[Patti Kusturok]

Hi! They are great tunes and are from an album called “Fiddling Through The Years” that I was on. It was 1985 or so. The tunes are Wilsons’ Clog/Irishmans’ Heart To the Ladies/Great Eastern Reel/Acrobats’ Reel. I’ll definitely add them to the list for the next recording!

[Patti Kusturok]

Great ideas! I even know most of them…?

[Patti Kusturok]

I have sooooo many favourites! André Brunet is one…I’ve recently been listening to some Kenny Baker. Mike Cleveland, Graham Townsend, Randy Howard, Dick Barrett….lots!

[Patti Kusturok]

Hi Fiddlededee,

If you’re a note reader, one book that I always recommend to students is Gordon Stobbe’s Red Book of Scales and Arpeggios. It’s a book written with a fiddler in mind, in keys that we mostly play in, and what’s REALLY cool is that many of the exercises are very “fiddly,” meaning that the movements are typical of what you might find in fiddle tunes.

You pick a key, and then jump around the book doing all of the exercises in that key.

Fiddlebooks – Gordon Stobbe is what you’d want to search. 🙂

And now I’m going to check out Carol Ann’s book….it sounds really cool too!

Patti

[Patti Kusturok]

Hi NewFiddlier,

I competed in fiddle contests from the age of 7 up until the age of about 27. I found that the older I got, the more nervous I got, which is probably why I stopped when I did.

When students show an interest in competing, I always tell them to make sure they prepare their tunes to the point where they can play them in their sleep. I found that if I had to think about certain tough passages or licks, I could easily go off the rails and hit the ditch.

I saw also that you mentioned vibrato. For waltzes, vibrato can be beautiful. If it’s used too much in the faster tunes, you’re right, it does tend to come off as “classical” sounding. I know it can be difficult to tone it down, much like trying to get a singer who uses it to hold off. It almost becomes a part of you and it’s tough to turn it off.

When I judge, I’m looking mainly for intonation and danceability, or “feel.” If it’s out of tune, it’s tough on the ears. If it makes me tap my foot and groove in my chair, that’s a good thing. I love to hear the fiddlers’ personality shine through and hear their take on the tunes. It shouldn’t be something simply regurgitated from a sheet. The beauty of fiddle music is that it can be open to the individual fiddler’s interpretation and it’s neat to hear the different styles come through.

Mainly though, remember that a fiddle contest is supposed to be fun, not something that makes you want to throw up! A first place win doesn’t mean that that particular fiddler is best, it’s simply the result of the opinions of three (or however many) people on that given day.

Good luck to you!

Patti

[Patti Kusturok]

Hi New Fiddler,

That’s a great article by Donna Hebert. I remember reading it and am happy to have seen it again. She explains it quite well.

As mentioned, we fiddlers tend to play music for dancing, and when I do, I watch the dancers on the floor, find the best ones, and play to them.

We emphasize the off beats, and I think you can also think of “swinging” everything you play. If you have a reel with all sixteenth notes, you don’t want to play them straight. I tend to swing the groups of two notes and when sped up, it gives it that “feel” and “drive” that you want.

I may talk about that a bit in my bowing for reels tutorial.

All the best!

Patti

[Patti Kusturok]

I’ve used the Prim mediums for years. Before that I used Pirastro Chromcor but found that the G started to “wow” when I’d dig in a little bit on it. Nothing worse than a wowing G string…

[Patti Kusturok]

How did you end up liking the heavy gauge Prims? I’ve been using the mediums forever, but am curious.

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