Steve Wyrick wrote: > Ellen Sinatra wrote:
>> Perfect subject heading for my follow-up question. >> Is this what is known as the "Scottish snap"? >> >> Thanks, >> Ellen Sinatra >> > > No, a Scottish snap is a 16th note followed by a dotted 8th, played downbow, > upbow. The 2 notes are written beamed together. I'm not sure if this is a > standard convention, but some people write them with a slur; this doesn't > mean that they are played on a single bow, but is simply to distinguish them > as a snap (in sight reading, this aids in telling a snap from the reverse, > i.e. dotted 8th followed by 16th). -Steve This reminds me of another probably dumb question I have: Is a snap considered an optional ornament? What I mean is, can you substitute it for 2 eighths or for a dotted 8th-16 combination for effect, or is it only played when written? For that matter, how much ornamentation in Scottish fiddling is improvised? I came to Scottish fiddling from Irish fiddling and that music is a lot like jazz in that there's a strong improvisatory element; good fiddlers never play the tune the same way twice. The fiddlers I play with tend to be mostly classically-trained (as I am), and are used to reading sheet music and playing the tunes as written without much variation. I don't get much of a chance to hear "real" Scottish fiddlers here, but listening to recordings of Cape Breton and Shetland fiddle music, styles that I understand are more similar to the way this music used to be played, I seem to hear much more improvisation. This makes me wonder if Scottish fiddling used to be more similar in philosophy to Irish fiddling, and improvisation is an element that is going away as more classically-trained fiddlers embrace the music. What do you guys think? -- Steve Wyrick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- Concord, California Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
