Mel Bay's Fiddle Sessions | Mary Ann Willis - Arranging Fiddle Tunes to Teach Violin Techniques, Part 9

From Mary Ann Willis:

The intention of this series of articles is not to present the tunes as they are traditionally done. Instead the goal is to use easy, popular music as a vehicle for the student to practice and learn more advanced techniques.

I created these versions of these tunes for my students, who enjoy them and their increased mobility around the fiddle with both left hand and bow as a result of learning them. This series is an alternative to the drudgery of Sevcik, Mazas etc. - to help inspire the beginning student to tackle intermediate techniques.

From the editor: This is the final in this series of articles by Mary Ann. Thanks to her for all the work.

Click to listen to Cotton-Eyed Joe.

This Texas favorite starts off with a 4 taters intro, droning open A with open E, using the Nashville shuffle bowing.

We'll use the song to learn and practice the Georgia shuffle bowing. Take the first of the two pickups to section A in a downbow. Slur the second pickup note on an upbow into the first two notes of section A. This will place the third note of that measure on a downbow, which will be automatically accented by bow speed as you pull a fast bow to give yourself enough bow for the subsequent three slurred upbow notes.

This is the essence of the Georgia shuffle bowing: placing the offbeat (2nd and 4th beats) on a single, naturally accented, 8th note downstroke, and slurring everything everything else into a three-note upbow slur. It gives the song a "kick."

If you like this technique and those in my other webzine articles, you may be interested in my new "Hot Fiddle!" DVD. It gives you s. . l. . o. . w, clear visual demonstrations, with licks and tunes to practice each of these tricks on, as well as many more (including the famous Orange Blossom cross-shuffle bowing, various scales and rhythmic devices, flashy bounced bowings and much more).

Happy fiddling!

- Mary Ann

Thanks to Kelly Lancaster for the backup guitar tracks, and Dan Lewis for the audio engineering.

About the Author:

Professional violinist, performing and teaching in Houston Texas
1977-1999 with The Gypsies. 2000-present with Moodafaruka
Author of eight book/recording volumes of ethnic and classical music for Mel Bay Publications (5 published to date under Mary Ann Harbar)
Played with numerous symphony orchestras throughout the United States, and the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy
Houston Community College faculty member starting in 1988
BA in music from University of California