Finding your invisible drummer

by adminKFS on February 13, 2011 · Leave a comment

As part of my performance degree program at Berklee, I had to take what is called a ‘recital preparation’ class. Over the semester, each student prepares three performances. The first one is a solo performance. For my first performance, I played a jig; a common tune called ‘Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies’. I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be. I was in a class of all jazz players and I was playing a fiddle tune… without any accompaniment that would give the music context. Despite my uncertainty to the reaction, everyone seemed to enjoy the performance and the professor loved that I played with the ‘invisible drummer’.

What did he mean by the invisible drummer?

Because the fiddle is a melodic instrument, we often forget that in addition to playing melodies, fiddlers convey the tunes rhythmically through phrasing and emphasis of certain notes. We might make the mistake of thinking that the accompanying instruments (guitar, piano, bass drums, etc) provide the rhythm, but while an accompanist creates a groove, it is the fiddler that creates the intricate rhythms that propel the tunes along. This is what my professor meant by the invisible drummer. I didn’t need a back up band to convey the rhythm and pulse of the music. The audience felt the rhythm through how I was phrasing the music.

When students begin to learn how to play fiddle music, whether or not they are just learning the violin or coming from a classical music background, they often find it difficult to outline the pulse of a tune. The focus is on just producing the notes. What often happens is that each note has the same emphasis. To try and feel the basic rhythm of a tune type, I often ask a student to switch roles. Instead of taking the role of melody player, I ask them to accompany and lay out the pulse. For example, with a jig (6/8), I ask them to try and comp along, with the goal of outlining the pulse emphasizing the first and fourth beat. This is a good beginning to feel the basic pulse of a specific time signature. Understanding the more intricate phrasing and rhythms of a particular fiddle style is difficult to teach and is most successfully learned through listening.

Next time you listen to a recording, in addition to trying to internalize a melody, take some time to listen to how the tunes are phrased. See if you can hear when the fiddler is slurring as opposed to single stroke bowing. What notes are accented and emphasized? Rhythms and phrasing inherent to a fiddle style are just as important to absorb as the melodies, but this is often the more difficult part of absorbing a style. In addition to a lot of passive listening, try these active listening techniques to unlock your invisible drummer.

Playing Left Handed

by adminKFS on February 13, 2011 · 2 comments

I often get asked why I started playing left handed. My answer is simple- I am left handed. I was 6 when I started to play. I had already been in school and I knew that my left hand was dominant. When I opened up my first fiddle case Christmas morning, I automatically put the bow in my left hand. I was lucky enough to have a teacher that believed it was important for me to play the way the felt the most natural. He simply reversed my strings and taught me in mirror image.

I also get asked if it was difficult to learn that way. My answer is that it was not. It was no more difficult than the experience of a right hander. My teachers never expressed any difficulty in teaching me, either. For me, it would have been much more difficult to learn right handed. People are often puzzled by this, arguing that I would have been better off learning right handed since my fingering hand would have benefited from the dexterity. I understand this argument, but I have to say it’s not entirely thought through. If that was the case, wouldn’t all the right handers play left handed? While we see people playing fast tunes, and are amazed at the speed of their fingers, the higher skill is actually in the coordination of their bow hand. Sure, it becomes more complex when you start shifting to other positions, or adding vibrato, but for the most part, your hand is locked in place and it is the fingers that are moving. You use your non-dominant hand’s fingers on your computer keyboard all the time and don’t think twice.

But the bow… that is where the real magic happens. You’re relying on the same coordination that a tennis player might use to return a volley. You are incorporating your shoulder, your elbow, your wrists, and trying to guide a stick that it’s two and a half feet long with the utmost precision. So naturally, it’s going to ultimately feel more comfortable in your dominant hand. The bow arm is where you really feel and express the music.

This having been said, I know plenty of players who consider themselves left handed but play right and are champion fiddlers. I know that everyone has different degrees of ‘dominance’ in a dominant hand. There are people that have great dexterity and coordination in what they would consider their non dominant hand. However for me, this was not the case. I am severely left handed. And I am very grateful that I was given the choice to play the fiddle that way.

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