Irish, Scottish and Appalachian Fiddle Music: Talk and Demonstration

"Playing with the Fingers or on the Bow: Style and Technique in Irish, Scottish and Appalachian Fiddle Music" features Alan Jabbour (Appalachian, www.alanjabbour.com/index.html), Jamie Laval (Scottish, www.jamielaval.com/home.html) and Henry Benagh (Irish), with moderator Paul Wells.
The fiddle session was part of "Making Connections: The Celtic Roots of Southern Music," a conference and concert series presented by the W.B. Yeats Foundation that took place at Emory University's Cannon Chapel on April 27-29. Lectures, demonstrations and panel discussions explored the connections between the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and the American South and examined the role of folk music as a vital part of community, past and present. Concerts combined the musical traditions of the Celtic lands and the American South.
The W. B. Yeats Foundation, based at Emory, promotes a greater understanding and appreciation of Irish culture and its connections with the American South.
The conference "Making Connections: The Celtic Roots of Southern Music" was produced by James W. Flannery and coordinated by Lora McDonald of the W.B. Yeats Foundation.
www.wbyeatsfoundation.org/Yeat...

[@David-sc2ir]

I never gave it much thought as to music and my 'root's' in Appalachia... until I took a trip to Ireland. WOW, was that an eye-opener! I fell in love with this country, I fell in love with the warm people, I fell in love with the pubs and the kindness these people so warmly share. I traveled high and low across the country and came across so many things I so completely identified with... but nothing more than the music! Evenings at the pubs were filled with tunes that I would have thought were from my Virginia home. I was taken by the rough life the Irish have had, not unlike the rough life many an Appalachian has had... but they endured, they are a rugged people who persevere no matter what. I was in County Tipperary and found my family name plastered on several stores... and I wondered... is this where I'm from?

[@brucecollins4729]

type in.....scottish fiddle playing and it,s irish connections( although it should read the other way round) . the fiddles been in scotland since at least the 1500s. this musi might have ben in the appalacians before ireland. taken there by scots settlers.

[@johnsmith-bx4rn]

@@brucecollins4729 the guys telling you he's been to Ireland and feels an affinity with Irish people ' he actually loves the the native Irish and their culture their way of life , and all you do is keep repeating the same ridiculous nonsense and saying it should read the other way round , have you got a screw loose

[@brucecollins4729]

@@johnsmith-bx4rn first of me noticing your reply. a was merely stating where irish music came from...a kin post a few links if you want. here,s just one to start with, type in.....the irish session separating the myths from facts......these sessions have been in scottish and english pubs/homes/barns for centuries. you can also type in.....music essays traditional irish ireland.......he,s right when he says shot thru with scottish compositions.....a know a lot,too many to mention. here,s another. type in.......history ireland re-inventing tradition the boundaries of irish dance helen brennan........you will see where your ceilidths came from...eventually shortened to ceili in ireland.......type in.......learning about the irish reel dance irish american mom.....then type in...the jig dance tradition 500 years and still counting......there'a lot more. were you around when what is now called irish music/song started in the 50s.....no,a thought no. well a was. the clancies were actually actors turned singers in the 50s and due to their limited repertoire adopted many scots and english sangs also the tooraloo diddlydee nonsense style. many older sangs like suill aroon the dulaman also scottish.

[@paulmatchen838]

The Scottish pipe tune at 10:00 really sounds like bagpipes. Well done!!

[@ClueFinderDirtDigger]

I scrolled to the comment section to remark on the same thing! So impressive!

[@RichardDCook]

It sounds like bagpipes but not much like Scottish fiddlers like Alasdair Fraser.

[@JustFiddler]

indeed !

[@DCarnold84]

Appalachia is a separate identity from English, one of the biggest groups was the Scots-Irish or more accurately the Ulster Scots that came from what is today Northern Ireland. It was a real American mash up of mostly Ulstermen, Scots, Germans, French, and English settling in the upper south in the 18th century. The tunes played came from all those groups.

[@chrishall2594]

I live in west virginia. Aroumd the country where my family is from is a lot of Irish and Scot descendants. Family surnames that go straight back to the 16th century still reign supreme here. We actually came through Virginia via Kentucky and settled eventually underbelly of west virginia (which actually has more in common with Kentucky culture than upper West Virginia). We are Williamsons through my maternal line. We come from Wales and then before that Ireland but we passed through Scotland. All Williamsons are said to be descended from William the conqueror.

[@r33sus8]

my grandpa was a very respeced fiddle player in my area, our fiddle music takes alot of influence from irish and scottish, sadly he passed away back in '97 but still listening to the fiddle 20 years later

[@JustFiddler]

😇

[@doubledee88]

R.I.P Alan. Great video these guys made, learned a lot.

[@M96Swedish]

My G. Grandmother's family was from Liscannor Claire Ireland. Maiden name of Sexton. This music is in my blood

[@TheWendable]

The sound improves at 1.50 stick with it 😀

[@amandahawkinsbirthkeeper]

This video was very informative and educational! Exactly what I've been looking for. I'm starting to learn the fiddle, and it is actually difficult finding videos about different kinds of "fiddle" music vs classical violin. Thank you so much for this discussion video!

[@blueskyfiddle]

wow, so amazing, Jamie Laval makes the fiddle sound just like the bagpipe!

[@AndieDenise]

Beautiful :) So much insight and wonderful music...

[@simon39825]

Nice!

[@DCarnold84]

I'm glad someone else thought his bowing style a bit unconventional. I couldn't see anyone dancing to that...more of an interpretation than the honest to god playing of the Jig of Slurs. But hey, that's the beauty of fiddling!

[@ejain1012]

anyone have a link to the sheet music for these pieces, especially the highland tune at ~10:00? Thank you!

[@mattw.keating7019]

Great discussion. As a fiddler I found this very insightful. It's a shame people can't keep their prejudices and warped (and mostly wrong) historical theories to themselves. Also the level of sectarian nonsense here is really troubling.

[@mattw.keating7019]

Nice try, but I never actually mentioned the Ulster Scots nor suggested they were sectarian..

[@scrimshank1]

Sure Drop Kick Murphys etc might sing it, but check out the story of "Amazing Grace" and its author John Newton (1725-1807)

[@strutt01]

58:15 sounds like he called it the old church yard. Just one of those things you MUST hear!

[@CKE142B]

Unfortunately, the audio quality during some of the speaking is poor. The playing is quite good.

[@ameenatippie8308]

Leave him alone. I'm a Scottish girl married to an irish girl. Very educational.

[@nebuchadnezzarofbabylon3896]

3:06 ; 9:59 ; 16:49

[@sq8449]

The World Series of Fiddle....

[@JustFiddler]

OMG ini sangat bermanfaat ! aku suka sekali ! matur suksma

[@JustFiddler]

aku juga suka loh

[@AndyHirt]

Why wasn't there someone from Cape Breton? Except for the first fellow, these guys sound like they're from a conservatory. Nova Scotians have kept the old way of playing to a greater degree, both in pipe music and fiddle music. As Bernstein mentioned, a nation's music is slightly different because it sits in a slightly different place in the harmonic series (Scottish is slightly higher).

[@jdgrahamo]

I've never seen a Scottish fiddler play like that. I didn't bother waiting around to hear the third player.

[@miceforlent]

I have to agree. A great impression of the pipes but this and the other tunes he played being Scottish fiddling? ...Hm! It's an American style with some roots in Scotland I think.

[@alanwann9318]

Perhaps a light swing was missing from the Scots +Irish ,listen to Dave Swarbrick.

[@echatterwa2]

90 percent? That strikes me as a ridiculously high number. The Ulster Scots population in Appalachia is always exaggerated. According to surname and migration pattern analysis, they made up no more than 30% of the original Appalachian settlers. The solid majority of the settlers were English (mostly from western and southern England).

[@runawaysuzie]

I can't believe it, you fiddlers. Not only do you admit what you are, but you talk openly and almost as though you're proud of it. The law exists for a reason!

[@joeysheehan]

and you think Amazing Grace is an English tune!

[@alanvt1]

Ulster Scots! true pioneers! Protestant work ethic! ..........Catholic south came much later as labourers on the railroads etc.

[@tommack9395]

Anglo imperialism vied control of what was to eventually become of the UK forcing people trying to cling to their cultural identity to move along. From Scottish lowlands to Ulster - hanging around a 100 years or so - Then Post colonial (American) revolution ... Scott-Irish "Trail-Blazers", well they flooded America in the first great wave of immigration, So they started on to Pennsylvania to escape religious persecution then branched out on south and west - example the area of West Virginia in 1790 had a population about 55,000 had tripled by 1830. Ironically these people melted and assimilating culturally in a new land. ;)

[@frankpallister]

mostly nonsense! henry is the real fiddler but there is no irish music in early appalachian because of the english and german puritan settlement it is called the bible belt and of course the bible was banned for roman catholics which irish people were .that exclusion changed after the civil war and the potato famine but fiddle playing was already established. i love irish music but lets get the facts right

[@trevorpennington3911]

No just look at the ancestry (or even their names) of the inhabitants of Appalachia. There were some Germans, but most were clearly Scott-Irish.

[@christinebenagh3201]

Well, Henry's family came to America--and to Appalachia before 1800. They were Presbyterians from County Down. Scots Irish were all over early America, well before the famine.

[@jimmy27paul]

Ireland wins.