Alexander, many thanks for your reply. I had just found the section on bowing in Hunter's book last night, and it gives an excellent comparison to the different techniques. Am glad to know that it IS acceptable technique to lift the bow off-- it's certainly easier to do, and the sound is more clean. Thanks again for the post.
Kate > You might be interested in the straight slur/up-driven bow comments in > the introduction to the following collections: > Richard Carlin's "The Gow Collection of Scottish Dance Music" > J. Murdoch Henderson's "Flowers of Scottish Melody" and > James Hunter's "The Fiddle Music of Scotland". > > Carlin's description of Niel Gow's "up-driven bow" is of particular > interest. He uses a typical strathspey four note cluster consisting of a > sixteenth note followed by a dottted eight, another dotted eight and > then a sixteenth to illustrate his point. In his description of Gow's > up-driven bow style the first note is taken with a down bow and the > next three played staccato with one up bow. Both Henderson and Hunter > state that to achieve this "the bow must be lifted smartly of the > strings with a peculiar jerk of the wrist". > In the music with which I am familiar, Cape Breton fiddle, this type of > bowing was quite common in reels. In fact it was frequently used where > the written music had notes of equal value. In that style the first note > was played with a down bow, the bow then lifted of the string and the > next three notes played with an up bow bounced for all three notes to > achieve the "staccato" effect. The result, I believe, if used sparingly, > is more rhythmic drive to the music. > I have used the word "was" deliberately. This style is now almost > extinct in Cape Breton. > > Alexander Mac Donald > > Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
