Why we squeak (Cumberland Gap)

 

Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling. I'm Meg Wobus-Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of the tune Cumberland Gap, Marion Reece's version from an old-time jam in Baltimore, maryland. 

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. I believe this is going to be episode 99, and that means that next week we'll have episode 100. And for that episode I'm going to have a very special guest who has been on the podcast many times. In fact, nearly every week my husband, Charley, and I are going to record a little podcast where we I guess we kind of interview each other as my 100th episode, and so I will see you all back next week with that and very happy to have brought the podcast all the way to episode 99. 

Still love collecting these tunes. Still love talking about fiddle getting into the weeds, still thinking about more things to do podcasts on. So feel free to send ideas or questions or topics to meganbeller at fididdlestudiocom. 

Okay, so we have a great topic this week what makes the fiddles squeak? Why do we squeak? Wouldn't it be great if fiddles didn't squeak? That would be great If, whatever it was that's happening between the bow hair and the steel string, that that could go wrong in many ways and that none of those ways would make a squeaking sound. Maybe if I had a magical ability I would make that happen. 

Let's go through the really basic stuff. We're going to assume that your fiddle is in tune. It doesn't really affect squeaking. Let's make sure that if you're getting your fiddle out to play and you're trying to make it sound good, that you've got your fiddle in tune, that there's not too much rosin dust on your strings, okay, get a clean cloth and rub those strings down. I apologize in advance for the sound that's going to make, but making that squeaking sound to clean your strings will mean fewer squeaks when you play. 

So there you go. I should have called it how to squeak on the fiddle. We're assuming you have a pretty reasonable bridge. If your bridge is very curved or very flat, that's going to be a hindrance to getting a good, clear tone without squeaking. I want you to make sure your bow is tightened a normal amount Mona Lisa smile, you've got some rosin on there and basically that your fingers are on the right string and they're pressing down a reasonable amount Strings going all the way down to the fingerboard. So if all of that is all set, you've got your instrument and your bow set up right and you know you're playing the correct finger on the correct string. 

We will move on to the main reason why we squeak, which is what's happening with the bow on the string. So let's talk about that Now. I know that we're not really talking about crunching, but crunching. A lot of what I'm going to suggest is going to involve putting a little more pressure or you could say getting a firmer grip on the string with your bow. But it's good to keep in mind that if you go too far in that direction it will crunch. So crunching is the sound of the bow pressing too hard on the strings, and if you're crunching you've gone too far. You got to back up a couple steps. 

One main way that people squeak is actually by putting too little pressure into the string. So you get kind of a wispy squeaking tone if you're pressing too little and the full note is not sounding out of the string. I would totally suggest that you go get your fiddle, if you're curious about some of this, and try it. Try pressing hard, getting a crunching sound. Try pressing really light and getting a wispy, squeaking sound. So you know what that's like. If your bow is sliding around, it will be more of a scraping noise. So try playing sliding your bow on the string so it's not staying straight on the highway but it's at an angle, it's sliding as you're playing. That's another noise that you can get. 

Now there's a lot of squeaks that come from either changing strings or hitting other strings other than the string that you're trying to play on. If your bow hits another string while you're playing and it gets kind of a full contact of that string, you'll hear basically a double stop. You'll hear the two strings at the same time. So two notes. But if your bow only makes like half contact with the string, just hits it for a very little while or very little bit of pressure, then you're going to get a squeak, because that's what happens when the bow's making contact with the string but it's not grabbed the string enough to get a full note out of it, and so it can happen if you're going to a string and you haven't fully gotten a grip on the string yet, you get a squeak as you go over there. 

Or it can happen if you're playing and you accidentally hit another string, but only partially, if you know what I mean. Only partially, if you know what I mean. So when I say that most squeaks come from not having enough pressure, that's what I'm talking about the squeaks you can get from not pressing hard enough or from sliding around on the string, and the squeaks you can get from hitting or going to another string and not having full pressure on that string. There's some noises you can get changing bows, and that's usually about having a good contact point and adjusting the amount of pressure you're putting into the string. 

It's going to depend a little bit on your fiddle and your bow, so you may need to press a little harder, press a little lighter when you're changing directions from where you do. In the middle of the note, diagnosing squeaks is a little tricky. If you really can't get to the bottom of something, you can always take it to another player or a shop See if you can get some advice about it. 

Our tune this week is Marion Reece's Cumberland Gap. This is from William Marion Reece went by Marion and it's another tune in G, a reel from North Carolina this time Marion Reece was a fiddler, also made fiddles and was a fife player. He lived in Zionville, North Carolina. He played a lot of the older repertoire from that area and he played in standard tuning and in cross-tuning did a lot of drums. So from what we've heard from his recordings and from what other fiddlers have said, a very old-time, drone-heavy style and he grew up in a musical family playing the fiddle and playing the fife. 

I guess his father or maybe his grandfather would have played the fife in the American Civil War. So this is his version of Cumberland Gap, which of course is the place where Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia all come together in one spot in Cumberland Gap, as played in North Carolina. So there you go, here we go, thank you. Thank you for listening. You can find the music for today's tune at fiddlestudiocom, along with my books, courses and membership for learning to fiddle. I'll be back next week with another tune for you. Have a wonderful day. 

The best age to start (Horses in the Canebreak)

 

Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling. I'm Meg Wobus-Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of the tune Horses in the Canebrake from a jam in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. Our topic for today is the best age for learning to fiddle or learning violin, since I teach both and I don't mean for this podcast to imply that there's a wrong age to learn, because I really would have to say I don't think there is one. I think if you want to play the fiddle and it's not causing you too much pain to your hands or your ears or your emotional sensibilities, that you should go ahead and play, no matter what age you are, there's not really a reason not to learn. 

I think, especially if you focus on the point of fiddle playing as learning the fiddle and not as trying to master the fiddle. If you're trying to master the fiddle, yeah, there are ages to start that will have their advantages over other ages, but if you're just trying to learn the fiddle, well, whenever you start, wherever you start, however old you are, you'll always be learning, so there's definitely not a time when you would learn more or less If you're four or if you're 40, you're still going to be learning. But I will go ahead and talk about some different ages, because I have taught a lot of different ages. 

When you're just starting out as a teacher, you have to kind of take everyone so you even teach the students that a lot of folks shy away from, which are the students under the age of five. There are parents I have been one of them who want to get their three or four-year-old violin lessons. My dad did this for me and it worked out pretty well. I have taught three and four-year-olds. A few of them stuck with it. A lot of them didn't. It's not necessarily the best age to really tackle a complicated physical skill. To really tackle a complicated physical skill, you know kind of still learning about jumping, running, rubbing their belly and patting their head at the same time stuff like that. 

The beautiful thing about starting before the age of five or six is that you get this amazing brain wiring effect where most kids who start a string instrument early like that, basically learn perfect pitch Whatever's going on in their brain. That helps them find the notes and know whether they're right or wrong, kind of cements in what that note is, and once they get a name for that note, they just know it. You know, like you know your colors. That color is blue, the name of that color is blue, there's light blue and there's dark blue, sort of the same thing. That sound is a D and whether it's a high D or a low D, it's a D. So you get that from starting early. That is a nice reason to start at a young age. Starting early, that is a nice reason to start at a young 

Starting in elementary school is great. Probably my favorite thing to teach, you know second, third, fourth graders, violin or fiddle. They're learning so many different movements that they pick up the movement part of playing the fiddle very easily and they have a lot of enthusiasm. Love elementary school enthusiasm. 

When you get into middle school, kids are getting used to picking up more complicated things. So in terms of trying to teach them theory, trying to teach them the details of technique or how music is organized or how it works on the page, they're going to pick that up quickly and be more interested and open to learning that stuff. And open to learning that stuff One thing that goes along with middle school is just being a little bit more aware of yourself, which can make people self-conscious or shy, but it also will help a fiddle student be more aware of what they're doing, whereas you can't always get an eight-year-old to sort of self-monitor. Is my bow straight? You know what's my arm doing? But a middle schooler who's 12 or 13 or 14 is going to be much more adept at that kind of self-monitoring behavior. Like am I doing this? Did it work? Should I try something else? Stuff like that.

In terms of high school, I love teaching high schoolers too. They're usually making the choice themselves. I haven't really taught someone starting out in high school whose parent has decided they should do this. They're the youngest adult learners for whom it's their choice to start, so it really makes them own the learning process in a different way, usually compared to, say, a high schooler who's been playing since they were five, maybe much more parent and teacher focused what should I do next? What should I do now? Whereas a high schooler who's choosing it for themselves is on their own journey and their own exploration of it. They're just going to approach things differently. 

You can learn in your 20s. I've taught folks in their 20s. They learn quick. They don't usually have a lot of responsibilities so they can really dive in. They're not distracted with other things in life. A lot of times they're learning because I've got my first job, I've got an income and I can finally do what I want with my money and my time. So that has been what I have found with young adult learners. I've taught folks in middle age. 

You know it can be tricky to fit in learning and practicing things around other responsibilities that you have with family, maybe with aging parents, with kids or with jobs that are more responsibility, and a lot of times fiddle can be something of an escape. You know something different from what you do with the rest of your life. 

And, of course, do not discount starting fiddle in retirement. Lots and lots of folks start fiddle in their 50s, 60s, even 70s because they are looking for something fun to fill up their time, something good for their brain, something enjoyable. A lot of times it might be something they've always loved. They might have played other instruments and been curious about fiddle, or maybe have never played an instrument and just say you know what? I don't want to go through my whole life and not try this out. So no bad age to start the fiddle, go for it, it's going to be great.

Our tune today is Horses in the Canebrake, another G major tune out of Kentucky. Are you getting tired of them yet? I'm not. I think if you're an old time fiddler you got to have a high tolerance for G major tunes out of Kentucky. A cane break is a naturally occurring tall growing plant used by farmers as an enclosure for livestock. 

Okay, well, it's kind of a local tune and not related to Cattle in the Cane. That's another tune I play. So I guess there's a version by William Lee, jake Phelps and Street Butler that was recorded in Todd County, kentucky. You can look around for that. There's a field recording by Bruce Green, of course, of Phelps playing it in 1973. But most folks use the 1965 recording and you can find it in the Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes book if you're looking for a printed source. But this is Horses and the Canebrake. 

Why play the fiddle (Sally in the Garden)

(Note, at the last minute after I'd already recorded the speaking for this podcast I picked a different Sally in the Garden, so this isn't Brad and Ken's version, it's Marion Sumner's.)

Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling. I'm Meg Wobus-Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of the tune Sally in the Garden from a jam in Baltimore, <aryland.

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. We are getting into the heat of summer. I am working on my course Fiddle for Kids, or Fiddle Class, if you will, and you can check it out at fiddlestudiocom. It's coming along, should be out soon. You can check out all my courses there. Just go to fiddlestudiocom and click on courses. That's probably enough of an advertisment.

The topic this week is why play the fiddle. Week is why play the fiddle. I guess when I picked this topic I was thinking about just the reasons that folks pick up the fiddle. Because I'm a fiddler and a fiddle teacher. People talk to me about it. Talk to me about why they started or why they'd like to start. 

Sometimes they talk to me about why they'd never like to play the fiddle. Maybe I'll do a sister podcast called why Not Play the Fiddle. Actually I did do a podcast about stopping. That was kind of a silly topic. So this is just a discussion a little bit about why people get into fiddling, what they think about it. If you're curious about fiddling, yeah, I can just let you know what I hear. 

Maybe you'll have some new ideas or inspiration for fiddling or just kind of know how other people think about it, why they get into it. So there is the basic question why do we do anything? Something in us wants to do something and, based on our whatever combination of genetics and environment, we pick things to do. And some people pick playing the fiddle. 

I've heard from a lot of people who probably prefer classical violin. That's what inspires them, but they think fiddling will be easier. I don't think it's a bad reason to play. Why not Try it out? I think in some ways it is easier. 

But you can't really learn classical violin by learning fiddle. It's not like a stepping stone. To learn classical violin, you need to learn classical violin. It's like if you learn karate you haven't learned Muay Thai. Learn Muay Thai, you have to learn Muay Thai. Karate is a different thing and I would say the same. Like classical and fiddle, it is an easier alternative. 

And if you love the sound of the violin and you're feeling a little overwhelmed by you know, trying to work up to a concerto or something, a fiddle tune is going to be a much smaller hill to climb and you might find you like the repertoire and the sound. 

Who knows, now, some people are really drawn to the twang or the kind of folky country sound of the fiddle because they love the music. They love bluegrass or country, either as something they grew up with or knew from their parents or their grandparents, or sometimes just something they come across in the world and they're drawn to it. It's like oh, I love the sound of that. 

I talk to a lot of people who are like I just love the sound of the fiddle, the twang of the fiddle. A lot of classical violin players get the opposite. People maybe grew up playing in their school orchestra but they always loved the sound of fiddling. So they're trying to switch over the opposite of loving the sound of violin and getting into fiddling instead. 

There are folks who get started with the fiddle because of because of, like folk or traditional music heritage. I've taught kids and adults who were Irish, their family and they wanted to learn Irish music, or who had roots in Eastern Europe. You know Jewish folks who wanted to learn klezmer, or people from down south who wanted to learn some of the traditional music that came from that area. 

There are people who decide they want a hobby and they pick a hobby, and sometimes that hobby is fiddling. Maybe it's because you have a fiddle. Yeah, I've met people who said well, I have this fiddle for my uncle, have this fiddle from my cousin. I want to do something that challenges me, so I want to learn it. Basically just a hobby of opportunity, you could say. 

There's folks who are inspired by their friends or family members who played. I've taught a lot of kids like that. Oh, she saw her cousin play, or want to play, like my older brother. People like that, even someone that you heard or saw in a movie or on TV or read about in a book. Yeah, something inspiring involving fiddling and it sparks your interest. Yeah, a lot of different places to come from, but I guess all of these roads lead to the fiddle. If you're thinking about learning the fiddle, I recommend it. It's not too hard, it's very fun. Check out my courses if you need some help. Find some folks to play with. It'll be fun. 

Our tune this week is Sally in the Garden. This is a lovely old minor tune. Charlie plays it on the banjo. First. I heard it from him quite a bit back in the day when Charlie used to play a lot of banjo, and from playing it a few times recently in Baltimore. Here Seems to come out of Kentucky, as with several of the songs we're doing this month and there are some different versions with words, but I wouldn't say they were fine upstanding words, and Sally is usually not being a fine upstanding person in the garden. 

Maybe she's waiting to meet someone or maybe she's up to no good. Either way, we won't be doing the words but we will be doing the tune. So this is Sally in the Garden and there's a version on a Brad and Ken Kolodner album that you can check out where they pair it with Home with the Girls in the Morning. So a couple of really nice minor old time tunes. Here we go. 

Thank you. Thank you for listening. 

You can find the music for today's tune at fiddle studiocom, along with my books, courses and membership for learning to fiddle. I'll be back next week with another tune for you. Have a wonderful day.