Comments

You are so right Pauline! Just today I was talking to my friend about a fellow violinist and my friend said: "She is a quick learner and has good intonation but she lacks the Music". So thank you for bringing up this matter :)

This is very well written and is something that I think about alot.  I am not in your league violin skill wise, but I too play classical and non classical music and truly love both.  I live in a small town and fiddlers and classical musicians have a lot of interaction with each other.  I have felt  snobbery on both sides and it really bothers me, but with my limited experience I know I can’t articulate well enough to properly defend what I KNOW (even at my level) to be often ridiculous oversimplifications and generalizations.

I have heard it often implied that fiddling (in my case I’m using fiddling to refer to Scottish, Irish, Cape Breton, sometimes Bluegrass) allows sloppy technique, is ‘easy’ – forgetting sometimes straightforward notes have nothing to do with a specific groove, bowing, ornamentation, ability to improvise, that properly capture a certain tradition - absolutely not easy.  Anyone can play something incorrectly and claim they can play it and I know sometimes, as you say, things are ‘gotten away with’ – true in many areas.  We sometimes have exposure to training from some world class fiddlers here and when they play some of these genres properly, these things are glaringly untrue.

I am equally tongue tied when people can’t hear what is actually happening in a piece of classical music, complex overlapping bits that come together to make something whole and so significant - goosebump worthy – but are willing to announce it as soulless...missing it entirely.  Largely a lack of respect…I hope one day I’m able to play the notes AND play the music, whatever I'm playing.  Thank you for writing this.

The first think you should have asked the popular musician is ......even if we'd assume the wrong idea that interpreting Beethoven again would produce the same result with other musicians......, let me ask you......when a popular song is played many times? isn't it basically the same? how come do you think that waaaay simpler music have more potential of variation than very complex music?

You could also have asked, do you think any of your favorite folk songs will stand the test against the time in the way Beethoven or Mozart music has achieved?

I agree so much about the fact that playing much technically difficult things doesn't mean one is a musician. How many talented kids with perfect coordination are pushed by their parents in conservatories...  Is it always a passion and does it always sound like a passion...   

Anne-Marie

Thank you all for expressing agreement with me and even praising me.  ;-)  At first I had doubts about posting this because I was concerned that I might sound too negative.  I'm glad you resonate in sympathy with me.

Pauline,
You have hit on a topic dear to my heart. As a nominal member of a local fiddle group I see the same things you've mentioned. It seems to me folk music by definition is music written or played, in general, by amateur musicians. Most seem happy to remain at their current level and are pleased if they can make it through the piece without too many wrong notes, not to mention playing with any kind of feeling or artistic niceties. I don't mean this to sound harsh, it just seems that the bell curve places most people in that region of mediocrity. There is also the issue of types of music. I understand that a group of fiddlers wants to, well, fiddle and that's OK. Personally, I want more diversity in my playing. I have been carefully seeking group members who are like-minded and we have been getting together a couple times a month to play a wider variety of tunes in a trio type of arrangement. So far we've done Irish, Scottish, Breton, some classical (the swan and Sleeping Beauty)waltzes, tangos, rounds, as well as experimenting with some of our own arrangements and popular tune medleys. We've found plenty to keep us interested and challenged. As well, we've had s number of great conversations involving theory and music history.

I suggest you do some recruiting. I bet you'll find some others who want to do more. Besides, its a heck of a lot of fun and life is too short not to have fun!

David, I have rarely been to any fiddle groups like those you described, where mediocrity is the norm and people are not motivated to improve their playing.  In the area where I live, there are a lot of groups of very good fiddlers and other musicians.  At their jam sessions, excitement runs high, and you can always improve your musicianship by playing with them regularly.   In fact, playing frequently with a good group is the only way you can advance or just maintain your skills at improvising and playing with others.  Unfortunately, I don't have a car, and that limits me severely.  For a while I had some friends who would give me rides, but I don't now.  I'm still scouting around for accessible groups.

I understand how much fun and advancement you can get when you play regularly with one or two musicians who like to explore different kinds of music.  I used to get together with a friend once a week to read through collections of different styles of fiddle music.  It was lots of fun, and I'm sure it improved my playing.  I need to find someone to do that with again.

We can all learn so much from each other if we open ourselves to the possibilities.

 Pauline, I agree with your answer to the person who said, disparagingly, that Beethoven's 9th is "always the same," but I would also take it a step further and wonder what's wrong with that.  I don't think that one listening of a good recording of Beethoven's 9th is enough to understand or absorb the piece.  

David, I remember now playing with a group of fiddlers who were happy to learn to play a tune and never dreamed of ornamenting it or making it sound special.  That's not playing music.

Pauline,

You have opened an incredibly deep subject here: what is Music. The sheet of paper in front of me is, of course, not music at all but rather a map to the music. How I interpret the map is what defines our experience of the music. If all I do is play the notes I am not performing music, but I would say I am allowing my listeners to 'hear the map', which they cannot see for themselves. There can be so much more depending on the technical ability of the player, and the artistry he brings to his interpretation. Embellishments can help me highlight or frame certain aspects of a piece, yet even the  simplest song can be transcendent if played with art and passion. I have been moved to tears on more than one occasion by a simple melody played with  perfect elegance.

Here is one further thought. My favorite instructor once said that the music won't begin until you have committed it to memory and mastered its execution. Then, you can turn your attention to infusing it with nuance and passion. That is where the ART begins!