Kate responded on my suggestion that confronted with printed fiddle music some classical musicians see the grace notes and immediately strive to give them an emphasis and value which they do not deserve or require with unfortunate consequences for the music stating:
"I have to disagree here because in Cape Breton fiddling there is much use of emphasized grace notes with real note value. Or, I should say that one hears this type of grace note often anyway." I don't think were are disagreeing too much here. My comments were not aimed at the music I have heard from Cape Breton or most traditional fiddling this side of the pond but with that of some classically trained, score-centric fiddlers (there are quite a few here) whose training and experience does not encourage listening to/observing the tradition. If, in fast dance music, the traditional Cape Breton fiddlers are using grace notes which rob the melody notes of time they are doing so in the context of other traditional musical factors (which are also denied the classical player - such as the internal rhythmic ones discussed by Alexander) which taken together produce the special flavour/character/style which makes the tradition what it is. As Kate says, the traditional fiddler probably does their own thing anyway and I would go on to suggest that some do not have a mental concept (I'm struggling for the correct terms here!) of the music as mapped out in the conventional notation and that for them grace notes are an integral part of the melody. This contrasts with the conventional Western convention of grace notes as additions or emebelishments to the given melody. I am glad to note that transcriptions are being made of Cape Breton fiddling. There has been hardly any real transcription of fiddling in Scotland to date and next to nothing going on at present. There are no collections based on transcriptions from players most contemporary publications simply recycling settings from earlier publications. This in part, is due to the general lack of academic interest in Scottish fiddle here and the unfortunate opinion abroad in Scottish music circles that the study and analysis of the music will debase it somehow. Any other thoughts? Stuart Eydmann Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
