in the 11th century although there are other references to the arrival of the fiddle. The fiddle or fidula as it was known may have differed in size and description from the fiddles we know today.

Fiddle Playing in Co. Antrim by Fionnuala Wilson

Here's another slant on the Fiddle Style of Co Antrim.

Caoimhín Mac Aoidh on Regional Irish Fiddle Styles

If one were to comb literary and oral sources for a definition of the characteristics of an Ulster fiddle style, I think it would be found that opinions seem to vary from: music created by long single strokes of the bow, to music created by short single strokes of the bow. The contradiction in these two opinions is obvious, yet there is an agreement that an Ulster style demands a staccato type of bowing.

East Derry / Antrim/ Southwest Tyrone

Compared to the above mentioned style, {ED: Donegal} this type region has fiddlers who tend to play a slower (though not much) type of music which is not as aggressive as the latter and more highly ornate.
While the Highlands are not as popular in this region as they are in the western part of Derry and Tyrone as well as Donegal the Scottish influence is very well represented in the number of strathspeys played.
Excellent examples of typical players in this style are John Loughran and Bobby Martin of Tyrone, Vincey McLaughlin and Paddy Kelly of Derry and Willie McKendry of Antrim.

Fiddle Playing in Co. Antrim by Fionnuala Wilson

An Appreciation of the Donegal Fiddle

This site is about the fiddle music of Co. Donegal, Ireland. Long neglected and misunderstood, this exciting and beautiful music is finally receiving the attention it richly deserves--largely through the efforts of the Irish traditional ensemble Altan, and various great fiddlers such as James Byrne, Tommy Peoples, Paddy Glackin, and (before them) John Doherty and Neilly Boyle. This site answers various questions about the music, the musicians, recordings and how to get them, reviews, learning the style, etc. Special pages include an online Donegal fiddle tutor, and are devoted to The Northern Fiddler, mazurkas, related web sites of interest, and many other topics.

An Appreciation of the Donegal Fiddle

[emdee]

I would go along with the statement that a distinction should be drawn between the Celtic music industry and Irish traditional music, as we have the very same thing happening in Scotland. (An Appreciation of the Donegal Fiddle)

The Folk/Celtic commercial music industry in Scotland calls itself "Traditional Music", which to me is a bit of a misnomer. It is an innovative, progressive type of music which has its roots in traditional music, but uses an amalgam of Scottish, Irish, Shetland (Celtic?), Cape Breton, and anything else that fits. My own opinion on this is that we need to have some of the old "stick in the muds" like myself who try to stick with and promote a style that we feel needs to be perpetuated. The mixing of styles by the same player will surely lead to an eventual blurring of the distinctions between the various strands of Celtic music, and produce a style that is of its own, but not identifiable as being attaching to any locality.

[Ptarmigan]

My own opinion on this is that we need to have some of the old "stick in the muds" like myself who try to stick with and promote a style that we feel needs to be perpetuated. The mixing of styles by the same player will surely lead to an eventual blurring of the distinctions between the various strands of Celtic music, and produce a style that is of its own, but not identifiable as being attaching to any locality.

Absolutely right Sir.

Although, I think you face an uphill struggle these days, when travel is so simple & recording devices are so simple to use & standard kit for all music enthusiasts today. So, wherever they go they record live music & learn all the good stuff.

The World which helped develope all these regional styles has sadly almost completely gone now, so I think it is almost inevitable that regional styles are going to be constantly eroded & washed away until eventually they will mostly only exist on old recordings. I'm not sure we can ever turn back time. Thank goodness so many recordings were made, which the purist can dip into.

This topic reminds me of a piece I read on Alasdair Fraser in which he bragged about being able to play very authentically in a whole bunch of styles, which I must admit, I found very hard to believe & what's more, I don't really see the point in even trying.

I remember calling into a practice of the Inverness Fiddlers one night back in the 80s & half thinking I might be able to get a few tunes with some of the lads, when their practice was over. However, it was made very clear to me, that none of them were at all interested in playing any Irish music. Now at the time I was a bit surprised but the more I thought about it, the more I understood their strong stance.

Another thing I don't get is this approach by some West Coast Fiddlers to make their Fiddle playing sound exactly like the Highland Bagpipes! I'm sorry but I just don't see the point of that. Maybe I'm missing something but surely if they're so nuts about the sound of the bagpipes, then they should be playing the bagpipes. The idea of it makes me picture a whole orchestra all trying to make every instrument sound like just one instrument, say the Clarinet. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I love the sound of bagpipes & I love the sound of the fiddle, but I want each to sound like themselves, not to be mimicking another.

Last weekend, for example, there was a brilliant Uilleann Piper playing the Folk in the Park festival & boy could he make those pipes sing. However, he went a "bridge too far", in my opinion, when he played a Donegal Highland, cause he was trying to make his Pipes sound like a Fiddle. Those Irish Pipes are so diverse in themselves they just don't need to sound like anything else ... I think.

As for me, I've been scratching away at my Fiddle, playing Irish music for over 30 years now, but the fact is, reared in Scotland, my ears were reared on Scottish music, so even although my passion is Irish Music, the musicians over here still think my playing sounds a little Scottish. However, when I go home to Edinburgh, they say my playing sounds Irish! So, perhaps I have a kind of a mid-Irish Sea style! ;D Which is fine by me & makes my home in North Antrim pretty appropriate. So, the point really is that I am only capable of playing in one style, and yet, different ears hear different things in that style, which is also interesting.

Anyway, to get back to your original point, years ago there was just Folk & Traditional, but I tend to agree with you that today there is a new middle ground, which is neither one thing nor the other, too trad for folk & too wishy washy to be truly classed as Traditional. Perhaps we could call it 'Modern Traditional', if that wasn't such a contradiction in terms!

Cheers
Ptarmigan

[emdee]

I don't have time at the moment to write as comprehensive response as you have given me, but just from what you are saying, I am thinking that my own style is probably a bit of an amalgam. Piping was my first instrument, it was pretty difficult to avoid it in the household where I was brought up, and there is probably an interpretational influence there in my fiddle playing, although I am not personally aware of it.

When I began to get into Scottish Fiddle Music, my principal source was Skinner, and in the early 1970s I learned quite a lot from Donald Riddell of Kirkhill, Inverness, (another piper also). I think there is a fairly substantial north-east element in my style. In more years, I have become fairly obsessional about resurrecting some of the music of contemporaries of the Gows and Marshall, many of whom were no less able than them, and have managed to amass a fairly substantial cross section of some (fairly hard to come by) books from that era. That has been my agenda with the fiddle for some time. Some of these tunes require a slightly different approach from the later Skinner compositions.

There are actually as many styles as there are players, and I feel that these are probably the main influences in my own style.

[Ptarmigan]

From what I can gather, Scotland's individual fiddle styles suffered in a similar way to those of Ireland.

It's easy to see how, before easy travel & records & tape machines came along, local styles would have developed, with most younger players trying to emulate the best player in their district.

However, I reckon the death nel sounded when 78s became freely available. In Scotland everyone was then able to listen to Skinner while over here they were all listening to Michael Coleman. Sadly, after that, far too many country musicians regarded their own local styles as being inferior to the one they were hearing on record, so instead of learning local tunes from local players, & so developing some form of regional style to their playing, everyone was now striving to sound like these record heroes!

I'm sure we have lost a lot through that process & now it's too late to put the clock back.

From what I can gather, the Fiddle style here in North Antrim was much plainer than further south in the likes of Sligo. So of course, with the modern perception that more is always better than less, those who heavily ornament their tunes actually look down on a simpler sounding style like the Antrim one. In fact, with all the local Comhaltas classes, the young musicians are all actively encouraged to develop a Sligo/cosmopolitan style & in fact it is compulsory, because unless you adopt that style of playing, you will go nowhere in the annual competitions!

The fact is, up until the late 70s you were not even allowed to play Kerry Slides or Polkas or Donegal Highlands, Flings or Mazurkas, in competition, because THEY regarded them as being not Irish enough. However, the fact is they are as Irish as the Jigs Reels & Hornpipes, tune forms which also came from elsewhere, originally, but it took them almost 30 years to realise their mistake.

So sadly, while many saw the growth of the Comhaltas organisation from 1951 onwards, as being the saviour of Irish Music, it was actually, in many ways, doing far more harm than good. However, it is now part of the establishment & has become a permanent fixture, so it is hard to see how regional styles can survive the constant erosion by the Comhaltas machine!

Of course there are lots of musicians who, like myself, who are quite happy to play in a simple style, and who don't mind the scoffing & snobbery that occurs, when flash harrys appear on the scene. However that stance is not so easy for younger musicians to adopt, so I fear we are fighting a losing battle.

To get back to the North Antrim style. You might be interested to hear that, as well as Donegal, North Antrim is an area where the scottish influence has been fairly strong over the years. In the Glens of Antrim, for example, before the coast road, it was far easier to travel by boat to Scotland than it was to go by road out of the Glens. Also, even today, radio reception for Radio Ulster & RTE is at best poor, but the signal from Radio Scotland flies in as clear as a bell! So you will hear lots of Marches being played up here, whereas you would be very lucky to hear even one being played at a session further south. They also love playing Strathspeys around here, although I should warn you that, like the Donegal men, they take the snap out of them & call the end result a Fling { } but I confess I just love playing them.

I do believe that they have done the right thing by these tunes though, for they have changed them to suit the local style of playing, & in so doing, have helped to strengthen & enrich their own local style & repertoire. If they just copied the tune exactly as a Strathspey, then it would always be regarded as just that, an outsider. .... a bit like myself I suppose! ;D

Cheers
Ptarmigan