O Brother Where Art Thou Solo Violin

February 15, 2015 at 05:34 PM · HI there. Welcome to the forum.

I was surprised your question had no responses so I stepped up as a long-time lurker. I know it's close to Ash Wednesday already, but maybe my response can help you at least a little.

I think what you are looking for just doesn't exist in sheet music form. Much of the music from O Brother Where Art Thou is folk music. I'm not sure exactly what piece from the film you are interested in playing - the most famous one being Man of Constant Sorrow. You may want to check out this link. The sheet music one the site will probably not include double stops as folk music is usually annotated as a simple lead sheet with only the main melody but it will probably have many of the songs from the movie.

The double stops in folk music are usually something the fiddler finds on his/her own based on how a tune is traditionally played or how he/she interprets it based on traditional ornamentations. In many appalachian, bluegrass and old time songs there is a tendency to match an open string to a fingered string (ex. 4th finger on G to D). However, I'm not an extremely experienced fiddler in that style by any means so you may want to whip down to a library to see if you can find a book on appalachian or bluegrass fiddling. A handy little guide on the internet can be found here.

If you're looking for more material a great song not included in the movie that has the same sort of feel is Ashokan Farewell.

February 16, 2015 at 02:22 PM · Two easy tunes in B minor come to mind

Ushag Veg Ruy

https://thesession.org/tunes/13000

and Song of the Kelpie (Arrane Ghelby) the first version listed

https://thesession.org/tunes/1589

You can drone on open A and open D in places to a nice effect.

These and many other traditional and contemporary waltzes are collected in Bill Matthieson's Waltz Books Volumes 1 to 4.

Good luck!

February 17, 2015 at 11:10 PM · The reason A is fiddlers' favourite key (with D running a close second) is that when playing tunes in those keys you can almost always drone on an adjacent string and have it sound good. Listen to some country/folk/celtic tunes to get an idea what's happening, then try playing some yourself, adding a drone here and there. You'll soon get the hang of it.

February 18, 2015 at 02:11 PM · Helen, thanks for that wonderful link to thesessions.org. I have been looking for a site where fiddle music can be quickly searched and reviewed.

February 18, 2015 at 04:20 PM · The short answer is that you'll have a rough time finding this traditional material written down, and if you do it probably won't capture the oral/aural qualities of the original. "The Fiddler's Fakebook" might be good to try, with a large selection of tunes transcribed.

For quick access to the real thing Youtube works pretty well. If you want to hear sources for the movie, try:

"I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow":

Ralph Stanley at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLKltv26-00

Roscoe Holcombe at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJRRc8FToQ

"Oh, Death":

Ralph Stanley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xmRWj7gJEU

Dock Boggs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIYNoH99Guc

"Indian War Whoop":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sw16IQxTbk

Other fiddle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yeQucos9-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LD8TsV3ZNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEBmGYLZ5Lw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaAsHPaScEM

As having a serious interest in music and culture I find the movie "Oh, Brother" demeaning and superficial, an inept caricature at best. Go listen to the real thing.