The Fiddle Handbook
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
By the same author of the website, Fiddling Around the World, Chris Haigh’s The Fiddle Handbook is an informative and entertaining compendium of fiddle history, styles and wisdom from around the world. The first 28 pages cover fiddle history, fiddles of the world and the basics of fiddle playing. The remainder of the book looks in detail at the most commonly played styles among today’s fiddlers. From America, there’s old time, bluegrass, Cajun, Western swing, country, blues, rock, klezmer, and jazz, while from the British Isles there’s Irish, Scottish, and English. There is also a quick ..read more
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Diagnosis: Bursitis
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
A couple months ago I wrote about how I was battling shoulder pain. It’s been happening on and off for a few years now and starts up each year when my business picks up for the season and I get out of the house and into the garden after the Winter. Now, that I am playing the fiddle, it also hinders me from playing as much as I would like, and my fiddling could actually be contributing to the condition. With Covid-19, it took a while to get a face-to-face appointment with an orthopedist. Yesterday was my appointment. Fearing the worst, being told I have rotator cuff tears and would need surgery ..read more
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Incredibow Review
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
My Incredibow arrived earlier this week. I purchased the Featherweight, no frills, medium tension model which is their number one seller. It definitely is a unique bow as the stick curves down rather than up, and the tension on the “hair” is constant and does not require any adjustment up or down at all. But, those are only two differences. The first thing that struck me after opening up the box was how light it was. At 35 grams or 1.23 ounces, it is a bit more than one ounce lighter than my other two bows, the Holstein 1-star Pernambuco Bow and the Fiddlerman Carbon Fiber Bow , both of which ..read more
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Un-Ditching My Chinrest
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
Less than a month ago, I wrote a blog article titled Ditching My Chinrest. About ten days or so after writing that article, I decided to rethink the idea. To be fair, I did say it was an experiment, but the jury was still out, and I was going to try it for now and see how it goes. While I did find the combination eliminated my neck and shoulder pain, one aspect of this new set up was a constant annoyance! And, there it is. That protective foam pad! I had mentioned that I was using that as it didn’t slide on my fiddle while playing like a piece of cloth, and still offered protection of the fid ..read more
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America Fiddles – The Early Days
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
This is the first article in a series called America Fiddles, a collection of articles exploring the history and culture of the fiddle in America. These articles are not intended to be scholarly or comprehensive, but more of an outline to give beginning fiddlers of all ages an appreciation of the richness of the fiddle in our American heritage. The Early Days Long a popular European musical instrument and because it was small and easily portable, the fiddle found its way to America packed away in the meager possessions of the first explorers, traders and settlers to our shores. For years the ..read more
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God Save Virginia
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
Tucked away in the Southeast corner of Virginia, in the county of Lee, is an outdoor living history museum called Martin’s Station, named for the early explorer of the region, Brigadier General Joseph Martin. Located within Wilderness Road State Park, it is the most authentic reconstructed frontier fort in America . It is here that Virginia’s frontier comes alive as costumed interpreters demonstrate life in Colonial America from late Spring until early Fall. Each year, on the second weekend in May, folks gather at Martin’s Station from all 50 states and around the gl ..read more
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Incredibow
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
Have you heard of the Incredibow? It is handcrafted in the USA, uses no horse hair and the stick is carbon fiber. The hair is a tough polymer filament designed to grab the strings well (when rosined). The stick is bowed outward and the hair is permanently pre-tensioned. The grip is octagonal and has a rubberized covering on the frog designed for comfort, good grip ability and long wear The most popular model, the Featherweight version is only 35 grams (less than 1.25 ounces), that’s half the weight of a traditional bow. The Incredibow is designed to give a new freedom of play, reduced fatigue ..read more
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Ditching My Chinrest
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
The jury is still out, but I am seriously thinking of ditching my chinrest and not using one at all. If you have been following this blog, you know I have tried several chinrests since I picked up my fiddle in February 2019: 1. Guarneri, 2. Conrad Gotz 256, 3. Flat Flesch, and 4. Berber. So far, the Berber has been my favorite. This hasn’t been a straight progression. From time to time I take one chinrest off and put another one on for a while. I’ve even tried to play with each of these chinrests and no shoulder rest, and even no chin rest/shoulder rest combination. I’ve definitely decided I ..read more
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8Notes
Fiddling for Older Folks
by MoonShadows
4y ago
A couple of weeks ago, I came across a website called 8Notes, a 90% free website offering free sheet music for more than 25 instruments, including violin and fiddle, in all kinds of styles, along with many other tools and resources for musicians. A couple of nice features of 8Notes are the accompanying MP3 and/or MIDI files available for download with the sheet music and the tempo-adjustable play-along tracks. As you can see from the images below, there is quite a bit of material on 8Notes for the violin alone. 8Notes also offers a subscription at a reasonable $20 a year that includes: Un ..read more
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