I have really enjoyed this workshop! I am a fiddler from the Appalachian Mountains of SW Virginia and primarily play traditional Appalachian dance tunes referred to as "Old Time" . As you probably know, the origins of the music played here comes largely from Scotland. I read music but most musicians that I know do not and tunes are handed down from person to person. It is probably because I come from this culture of playing by ear that I struggle somewhat to play with correct phrasing and expression from written music. This workshop and your other postings have really helped with that as I am learing Scottish fiddle. I have been working on Niel Gow's Lament for a little while and thanks to your workshop and your other postings I feel like it has become one of my better tunes. I just wanted to say thank you!
My grandfather was a fiddler from alford and I left skene playing my banjo 50 + yrs ago and enjoyed this discussion similar to many when I was a kid. Never knew when I visited my friends Ed and nan Anderson in tarland that such a fiddler existed its good to hear the Doric people have commented they can’t understand you, they should have heard broad version in my day, nae bad atta min!
Wonderful lesson. First person I’ve heard talking about the difference between the sound of each string. I’ve heard a string quartet using all gut strings and much of that difference disappeared.
I've been playing that tune for years and as soon as I heard your interpretation I thought it was quite similar to the way I have been trying to play it. Then, when you got to talking about Hector McAndrew, I realised why. Hector was a friend of my uncle Jimmy, who lived in Dyce and who took me to meet him, probably in about 1970. He played that lament but, if I remember rightly, his wife accompanied him on the piano. He was a wonderful old gent, quite modest but made sure I contributed to the session. All I knew by ear were some Playford tunes, which intrigued him.
Hi again Paul😊 I enjoyed this workshop very much last night - but I’m over the moon just now - I just received your “beauties of the North CD today and first song of course was Niel Gow’s lament on the death of his second wife! I ordered it from Scotland for my birthday which was yesterday (23/9 our time) The production is fantastic -I would recommend it to everyone. All the best❤️🙏
@@fingalcromar95 Would you be willing to share two ornamentations/grace notes you use in this piece? The first is the lower grace note you play just preceding the long high G before the end of the first part - is that an open A? The second is the ending, where you play a soft double-stop - is that an A and an open D? They both are really beautiful. Thank you!
@@armanpartamian997 I never plan what the grace notes will be; they're completely instinctive and come in where there's space in the music. Will have a listen to see what I'm doing.
@@fingalcromar95 Thank you - I notice you use those two every time I've heard you play and I've been trying to pick them up by ear - but I'm fairly new to fiddling (less than a year) so I'm not very adept at learning by ear yet. Thanks again!
Hi Paul, I came across this workshop stream purely by chance today. I have been wondering what was happening with the PGS Niel Gow fiddle, whether it was still being played by people (as it should always be as any musician worth his/her salt knows), and it is great to see that you've got your hands on it and are making use of it. As you may or may not recall, I was given the honour by Perth Gaelic Society of taking care of this fiddle for a whole year just after it was liberated from Perth Museum in 2002/03 and reset by Ian J. Ross of Pitlochry. And I made sure that not only was it played every day, it was played by as many fiddlers as possible, and you were one of those fiddlers. We bumped into each other in the downstairs lounge of the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh at the 2003 Scottish National Fiddle Festival, and you played this great tune of Niel's. Watching you playing it now and on the same fiddle has brought back that memory for me, and I could not be happier that you have the use of it. I certainly know what you're going through trying to fine tune it, especially that G string. There's just that final click that never quite gets there and, like you, I would love it to have a nice set of adjusters to make the task easier, but as Mick Jagger says in his classic song, "you can't always get what you want!" It's one of this fiddle's quirks, but at least it remains more or less in tune. When I had the fiddle initially, it had gut strings on it and it just never stayed in tune for more than a single set of tunes, so I took the liberty of putting a set of modern Dr Tomastiks on. I remember the night the gut E-string bit the dust at Falkirk Fiddle Workshop. We were being taught the art of the up-driven bow and, you know how you lean on the middle of the three notes on the up bow to emphasize it; well I leaned quite aggressively and there was this mortifying almighty crack as the string snapped. I thought I'd snapped the fiddle in two for a few seconds and the relief that it was just the E-string that had gone was quite palpable! I don't know if you have experienced this with this fiddle already, but I found that you really need to warm this fiddle up for a good 20 minutes beforehand before it will really start to sing. I don't know whether or not this quirk may be a legacy of when the fiddle was inundated by the Perth Flood when the River Tay burst its banks in 1993. Flood waters got into the basement of the museum where the fiddle was being kept to make way for a Beatrix Potter Exhibition at the time and the fiddle was found by museum staff, floating in pieces because the floodwaters had dissolved the water-based glue holding it together. We can thank Gordon Stevenson who had the necessary skills to restore it to its current state. I found that this fiddle has a particular sweet spot about a quarter to a third of an inch from the bridge and it will sing like a lintie if you can hit that. It should be remembered that at the time this instrument was being played, it had to be able to be heard in a crowded ballroom full of hundreds of dancers (no convenience of a P.A. sound system to amplify it in the 18th century). Once it's fully warmed up, this fiddle has a big voice. I played it unamplified on one occasion behind a full ceilidh band using a PA system, and you could still hear this fiddle at the back of the hall. It's a real test of bowing skills to get that sweet spot, but if there's anyone who has that ability, it is you, my friend! You mentioned correctly that the fiddle passed through the hands of Duncan McKeracher, the Dunkeld Paganini who lived for a time in Niel Gow's cottage in Inver. What you didn't mention was that this fiddle also passed through the hands of another notable Perthshire fiddler, Samson Duncan of Kinclaven. Samson Duncan (1767-1837) was Niel Gow's best friend and fellow member of Niel's band. He was the family musician of the Mercers of Meikleour, Laird of Aldie who had Meikleour House and was often visited there by Niel Gow, because, according to Niel, the standard of hospitality he received there was second only to that of His Grace, The Duke of Atholl (i.e. the punch bowl was never dry!). When Niel Gow passed away on the 1st March 1807, this fiddle was left to Samson Duncan in recognition of the years of friendship they had shared. And in August 1822 when Sir Walter Scott was commissioned to organise festivities for the visit to Scotland of King George IV following his Coronation, he asked Nathaniel Gow to recruit a band to play at the Grand Ball & Banquet at Hopetoun House. One of the musicians Nathaniel recruited was Samson Duncan, so this fiddle was played at that event. Incidentally, there is a portrait of Samson Duncan holding this fiddle, painted by his son, on display either in Perth Museum & Art Gallery itself or in what used to be Perth City Hall, which is going to be used to display more of the collections held by Perth & Kinross Council when the Stone Of Scone is restored to its historical home in a couple of years time. d3d00swyhr67nd.cloudfront.net/w300/collection/PKA/PKC/PKA_PKC_4_49-001.jpg There is also a photograph of Duncan McKerracher with the fiddle dating from 1851 which must tie in with the presentation mentioned on the plaque on the back of the scroll. 2.bp.blogspot.com/-fRATrMzRZLs/VUPFCgQhj-I/AAAAAAACNWs/JD3N61T_EIg/s1600/Old%2BPhotograph%2BDuncan%2BMcKercher%2BInver%2BPerthshire%2BScotland.jpg When Samson Duncan died in 1837, the fiddle was left to his daughters, neither of whom played, so it was decided to present it as the prize for a fiddle competition organised in Perth, and McKerracher was the winner. I have to say I have enjoyed listening to this workshop you have presented here and I think you make a lot of sense when it comes to not just interpreting this tune in particular, but also with regards to playing the slow air in the traditional style in general. It's not an easy thing to teach because each individual player is unique and there is no hard and fast formula to follow to interpret a tune like this. The Shetland fiddler Aly Bain is often quoted as saying that "anybody can play the fast stuff, but it's the playing of the slow air that sorts the men oot from the boys". And to my mind, he is so right. The slow air demands so much more of the musician than mere technical ability; it demands the ability to get right into the emotion of the tune and give the heartstrings a real tug. Niel Gow's gem of a tune is, as you say, the perfect tune to show what it feels like to suffer the loss of a life partner and I think you capture it beautifully with that little glissando off the harmonic D. That's the little tug of the heartstrings right there in that little bit that just gets the goose bumps going and sends the shivers up the spine. And you're right about the need to not stick rigidly to a metronomic beat throughout as per the notes on the manuscript when playing slow airs. A slow air is a living breathing entity which should never be rushed and merely played as written on the page. It needs to be stretched out and nurtured in a way that moves the listener and makes the eyes water. If you can do that to an audience, you honour the composer who wrote it. Before I finish, Paul, are you aware that the picture is back to front and makes you look as if you're playing left-handed? Now I know you're not Angus Grant Snr who plays that way round (always an interesting spectacle given that he doesn't string his fiddle for a lefthander, to my knowledge), but perhaps anyone watching this video who doesn't know you, may well get slightly confused. Just a thought to leave you with. Hope this pandemic will soon be all by us soon and we can get back out there playing soon. Until then, all the best to you and the family. Stay safe!
Aye Colin, thanks for the message; just up to let the dog out so haven't read through your whole message but will come back to you later. I did a recital of the Music of the great Scots fiddle composers on their own fiddles at Celtic Connections last year so had a lone of the Perth Gaelic Society fiddle for that. Due to the Coronavirus Pandic I've landed with having to hold onto it. Was going to hand it back at last year's Niel Gow festival but like every thing else it was cancelled. Still have Nathaniel Gow's fiddle as well.
It works equally well played solo, or with piano or guitar and I've done all three. This type of tune needs to be played with dynamics and a fair bit of ebb and flow in the tempo so the accompanist needs to be on the ball to follow the soloist so personally I prefer playing it solo. That said, the great traditional Scottish Fiddler Hector MacAndrew maintained that the music was always best accompanied as without it "it was like bread without jam." Personally I don't really agree with him on that but I know what he means.
@@fingalcromar95 Thank you, I will try it with a piano. I know a wonderful pianist who can read the soloist well. Just for interest, I am a great (5x) granddaughter of Niel Gow, born and bred in NZ. I wonder how far and wide his descendants are 😊
Thank you so much for this lesson! As a pupil of Gregor Borland I really understand what you mean. But in the end every interpreter will find his own way expressing the feelings. What I find interesting to make it sound Scottish. Although your styles are different there are some parameters that make it typically sound Scottish. This is so beautiful. So as a German I can get a feeling for the essence of this music. It's a great gift and I feel really connected to it, wich is so different to Irish music. Practicing daily, it develops more and more to the sound of it. Thank you again for this occasion. The violin sounds like it is open , so the wood is vibrating on itself, making a noise. Or is it the character of this instrument?
the stories you tell are just as important as playing the tune itself! thanks
Thanks mate.
I have really enjoyed this workshop! I am a fiddler from the Appalachian Mountains of SW Virginia and primarily play traditional Appalachian dance tunes referred to as "Old Time" . As you probably know, the origins of the music played here comes largely from Scotland. I read music but most musicians that I know do not and tunes are handed down from person to person. It is probably because I come from this culture of playing by ear that I struggle somewhat to play with correct phrasing and expression from written music. This workshop and your other postings have really helped with that as I am learing Scottish fiddle. I have been working on Niel Gow's Lament for a little while and thanks to your workshop and your other postings I feel like it has become one of my better tunes. I just wanted to say thank you!
Cheers Lisa. It's a beautiful, heartfelt tune x
Love it! I'm trying to learn the tune from Wyoming USA
Brilliant workshop Paul, Thanks
My grandfather was a fiddler from alford and I left skene playing my banjo 50 + yrs ago and enjoyed this discussion similar to many when I was a kid. Never knew when I visited my friends Ed and nan Anderson in tarland that such a fiddler existed its good to hear the Doric people have commented they can’t understand you, they should have heard broad version in my day, nae bad atta min!
Cheers min. Should've heard my granda! Ed and Nan actually had a nephew who was a champion fiddler; Keith.
Wonderful lesson.
First person I’ve heard talking about the difference between the sound of each string.
I’ve heard a string quartet using all gut strings and much of that difference disappeared.
I've been playing that tune for years and as soon as I heard your interpretation I thought it was quite similar to the way I have been trying to play it. Then, when you got to talking about Hector McAndrew, I realised why. Hector was a friend of my uncle Jimmy, who lived in Dyce and who took me to meet him, probably in about 1970. He played that lament but, if I remember rightly, his wife accompanied him on the piano. He was a wonderful old gent, quite modest but made sure I contributed to the session. All I knew by ear were some Playford tunes, which intrigued him.
I loved this tutorial thank you. The tune is wonderful and your
interpretation and insights great
Thank you.
Hi again Paul😊 I enjoyed this workshop very much last night - but I’m over the moon just now - I just received your “beauties of the North CD today and first song of course was Niel Gow’s lament on the death of his second wife! I ordered it from
Scotland for my birthday which was yesterday (23/9 our time) The production is fantastic -I would recommend it to everyone. All the best❤️🙏
Thank you x
This was wonderful - thank you!
BTW - on the last note are you doing a double stop with the A and the D? Thank you!
Thank you.
@@fingalcromar95 Would you be willing to share two ornamentations/grace notes you use in this piece? The first is the lower grace note you play just preceding the long high G before the end of the first part - is that an open A? The second is the ending, where you play a soft double-stop - is that an A and an open D? They both are really beautiful. Thank you!
@@armanpartamian997 I never plan what the grace notes will be; they're completely instinctive and come in where there's space in the music. Will have a listen to see what I'm doing.
@@fingalcromar95 Thank you - I notice you use those two every time I've heard you play and I've been trying to pick them up by ear - but I'm fairly new to fiddling (less than a year) so I'm not very adept at learning by ear yet. Thanks again!
Hi Paul, I came across this workshop stream purely by chance today. I have been wondering what was happening with the PGS Niel Gow fiddle, whether it was still being played by people (as it should always be as any musician worth his/her salt knows), and it is great to see that you've got your hands on it and are making use of it. As you may or may not recall, I was given the honour by Perth Gaelic Society of taking care of this fiddle for a whole year just after it was liberated from Perth Museum in 2002/03 and reset by Ian J. Ross of Pitlochry. And I made sure that not only was it played every day, it was played by as many fiddlers as possible, and you were one of those fiddlers. We bumped into each other in the downstairs lounge of the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh at the 2003 Scottish National Fiddle Festival, and you played this great tune of Niel's. Watching you playing it now and on the same fiddle has brought back that memory for me, and I could not be happier that you have the use of it.
I certainly know what you're going through trying to fine tune it, especially that G string. There's just that final click that never quite gets there and, like you, I would love it to have a nice set of adjusters to make the task easier, but as Mick Jagger says in his classic song, "you can't always get what you want!" It's one of this fiddle's quirks, but at least it remains more or less in tune. When I had the fiddle initially, it had gut strings on it and it just never stayed in tune for more than a single set of tunes, so I took the liberty of putting a set of modern Dr Tomastiks on. I remember the night the gut E-string bit the dust at Falkirk Fiddle Workshop. We were being taught the art of the up-driven bow and, you know how you lean on the middle of the three notes on the up bow to emphasize it; well I leaned quite aggressively and there was this mortifying almighty crack as the string snapped. I thought I'd snapped the fiddle in two for a few seconds and the relief that it was just the E-string that had gone was quite palpable!
I don't know if you have experienced this with this fiddle already, but I found that you really need to warm this fiddle up for a good 20 minutes beforehand before it will really start to sing. I don't know whether or not this quirk may be a legacy of when the fiddle was inundated by the Perth Flood when the River Tay burst its banks in 1993. Flood waters got into the basement of the museum where the fiddle was being kept to make way for a Beatrix Potter Exhibition at the time and the fiddle was found by museum staff, floating in pieces because the floodwaters had dissolved the water-based glue holding it together. We can thank Gordon Stevenson who had the necessary skills to restore it to its current state. I found that this fiddle has a particular sweet spot about a quarter to a third of an inch from the bridge and it will sing like a lintie if you can hit that. It should be remembered that at the time this instrument was being played, it had to be able to be heard in a crowded ballroom full of hundreds of dancers (no convenience of a P.A. sound system to amplify it in the 18th century). Once it's fully warmed up, this fiddle has a big voice. I played it unamplified on one occasion behind a full ceilidh band using a PA system, and you could still hear this fiddle at the back of the hall. It's a real test of bowing skills to get that sweet spot, but if there's anyone who has that ability, it is you, my friend!
You mentioned correctly that the fiddle passed through the hands of Duncan McKeracher, the Dunkeld Paganini who lived for a time in Niel Gow's cottage in Inver. What you didn't mention was that this fiddle also passed through the hands of another notable Perthshire fiddler, Samson Duncan of Kinclaven. Samson Duncan (1767-1837) was Niel Gow's best friend and fellow member of Niel's band. He was the family musician of the Mercers of Meikleour, Laird of Aldie who had Meikleour House and was often visited there by Niel Gow, because, according to Niel, the standard of hospitality he received there was second only to that of His Grace, The Duke of Atholl (i.e. the punch bowl was never dry!). When Niel Gow passed away on the 1st March 1807, this fiddle was left to Samson Duncan in recognition of the years of friendship they had shared. And in August 1822 when Sir Walter Scott was commissioned to organise festivities for the visit to Scotland of King George IV following his Coronation, he asked Nathaniel Gow to recruit a band to play at the Grand Ball & Banquet at Hopetoun House. One of the musicians Nathaniel recruited was Samson Duncan, so this fiddle was played at that event. Incidentally, there is a portrait of Samson Duncan holding this fiddle, painted by his son, on display either in Perth Museum & Art Gallery itself or in what used to be Perth City Hall, which is going to be used to display more of the collections held by Perth & Kinross Council when the Stone Of Scone is restored to its historical home in a couple of years time.
d3d00swyhr67nd.cloudfront.net/w300/collection/PKA/PKC/PKA_PKC_4_49-001.jpg
There is also a photograph of Duncan McKerracher with the fiddle dating from 1851 which must tie in with the presentation mentioned on the plaque on the back of the scroll.
2.bp.blogspot.com/-fRATrMzRZLs/VUPFCgQhj-I/AAAAAAACNWs/JD3N61T_EIg/s1600/Old%2BPhotograph%2BDuncan%2BMcKercher%2BInver%2BPerthshire%2BScotland.jpg
When Samson Duncan died in 1837, the fiddle was left to his daughters, neither of whom played, so it was decided to present it as the prize for a fiddle competition organised in Perth, and McKerracher was the winner.
I have to say I have enjoyed listening to this workshop you have presented here and I think you make a lot of sense when it comes to not just interpreting this tune in particular, but also with regards to playing the slow air in the traditional style in general. It's not an easy thing to teach because each individual player is unique and there is no hard and fast formula to follow to interpret a tune like this. The Shetland fiddler Aly Bain is often quoted as saying that "anybody can play the fast stuff, but it's the playing of the slow air that sorts the men oot from the boys". And to my mind, he is so right. The slow air demands so much more of the musician than mere technical ability; it demands the ability to get right into the emotion of the tune and give the heartstrings a real tug. Niel Gow's gem of a tune is, as you say, the perfect tune to show what it feels like to suffer the loss of a life partner and I think you capture it beautifully with that little glissando off the harmonic D. That's the little tug of the heartstrings right there in that little bit that just gets the goose bumps going and sends the shivers up the spine. And you're right about the need to not stick rigidly to a metronomic beat throughout as per the notes on the manuscript when playing slow airs. A slow air is a living breathing entity which should never be rushed and merely played as written on the page. It needs to be stretched out and nurtured in a way that moves the listener and makes the eyes water. If you can do that to an audience, you honour the composer who wrote it.
Before I finish, Paul, are you aware that the picture is back to front and makes you look as if you're playing left-handed? Now I know you're not Angus Grant Snr who plays that way round (always an interesting spectacle given that he doesn't string his fiddle for a lefthander, to my knowledge), but perhaps anyone watching this video who doesn't know you, may well get slightly confused. Just a thought to leave you with. Hope this pandemic will soon be all by us soon and we can get back out there playing soon. Until then, all the best to you and the family. Stay safe!
Aye Colin, thanks for the message; just up to let the dog out so haven't read through your whole message but will come back to you later. I did a recital of the Music of the great Scots fiddle composers on their own fiddles at Celtic Connections last year so had a lone of the Perth Gaelic Society fiddle for that. Due to the Coronavirus Pandic I've landed with having to hold onto it. Was going to hand it back at last year's Niel Gow festival but like every thing else it was cancelled. Still have Nathaniel Gow's fiddle as well.
I like to play with an accompanist... Is this lament best played solo or would it work with a piano or guitar accompaniment? Thank you!
It works equally well played solo, or with piano or guitar and I've done all three. This type of tune needs to be played with dynamics and a fair bit of ebb and flow in the tempo so the accompanist needs to be on the ball to follow the soloist so personally I prefer playing it solo. That said, the great traditional Scottish Fiddler Hector MacAndrew maintained that the music was always best accompanied as without it "it was like bread without jam." Personally I don't really agree with him on that but I know what he means.
@@fingalcromar95 Thank you, I will try it with a piano. I know a wonderful pianist who can read the soloist well. Just for interest, I am a great (5x) granddaughter of Niel Gow, born and bred in NZ. I wonder how far and wide his descendants are 😊
Thank you so much for this lesson! As a pupil of Gregor Borland I really understand what you mean. But in the end every interpreter will find his own way expressing the feelings. What I find interesting to make it sound Scottish. Although your styles are different there are some parameters that make it typically sound Scottish. This is so beautiful. So as a German I can get a feeling for the essence of this music. It's a great gift and I feel really connected to it, wich is so different to Irish music. Practicing daily, it develops more and more to the sound of it. Thank you again for this occasion.
The violin sounds like it is open , so the wood is vibrating on itself, making a noise. Or is it the character of this instrument?
Thanks for the message and I appreciate your comments. Happy new year.
@@fingalcromar95 Happy new year🎉✨all the best to you and your family. Wish a better year than the last one (for all musicians)❇
Nice to Be 106 like and good memories about GIBRALTAR inglish