Learn to Play the Fiddle

Although my youth was spent listening to softer music than most of my high school and college counterparts, my tastes were still on the rock side of pop. More Eagles than Bobby Sherman, if you will. Some rock bands were beginning to use violin, namely Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra and Kansas. But I didn't listen to them much, still prefering a more mellow rockabilly sound (literally decades would pass before I had the bucket list goal of seeing Aerosmith in concert!). Yet 'mellow' is not exactly folk, bluegrass, old-time or western swing, and little did I know I was about to wake up.

It happened sometime between 1973 and 1977 in Kokomo, Indiana, on the Indiana University- Kokomo theater stage. A friend had tickets he didn't want to that evening's performance, so I convinced another friend to go with me. All I was thinking was it would be a free evening. And then...cue the angels chorus...the Wright Brothers Overland Stage Company sauntered out under the kleig lights. Guitars, a banjo, and fiddles backing up tight harmonies telling the tales of unrequited love, bar fights and the gospel. I could not get over the sound, and did not realize I was grasping the difference between playing a violin and fiddling. The band continued to play for over two hours, even though they had me at hello.

It really is a violin. Or it can refer to any bowed-string instrument, but most commonly it is a more casual term for violin. To say someone plays a fiddle is almost more of a statement about the style of music they play than the instrument itself. It has been said that "the difference between a violinist and a fiddle player is $100 a night and a tux." And there you have it.

Although a fiddle is a regular 4-stringed instrument, the fiddling sound is often achieved by the strings being made of steel (as opposed to the gut or synthetic strings used by classical musicians). A flatter bridge is often used to allow more strings to be held down at once, for a chord effect. A general explanation of the sound is simply that, "a violin sings and a fiddle dances." Apparently I prefer my music to dance!

Every nation's music uses fiddles or violins in unique ways. Typically, American fiddling inludes the following styles:

• Blues
• Bluegrass
• Cajun
• Country
• Rock
• Jazz
• Worldbeat
• Folk
• Old-time
• Western Swing
• Zydeco

Once I became a fiddle fan, there was no turning back. I heard them everywhere...in the Dobbie Brothers' "Black Water", Kansas' "Dust in the Wind", and in every Cracker Barrel restaurant (if you listen closely, you can hear the "Orange Blossom Special" almost every time you order up that country ham and side of grits). One of my most proud possessions is an original 2-album set ofWill The Circle Be Unbroken, (with the "Rocky Mountain Breakdown" track completely worn out). From there I morphed to the Marshall Tucker Band, and my boys the Outlaws. I had to buy the OutlawsLady in Waitingalbum a second time after ruining the first one by too much play. I couldn't help it...once you hear the opening chords..."Breaker, breaker, take me home..." what are you supposed to do? Turn it off? Didn't think so.

No one was happier than I when Charlie Daniels recorded "The Devil Went down to Georgia." My only bone to pick with the song is that I personally believe the devil won. Years later, Charlie's still got it when he plays this song...who do YOU think won?

I have the good fortune of having a music school 8 miles away. My son took guitar lessons there for years and I know the teachers fairly well. Every once in awhile an adult does come forward to learn a new instrument, so they would not be shocked by a middle-aged attempt to fiddle. The studio rents instruments, and lessons are $18 for 1/2 hour. It might take me less time than some to learn, because I do already read music and have a working knowledge of where notes fall in a scale. I play piano, clarinet and saxophone (or at least I did, back in the day). Fiddle will be a little different, as the notes will be found in part, by "ear" instead of covering a hole on the instrument, or pushing a key.

When I take on this goal, one of two things will happen. I'll either learn to play enough to satisfy my curiosity, and maybe play accompanyment for someone singing at church or at a festival, or I'll go whole hog and create a band. I'll find other unashamed fiddle freaks to join up and see if we can't get some festival folks stompin' and clappin'. I'm smiling just thinking about it! Care to join?