Transposing for cello & viola

Introduction | Voicing | Style | Four transposing methods | Bibliography

Sheet music:

INTRODUCTION

It’s about time that violists and cellists were able to join in the fiddling fun!

I want to explore the process of transposing fiddle tunes, originally voiced for the G clef, to the alto and bass clefs. Not every tune or style point will translate or transpose to cello and viola, but with a little “fiddling around,” most will adapt well. Knowing what to keep and what to change are, of course, key to making it sound like fiddling.

Why not just drop the tunes a fifth and play them with fiddle fingerings? What could be easier? Seductive as it is, it’s an academic exercise at best. Fiddle music is meant to be played together in jam sessions. If you learn fiddle tunes in keys no one else plays them in, you won’t be able to jam along with the group. Frustrating, and how likely are you to keep fiddling if it’s that frustrating?

For this reason, it’s much wiser to adapt the tune in its original key to your instrument. This paper shows four methods (with tune arrangements) of transposing fiddle tunes for the viola and cello. Straight transpositions, whole and partial octave drops and blended transitions are used separately and in combination in adapting the original fiddle settings.

When I change the voicing for viola and cello in a tune, I keep in mind that most regional fiddling grooves require particular rhythms that define the style. These grooves, above all, are the first part of learning any style and must not be lost in the transposing process. Arranging for viola and cello can lead to dropping right hand bowings and left hand ornaments that don’t translate. Rather than copying everything the fiddle plays, this tune-by-tune adaptation happens individually. Remember – what you leave out is as important as what you play. Stay in the groove and you won’t go wrong!

Just a note here – In contrast to my focus on transposing fiddle repertoire for viola and cello, I note that some string teachers are taking a different path to fiddling for their students. Several teachers who run fiddle groups along with their usual string classes tell me they insist that their student cellists and violists learn to play fiddle as well, to get the real feel of fiddling on its native instrument. This is a great avenue, in my opinion, since it creates all-around string players.

 

VOICING

What do we mean by voicing? Voicing refers to a pitch range for an instrument, from bottom to top. Fiddle uses a top E string, while the cello and viola drop down a fifth to a top A string. Thus, fiddle tunes and phrases that use the E string or go into third position will need to drop an octave for cello or viola, or else the viola or cello player will have to shift into third or fifth position, which is difficult at fiddle-tune speeds.

The choices we make in re-voicing tunes for viola and cello are more concerned with retaining the musical flow than with keeping the melody exactly the same for each clef. When choosing an alternate melody note, I try to use notes of the chord played over that phrase. Where the original melody doesn’t rise above the G or G# on the E string, with viola/cello shifts no higher than third position, I show both low and high octaves. Novice to intermediate players can play the bottom line, more advanced players the top one. The shifts play easier on slow tunes, like the following example:

EXAMPLE 1: Star of the County Down – traditional Irish waltz. This phrase shows the split octave at the start of the B part of the tune. The ceiling for splitting the octave is the second finger (G or G#) on the E string, which is a fourth finger in third position on both cello and viola. This example is from the new Waltz Book I for Viola & Cello, © 2008 The Waltz Books, Bill Mattheissen; ed. Donna Hébert. 

STYLE

Style is a combination or set of right and left-hand movements that define a regional or national fiddling tradition. Rhythm (a right-hand function) is the first variable to pay attention to, since it most strongly defines any style.

Most fiddle rhythms adapt well to viola. However, some techniques can sound muddy on the bottom strings of the cello. When the octave is dropped, the fatter strings take longer to vibrate and the sound dies away slower. Fast-moving note-bending turns or rolls in Irish music, while sounding rhythmically correct on fiddle and viola, may need to be simplified on the cello to keep from growling in the lower octave. Remember that all right-hand bowings and left-hand ornaments have to fit into the overall rhythm, groove and native style of a tune. When in doubt, simplify or leave it OUT!

EXAMPLE 2: Irish rolls or turns for fiddle, viola and cello. Accent is on first eighth note on downbeat.

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FOUR TRANSPOSING METHODS & MUSIC EXAMPLES

1. Straight transposition – The best possible method, available in roughly ten percent of tunes, where the melody stays off the E string entirely. These tunes are ‘native’ to viola and cello, played with no changes.

Example 3: November Wind, © 2003 Jane Rothfield. Other examples of straight transpositions are The End of July and Transylvanian Landslide (all three tunes are published in Fiddling Demystified for Strings).

2. Second method – the full octave drop . . . Probably thirty percent of tunes fall into this category.

Example 4: Sheebeg & Sheemore - 18th century Irish air attributed to intinerant harper Turloch O’Carolan. From The Waltz Book for viola and cello, © 2008, Bill Mattheissen.

 
3. Half octave drop – one half drops, the other stays in its original octave, with blended transitions. Probably thirty percent of tunes fall into this category.

Example: The Growling Old Man and the Grumbling Old Woman - French-Canadian descriptive reel

4. Blended – Where a tune only briefly climbs onto the E string, you can drop octaves inside the phrases, with transitions blended. Sometimes the octave jumps create too many changes in a melody for my taste, but in around thirty percent of tunes, this is the only way to make it playable.

Example: Vals from Boda (Traditional Swedish waltz)

5. Too extended a range – don’t bother! G or A-major or minor tunes that start low on the G string and go up the E string into the third position usually require too much surgery to recognizable as the original melody. These include tunes like the French-Canadian Le reel Beatrice, Oscar’s Reel from Ryan’s Mammouth Collection, and a lot of Scottish and Cape Breton A-major reels. These are tunes where instead of playing the melody, the violist and cellist can pick a rhythm and rock out on it rather than try to double a melody with the fiddle. Way more fun and less frustration!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hébert, Donna, ed. The Waltz Book Vol I for viola and cello. © 2008 Bill Matthiessen.

Hébert, Donna, ed. Fiddling Demystified for Strings – violin, viola, cello editions, 2007. Fiddling Demystified, PO Box 2632, Amherst MA 01004

Hébert, Donna, ed. Great Groove Band – violin, viola, cello eds., 2006. Fiddling Demystified, PO Box 2632, Amherst MA 01004

Hébert, Donna, ed.McLeod’s Reel – violin/viola/cello in one book, 2006. Fiddling Demystified, PO Box 2632, Amherst MA 01004