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Bruce warms up by playing through last week’s tunes, “Damon’s Winder” and “Jane Wallace.” Then he shows you “Hop Up Ladies,” which is also known as “Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?” and other titles. It probably started out in Ireland or Scotland as “Miss McLeod’s Reel.” You’ll also learn a lesser-known one tune Mississippi fiddler John Hatcher. Titled “Grub Springs,” it’s a completely different melody than the “Grub Springs” you’ll hear in jam sessions. It’s a crooked tune in A-modal (Mixolydian), with the fiddle also tuned in standard GDAE. Bruce walks you through John Hatcher’s “Grub Springs” in this video.
| Welcome to Old-Time Fiddle Styles |
| Welcome to Old-Time Fiddle Styles |
If you can just play a few simple old-time fiddle tunes, or if you’re an experienced player, this workshop series will be useful and fun! Bruce will take a variety of classic tunes apart to understand what makes them unique and compelling.
Bruce says, “Starting first with short melodic phrases, which we’ll play into our muscle memory, I’ll add advice about bowing, double stops, ornamentation, and build it from there. You can stay simple or go as far as you like. I want to push you to challenge your limits!
“The breadth and depth of fiddle tradition and regional styles and great players of the past is huge, and to cover it in a short course is not even close to possible, but we’ll use the tunes to look at some of the best of that music and learn some great lessons from it.
“Through this, we’ll see differences between some of the local styles that were so different from each other before radio and mass media had its influence. Kentucky, “Round Peak” (North Carolina), West Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and states in the Midwest like Missouri and Illinois all have deep and strong traditions. We’ll dip our musical toes into as many of them as we can. At the end, you’ll emerge with some nice repertoire, technical nuts and bolts, and more ideas for listening and learning."
