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Postgraduate study day, University of Sheffield, 15 May 2001
This talk is based on some of the preliminary findings of my research into folk music played on the viola in Britain. There is no research or writing in this area, as far as I am aware, but there are plenty of people who play, record and teach folk music on the instrument. I am a folk viola player myself, having played for example with the storytelling and Klezmer band Tashbain and with the Sheffield Irish dance display team. I have also worked extensively in primary schools, playing folk music to accompany storytelling.
I am very interested in documenting both what people do, in terms of their performance practice, and what people say about what they do. For this reason I have chosen to take an ethnomusicological approach, although my research differs from the standard ethnomusicological model because I am researching my own field, rather than going as an outsider to another culture. There are drawbacks with this insider view, as it can sometimes be hard to see the wood for the trees, or in my case to see those things that I take for granted from another's point of view. On the other hand it gives me advantages in terms of access to knowledge, contacts, and a voice for members of my community as represented by this research. The methodology employed so far has combined an interview, lasting for about an hour, with recordings of people playing in their homes and at public performances in various venues.
The topic of this talk is folk viola bowing. This is not so different from violin folk bowing, although it takes more energy to set a viola singing, and the instrument is not so forgiving of a crooked bow as is the violin. Classical viola players and teachers regard folk bowing technique as "bad technique" or "no technique at all". Neither of these are true. So what are the main differences? They fall into three areas, which are:
1. The bow hold.
2. The length of stroke.
3. Attack and syncopation.
"…..the underlying influence in my music is Baroque music really, because I see that's what we play in terms of traditional music. It's when the styles that we hear these days were laid down. ……Bowing technique is what I'm getting at really. I don't use classical technique, I've never used it. I've never been corrupted by that you know. My music is old-fashioned and the bowing is too. I use the bow for rhythm where the classical world uses it for long phrases and stuff. I use it in a different way really. I've always played dance music I suppose, that's what it comes down to. I like to think that because I play what is basically an old-fashioned style of music, and the technique I use is old-fashioned technique, I like to think about there's an antiquity about what I'm doing and I respect what's gone before me."
Quote from interview with folk viola player Gina Le Faux.
Classical viola technique teaches us to hold the bow at the frog, curving the thumb underneath and counter-balancing the weight of the bow with the little finger. When held like this the centre of gravity is several inches up the bow, away from the hand. This hold maximises the power of the bow and the amount of volume that can be generated from the instrument. It can be clumsy for rapid changes of direction and string crossing.
Most folk viola players hold the bow away from the frog at approximately the centre of gravity. The little finger is often not placed on the bow, as it is now not required to counterbalance anything as the bow is balanced in the hand. Sometimes the thumb is placed against the hairs of the bow. This bow hold does not produce so much volume from the instrument. It also limits the length of stroke. But because the bow is balanced much less effort is required to move it, which makes it more effective and agile when playing very fast with rapid string crossing.
Many folk viola players mention Baroque music as an influence and some use a baroque style bow. On these bows the centre of gravity is much closer to the frog. The claim that folk fiddling is similar to baroque violin playing is interesting and we will return to it later. Several of the folk musicians I interviewed cite the music of Cape Breton, which is an island off the North East Coast of Canada, as an example of a well preserved, old-style of playing. Cape Breton was colonised by many Scots and Irish people when their homelands were cleared by the English during the 18th and 19th centuries, and the theory goes that their musical traditions were better preserved in the diaspora than at home.
The Bible of baroque fiddle playing was written by Leopold Mozart (the father of the famous one) and published in 1755, under the title "A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing". But if we look at his description of the correct bow hold we see that it is identical with the modern classical bow hold, except that the hand is holding a baroque bow.
Classical viola bowing technique employs a great variety of bow strokes. Players learn to use the entire length of their bow or any section of it. Long, smooth phrases are often employed and students spent many hours ironing the bumps and corners out of their bowing.
Folk musicians are very fond of short phrases and commonly slur two or three notes together in a bow. They commonly play in the upper half of the bow only. Sequences of separate notes are never used. Some players give particular emphasis to the down bow, though bows in either direction may be accented by a quick press on the stick.
"…the technique that is used in baroque music now isn't necessarily the technique that was used when the music was in vogue. But the classical world tends not look at Ireland and places like that to see the styles that have survived. Not so much some of the ornamentation and the way they grace notes and stuff, but the bowing.
Lindsay: but you can read, I mean that there were books written, weren't there, which describe the bowing technique in those days?
Gina: well I have a couple of things, Francesco Geminiani's book, which is very interesting because he slags off the use of short phrases. He says get rid of this dance music head and you'll be doing all right! Particularly he slagged the French off for doing this, short bows, and he said they also made the sounds of owls, cuckoos and all this. It lowers the tone, he really had a go at them! Eventually the French were the last to use the short bow in their music and when they gave it up they were then regarded to have come of age."
To return to the baroque theme, I don't have a copy of the Geminiani book mentioned in above extract, so I will return again to Leopold Mozart, who has a tremendous amount to say about bowing in chapters four and five of his book (click here for examples). He was very keen to ensure that there is a down bow on the downbeat of every bar and all his bowings are designed to fulfil this end. They are also designed to preserve beats and bar lines. He gives many different ways of slurring different rhythmic patterns, particularly ones in triple time, which are particularly awkward for fiddlers because the upper and down motion of the bow falls naturally into double time. He aims to conform with "good taste". And at the end of chapter five he urges the fiddler to play many notes together in one stroke.
Gina talks about using the bow and to generate rhythm.
Gina: I just use a rhythm, really.
Lindsay: Yes. I'm watching what you're doing with your bowing hand in amazement! It works really well.
Gina: Its just, no, you can't rush it. If you do, you get too busy and you can't sing.
Lindsay: You're making the rhythm by tapping your fingers, are you not, on the bow?
Gina: Well, I'm making some of it by just flicking the end of the bow.
This means starting each bow stroke with a sharper attack than the one normally used in classical music. Effectively the start of each bow stroke is accented. The accents combine to generate the rhythm that Gina mentions. In fact much traditional British music is very rhythmic but is not normally performed with drums or percussion. Bowing patterns are often made across the beat and across bar lines which has the effect of accenting the off-beats and giving a very jazzy feel to the music (click here for an example). Pressing the stick introduces a certain amount of "dirt" into the sound of the instrument which adds to its appeal.
Another aspect of folk fiddle bowing is its freedom and flexibility. Bowing is never indicated on written music. No two players will bow the same piece of music in the same way, and quite often one player will bow something one way on one occasion and in a different way on another.