Cape Breton fiddling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cape Breton fiddling is a lively regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides. Although fiddling has changed considerably since this time in Scotland, it is widely held that the tradition of Scottish fiddle music has been better preserved in Cape Breton.

Dance styles associated with the music are Cape Breton step dancing, Cape Breton square dancing (Iona style and Inverness style), and highland dancing.

In 2005, as a tribute to traditional music, the construction of a tourism center and the world's largest fiddle and bow was completed on the Sydney waterfront.

Contents

[edit] Playing style

Cape Breton fiddling is characterised by up-driven bowing. Some ornaments common to the style are cuts (also called trebles in Irish music), grace notes, and, to a lesser degree, double stops. While the music is Scottish in origin, the common repertoire of most Cape Breton fiddlers includes music composed in Cape Breton and Scotland alike. There are tunes of other origins common to the style (Irish, Canadian, French-Canadian, etc.); however, they sound quite different from their original settings when performed by Cape Breton fiddlers. Also characteristic is the strong downbeat pulse of each player's heel driving every beat into the floor. A century ago the common configuration was violin and pump organ; the latter has been supplanted by piano.

Cape Breton fiddle music is strongly influenced by the sounds of Gaelic music, especially Puirt a Beul (Mouth Music). The ornaments are often compared to the sounds of the Great Highland bagpipe.

[edit] Repertoire

The types of tunes commonly associated with Cape Breton fiddling are jigs, reels, marches, strathspeys, clogs (hornpipes), and slow airs. Many of the tunes associated with Cape Breton fiddle music are also commonly performed on other instruments, especially bagpipes, piano and guitar. It is not unheard of for the music to be performed on harmonica, tin whistle, mandolin or banjo.

Modern Cape Breton fiddlers draw on a large body of music, from the Scottish and Irish traditions, and from modern compositions. Several older books of tune collections have been particularly popular sources:

  • MacDonald, Keith Norman (1887), The Skye Collection
  • O'Neill, Francis (1903), O'Neill's Music Of Ireland
  • Robertson, James Stewart (1884), The Athole Collection
  • Skinner, James Scott, The Scottish Violinist

A number of recent publications also document a substantial amount of the modern Cape Breton repertoire:

  • Cameron, John Donald (2000), The Heather Hill Collection (compositions of Dan R. MacDonald)
  • Cameron, John Donald (1994), The Trip To Windsor Collection (compositions of Dan R. MacDonald, volume 2)
  • Cranford, Paul (1997), Winston Fitzgerald: A Collection of Fiddle Tunes
  • Dunlay, Kate, and David Greenberg (1996), The Dungreen Collection - Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton
  • Holland, Jerry (1988, several revised editions), Jerry Holland's Collection of Fiddle Tunes
  • Holland, Jerry (2000), Jerry Holland: The Second Collection
  • Stubbert, Brenda (1994), Brenda Stubbert's Collection of Fiddle Tunes

[edit] Composers and performers

Scottish composers popular in Cape Breton include: Niel Gow, Nathaniel Gow, William Marshall, and James Scott Skinner. Well known Cape Breton composers include: Dan R. MacDonald, Angus Chisholm, Donald Angus Beaton, Kinnon Beaton, Brenda Stubbert, and Jerry Holland.

Cape Breton fiddle music has received international recognition through the careers of Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac and The Rankin Family. Other well known performers of the traditional Cape Breton style include Winston (Scotty) Fitzgerald, Buddy MacMaster, Winnie Chafe, Carl MacKenzie, Howie MacDonald, Mairi Rankin and many more since the fiddle is so popular in Cape Breton.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • MacGillivray, Allister (1981), The Cape Breton Fiddler, College of Cape Breton Press. ISBN 0-920336-12-4.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/a/p/Cape_Breton_fiddling_ec3c.html"