The Celtic fiddle is one of the most important instruments in the traditional repertoire of

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

. The fiddle itself is identical to the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, however it is played differently in widely varying regional styles. In the era of sound recording some regional styles have been transmitted more widely while others have become more uncommon.

Contemporary performers

Modern performers include:

Liz Carroll Liz Carroll (born September 19, 1956) is an American fiddler and composer. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award. Carroll and collaborator Irish guitarist John Doyle were nominated for a ...

(All-Ireland Junior and Senior Fiddle Champion); John Carty; Brian Conway;

Matt Cranitch Matt Cranitch (born 1948) is an Irish fiddle player. Cranitch is a founding member of Na Fili.Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark & Trillo, Richard (1999) ''World Music The Rough Guide: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', Rough Guides, , p. 1 ...

; Desi Donnelly;

Martin Fay Martin Joseph Fay (19 September 1936 – 14 November 2012) was an Irish fiddler and bones player, and a former member of The Chieftains. He was born in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scot ...

; Frankie Gavin;

Cathal Hayden Cathal Sean Hayden is a Northern Irish fiddle and banjo player of note. He was born on 13 July 1963, in the village of the Rock, County Tyrone, outside Pomeroy, an area immersed in traditional music. The third in the family of eight, he was bo ...

; Kevin Burke; Martin Hayes;

Eileen Ivers Eileen Ivers (born July 13, 1965) is an American fiddler. Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents, grew up in the Bronx and attended St. Barnabas High School. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of n ...

(9-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion);

Seán Keane (fiddler) Seán Keane ( ga, Seán Ó Catháin; born 12 July 1946) is an Irish fiddler, teacher and former member of The Chieftains. He was a member of Ceoltóirí Chualann in the 1960s, before joining The Chieftains in 1968. He has a unique style, especia ...

; Maurice Lennon;

Andy McGann Andy McGann (1928-2004) was an Irish-American fiddle player and a celebrated exponent of Sligo-style fiddling. He was born in New York to immigrant parents from County Sligo, living first in west Harlem before moving as a child to Mott Haven in t ...

;

Sean McGuire Sean Maguire (born 1976) is an English actor and singer. Sean Maguire or McGuire may also refer to: People *Sean Maguire (footballer) (born 1994), Irish footballer * Sean Maguire (American football) (born 1994), American football player *Sean MacG ...

; Brendan Mulvihill; Gerry O'Connor;

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (born 28 August 1979) is a fiddler, born in Dublin, Ireland, who attended Trinity College Dublin, becoming a Scholar in Theoretical Physics (1999) and earning a First Class BA degree (as the top student of his class) in 20 ...

;

Tommy Peoples Tommy Peoples (20 September 1948 – 4 August 2018) was an Irish fiddler who played in the Donegal fiddle tradition. Biography Peoples was born near St. Johnston, County Donegal, Ireland. He was a member of traditional Irish music groups, ...

;

Bridget Regan Bridget Catherine Regan (born February 3, 1982) is an American actress known for portrayals such as Kahlan Amnell in the television series '' Legend of the Seeker'', Rebecca Lowe / Rachel Turner in '' White Collar'', Rose Solano in '' Jane th ...

; Marie Reilly; Paul Shaughnessy; Sean Smyth;

John Sheahan John Sheahan (born 19 May 1939) is an Irish musician and composer. He joined The Dubliners in 1964 and played with them until 2012 when The Dubliners' name was retired following the death of founding member Barney McKenna. Early years and m ...

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

fiddlers like James Morrison and Michael Coleman did much to popularise Irish music in the United States in the 1920s. More recently Michael Gorman was also a huge influence.

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

fiddler John Doherty came from a large family of fiddlers. He travelled all over Ireland, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of fiddle tunes. He was one of the last of the travelling fiddlers. He had a large body of knowledge of Scottish (especially marches and highlands) music as well.

History

The fiddle has ancient roots in Ireland, the first report of bowed instruments similar to the violin being in the Book of Leinster (ca. 1160). The modern violin was ubiquitous in Ireland by the early 1700s.

Style

Compared to classical violin, Irish fiddler tend to make little use of

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

except for slow airs, and even then it is used relatively sparingly. Like the rest of Irish traditional music tradition, melodies are embellished through forms of

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

, such as rolls, trebles, and cuts. Irish fiddlers also use a vocabulary of bow slurs different from other fiddle traditions, at least in proportion of usage. Most notably, fiddlers often slur into the beat to produce a certain lilt, not unlike the Newcastle hornpipe style of bowing in England and Scotland, though the technique in Ireland is not restricted to

hornpipe The hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England with Hugh Aston's Hornepype of 1522 and others r ...

s. They may also slur over beats in such a pattern as to create a natural

back-beat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a p ...

reels A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

. Numerous Irish Reels are performed by The Dubliners, one of the pioneers of traditional Irish Music. Slow airs are occasionally played upon the fiddle, but the style is best known for fast, snappy reels and jigs. Strathspeys, popular in Scottish Fiddle are seldom played, as such, but there are some tunes which amply utilized dotted rhythm. Some tunes are: * The Wind That Shakes The Barley * The Humours Of Lissadell * The Maid Behind The Bar

Regional styles

Examples include the

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and bounded to the south by the River Blackwater. It includes the Mullaghareirk Mounta ...

and Donegal fiddle traditions. In Irish fiddling there are few known composers, as many tunes have been taught by ear and passed down from one generation to another. Also, many players adjusted tunes to suit their style and taste, so there can be many variations for a particular tune.

Bibliographic resources

* Vallely, Fintan (1999). The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Cork University Press. p. 2. * F. H. A. Aalen et al. (1997-07-19), Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (Hardcover), University of Toronto, * a b Fintan Vallely (1999). The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. New York University Press. . * a b Between the Jigs and the Reels: The Donegal Fiddle Tradition C Mac Aoidh - 1994 - Drumlin Publications * Donegal and Shetland Fiddle Music D McLaughlin, Irish Traditional Music Society - 1992 - Irish Traditional Music Society, University College, Cork * a b c Changing cultural landscapes: the co-existence of musical genres in Irish culture and education. M McCarthy - Irish Studies Review, 2004 - Taylor & Francis * a b c McCarthy, M. (2004). Changing cultural landscapes: the co-existence of musical genres in Irish culture and education. Irish Studies Review. p. 134 * a b Michael Robinson. "The Fiddle Music of Donegal". The Standing Stones. * Ken Perlman. "Sean McGuire: Master of The Irish Violin". The Irish Fiddle. * a b c MacAoidh, C. (1994). Between the Jigs and the Reels: The Donegal Fiddle Tradition. Drumlin Publications. p. 125 * Tim McCarrick. "Famous Fiddlers, General Knowledge and Where to Get It Part Three". Mel Bay Publications, Inc. * "Johnny Doherty". Rambling House. 2007-12-17. * McLaughlin, D. (1992). Donegal and Shetland Fiddle Music. Irish Traditional Music Society. p. 58 * Larry Sanger. "The Donegal Fiddle Tradition". EFX Studio. Retrieved 2008-03-08. * Feldman, Allen, and Eamonn O'Doherty. The Northern Fiddler: Music and Musicians of Donegal and Tyrone. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1979. * * "Nuacht Vol. 8 No.4". County Donegal. * Foy, Barry (March 1999). Field Guide to the Irish Music Session (Hardcover). Roberts Rinehart Publishers. p. 89. * "The Donegal Fiddle". Irish Music Review. * "Summer 2006". Fiddler Magazine. Archived from the original on June 15,

External links

*Mac Aoidh, Caoimhín
"Regional Styles in Irish Fiddling - Part III"
Retrieved September 6, 2005. The third (and final) part of this article lists the major fiddle styles of Ireland and describes them. (The first part covers the geography that helped separate different regions, and the second discusses exactly what makes a style distinct.)
Recording of fiddler James Kelly performing "Wellington's Reel" at the 1992 Florida Folk Festival (made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida)Tony DeMarco's "My Space" site, with audio, video and photos

- tunes in MIDI, sheet music and other formats
Vashon Celtic Tunes
- with MIDI, sheet music and chords

- play reels, jigs and hornpipes online, with sheet music {{authority control

Fiddling A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, ...

Irish musical instruments Celtic musical instruments