Thursday Night Contra Dance

Rushing the Stage

INTERMEDIATE BLUEGRASS FIDDLING

We picked up where we left off yesterday, with the double stop version of Maiden’s Prayer. I think the cramming of a week of diverse fiddle styles was taking its toll and a more in-depth study of this version was very helpful.  We added an alternate last phrase – one octave up from our normal phrase – with a bonus high E harmonic.  Harmonics are a natural property of vibrating strings and were new to many in this class.  You achieve a harmonic by lightly touching the string (not pressing fully down) on one of the equally divided points of the string – 1/2 way, 1/4 way, 1/3 way…etc.  Last on our list for this tune was a fancy pizzicato tag.  We’re ready for a gig!

To round out the class, I gave the class an intonation/warmup exercise.  Walk chromatically up one string while playing its adjacent upper open string – very slowly paying close attention to all the intervals and getting them in tune (long smooth bows from frog to tip).  When you get to the E string, play the chromatic notes with your open A string.  Now descend on the E, while playing open A. Continue descending and repeat on your lower strings.

One difficult aspect to violin/fiddle intonation is that you need a reference point to play to so that you can tell if you’re out of tune or not.  I use a recording put out by fiddle maestro Darol Anger.  It’s a CD of Perfect Fifth intervals in all 12 keys.  Play a track and play along – scales, tunes, random notes – listen very closely to your pitch and adjust until it sounds “right.” Don’t be afraid to trust your ear.  You can find that Drone CD here.

ADVANCED BLUEGRASS FIDDLING

Awe, Shift! (sorry).  Here are some tips for beginning shifters, and perhaps a good reminder for the rest of us.

• We normally play in 1st Position; this is our reference.
•  2nd Position means your 1st finger is placed where your 2nd normally goes; 3rd Position is when your 1st finger is where your 3rd normally resides….and so on.
• Shift at your elbow, not your wrist; your whole hand & forearm should move together.
• When shifting, keep your finger in contact with the string, lighten the pressure if you need, but feel the distance traveled on the string.
• To practice a shift (3rd Position for example) play your regular 1st finger B on the Astring, then your 3rd finger D on the Astring. Now move your hand, hearing the slide, until your 1st finger plays the D note you just heard. Slide back down to 1st.
• Repeat repeat repeat repeat….as you get better, make the slide lighter and quicker until it disappears.
• When shifting double stops, work on each note individually, then together.

We spent time with an identifiable Vassar Clements double stop shift lick and, like yesterday, moved it around to all keys and finger/openstring combinations.

The day finished with the learning of melody and chords for David Grisman’s E.M.D.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM HOUR

Cripple Creek (A)
Soldier’s Joy (D)
Glory in the Meeting House (E)
June Apple (A)
Forked Deer (D)
Tennessee Waltz (D)

Happy “hump day” everyone. Mental and physical fatigue is creeping in…but by the time today is done, we’ll be over half way there.

INTERMEDIATE BLUEGRASS FIDDLING

I think The Blues is an essential part of a musical upbringing. Using the major scale as our foundation, we created or “spelled” the blues scale in numbered scale degrees (see picture above).  Once we had the key of A nailed, we took it’s open string fingering and moved it one string down for the key of D. Then we took the key of A low octave closed fingering one string up for the key of E.  We learned how where the chords fall in a standard 12bar blues and played our three scales in the appropriate places.  You can’t teach the blues without a blues bass line, so we did that too.  Next up, call & response. The class rounded out with Maiden’s Prayer – a slower number that used all the chords found in the A Blues.

ADVANCED BLUEGRASS FIDDLING

The focus of today’s lesson was double-stops.  I talked about the hours and hours I spent as a youth drilling the double-stop section of Stacy Phillips’ Hot Licks for Bluegrass Fiddle.  I would take one of the licks and move it through all 12 keys, trying to keep the fingerings as consistent as possible.  We took one I remember from Bobby Hicks’ break on Toy Heart and transposed it all over the fiddle.  One of his intervals (b7 & 9) reminded me of the B part for Kenny Baker’s Grassy Fiddle Blues.  The only logical course of action was to learn it.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM HOUR

Forked Deer (D)
Roxanna’s Waltz (C)
Leather Britches (G)
Back Up and Push (C)
Fire on the Mountain (A)
E.M.D. (Em)
Temperance Reel (G)
Liberty (D)
Mississippi Sawyer (D)

Now that all the introductions are over – names, fiddling background, favorite colors, etc. – we can devote the whole class time to learning and playing. And then we can devote the whole evening to hanging out and picking.

INTERMEDIATE BLUEGRASS FIDDLE

We reviewed the melody and chords from yesterday’s tune, Nine Pound Hammer, and then dug in to the nitty gritty of percussive backup fiddling – also known as The Chop. Here are some beginning chop tips:
• Straighten your bowing thumb to roll the bow hair away from you;
• All chops happen within the silver winding part of the bow (the 3-4 inches from the frog);
• Lightly mute the strings with your right hand to dampen any notes;
• Let gravity (with the guidance of your bow hand) “drop” the bow on the strings;
• Once the “down” chop has dropped, allow the bow to rest until you want the next sound;
• Simply lift the bow off the strings in the direction that it arrived for the “up” chop sound;
• The “down” chop is beats 2 & 4 while the “up” is 1 & 3
• Use your metronome and gradually increase the tempo as you get more comfortable;
• Groove.

ADVANCED BLUEGRASS FIDDLE

Today we reviewed Cattle in the Cane which sparked a discussion of bowings. I find bowings difficult to teach since I never play the exact same melody, and as a result, never the exact same bowings. However, upon real-time personal examination, I find there are certain bowing patters that I play more commonly than others. There’s a classical violin study book by Kreutzer. The second exercise/etude is all about bowings. At least 25 (from memory here) different bowings are applied to the notes. For example, you play bowing #1 for every measure; then bowing #2 for every measure, and so on. By the time you’ve done all 25, your bowing should be able to turn on a dime and not get “stuck” anywhere. While not all the bowings are great for bluegrass, I still find this to be a great exercise in phrasing training. I gave 5 bowing patterns to apply to our tune. We then mixed and matched them to explore their effect on the phrasing.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM HOUR

Ashokan Farewell (D)
Red Haired Boy (A)
Big Footed Man in a Sandy Lot (G)
St. Anne’s Reel (D)
Belle of Lexington (D)
Nine Pound Hammer (A)
Old Joe Clark (A)
Fisher’s Hornpipe (D)
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss (D)
Sugarfoot Rag (A)

This week, I’m out in Swannanoa, NC at Warren Wilson College for the Fiddle Week installment of the Swannanoa Gathering camp series.  Many different styles of fiddle are represented and appreciated by staff and students alike.  I’m representing bluegrass fiddle.  Each day I’ll teach two levels and host an open jam session…and each day I’ll share a bit of what we did here.  Enjoy.

Thanks to a student's parent for taking this photo

INTERMEDIATE BLUEGRASS FIDDLE

Students were interested in learning about backup and fills on vocal tunes, the fiddle chop, embellishments of melody, and as one student said, the “intangibles.” Our framework today was the song Nine Pound Hammer (A) .  We learned the vocal melody as interpreted by the fiddle – first as a single note melody, and then spruced up with doublestops and open strings.  We didn’t have time to play fills, but I explained the concept: a support instrument steps into the sonic spotlight in the lyricless spaces between vocal phrases.  Now that we learned the vocal melody, we know where those spaces are.  In a jam session on an unfamiliar song, you might need to listen to the verse and chorus go by once to get a feel where the phrases breathe.  We finished by learning the chords, how to find the I, IV, and V chord of a key and playing a basic backup “chunk” on beats 2 & 4.

ADVANCED BLUEGRASS FIDDLE

The desires of the advanced students are very similar to those of the intermediates.  In truth the classes are similar as well.  The difference is the pace.  In this class, we move faster and can delve deeper into subjects.  When you get to the advanced level though, it’s tough to find tunes that everyone should know but that no one knows.  You have to settle for one that the least people know.  Today’s tune was Cattle in the Cane (Am) .  Instead of a bare bones call & response style of learning the melody, I played variations of small melody motifs – hoping to give the students ideas for their own variations and interpretation of the melody.  Chord changes were learned next and we began the dive into the realm of percussive backup.  There was only time for “chunks” on beats 2 & 4 with left hand muting.  Tomorrow will be chop day.

CASEY’S CAMP JAM HOUR

Angelina Baker (D)
Arkansas Traveler (D)
Whiskey Before Breakfast (D)
Jerusalem Ridge (Am)
Lost Indian (D)
Cluck Old Hen (A)