Fiddling Demystified

Donna Hébert

Lesson & tune list

Darol Anger’s Foreword    Jam CD    Sample pages    DOWNLOAD book/CDs

"Should be required reading for every string teacher hoping to branch out into fiddling!" Strings Magazine
“A substantial contribution to the growing field of fiddling pedagogy. Fiddling Demystified should be required reading for all string teachers hoping to branch out into fiddling.” — Laura Risk, Strings Magazine
CD 1

1. Tune analysis, basic tune settings & style overlays, backup chords (Tracks 2-5) Swallowtail Jig, 26-27 – sheet music, slow and fast mp3s (Irish setting)

2. Reefing the bow, slurring into the downbeat, G pentatonic scales & exercises, duplets, jig rolls/turns (Tracks 6-10) A Jigger of Blues, 28-30

3. Four Scots & Irish ornaments for a quarter note, bass runs (Tracks 11-13) Autumn Frolic, 31

4. Appalachian Old-Time shuffle bowing, drones, anticipating the beat, hammer-on, pull-off, grooveswapping (Tracks 14-18) Cluck Old Hen, 32-33

5. Bending notes and beats (Tracks 19-21) First Frost, 34

6. Split bowing w/variations, slurring into the downbeat (Tracks 22-24) Fisher’s Hornpipe, 35

7. Instant harmonies and countermelodies with rounds (Track 25) Irish Alleluia, 36

8. Cajun seconding, hammer-on/pull-off, drones, unisons (Tracks 26-28) Jongle à moi, 37

9. Single and double jigs, roll-ups (Tracks 29-31) Kitty Magee, 38

10. French-Canadian driven up-bow syncopation I, ghost notes (Tracks 32-34) L’homme et deux femmes, 39

11. Cross or open tunings, French-Canadian crooked or unsquare meter (Tracks 35-38) La danse des foins, 40

12. Waltz harmony and bass lines, second part (Tracks 39-40) Lullaby / Berceuse, 41-42

13. Optimum speed (Tracks 41-42) November Wind, 43

14. French-Canadian tune endings, two-key tunes, the split triplet (Tracks 43-45) Old French Reel, 44

15. Irish staccato triplets (Tracks 46-48) Over the Mountains, 45

CD 2

16. Scots air, Scots snap, hesitation & free meter (Tracks 2-3) Pennan Den, 46

17. French-Canadian driven up-bow syncopation II, split triplets (Tracks 4-6) Reel de Rémi, 47

18. French-Canadian crooked tunes, reefing the bow, anticipating beats (Tracks 7-9) Réunion Gigue, 48

19. Appalachian Old-Time unisons, two-note chords (Tracks 10-11) Rockin’ the Babies, 49

20. Grooveswapping, 3+1 groove bowing in New England reels (Tracks 12-15) Ross’s Reel #4, 50

21. French-Acadian variation from a basic setting (Tracks 16-19) St. Anne’s Reel, 51

22. Moveable Irish ornaments & variations as rhythms (Tracks 20-24) Star of Munster, 52-53

23. Leaving silence in a tune, (Track 25) Sweet Journeys, 54

24. Adding two note chords, pentatonic melodies (Track 26) Thanksgiving Waltz, 55

25. Modal chord charts, Appalachian Old-Time rhythm bowing & syncopation (Tracks 27-29) The End of July, 56

26. Three Irish ornaments for a dotted quarter note in jigs (Tracks 30-32) The Sirens of Autumn, 57

27. Fingered fifths (Tracks 33-35) Transylvanian Landslide, 58

28. Harmony and bass lines (Tracks 36-37) Un canadien errant, 59

29. Chord turnarounds (I-vi-ii-V) (Tracks 38-40) Willie Coleman’s Jig, 60

30. Diatonic chord patterns and the Universal Key (Tracks 41-43) Wind that Shakes the Barley, 61

31. Jazz waltz timing, hemiola and syncopation (Track 44) Winter Lullaby, 62

Darol Anger’s Foreword    Jam CD    Sample pages    DOWNLOAD book/CDs