Wind that shakes the barley (fiddle lesson)

The wind that shakes the barley is one of the most widely played Irish reels. In this fiddle lesson I give three versions of the tune. The first is simplified, and is useful either for beginners on the fiddle, or as a skeleton on which to develop more complex techniques. The second version is more complete, with all the crotchets (quarter notes) replaced by quavers (eighth notes), and the third version has ornaments, mostly rolls. I then discuss some other ornaments and variations, including slides, bowed triplets (trebles), open string drones and lift-offs, all of which can be used at will, particularly over the notes which were initially quarter notes.
I use on-screen sheet music throughout, and a free pdf of these versions of The Wind that shakes the Barley is available to subscribers (see below).
I have a book, "Exploring folk fiddle", which examines many of the basic concepts such as ornamentation, variation and bowing, and also has many other Irish fiddle tunes.
Below are details of further fiddle resources from Chris Haigh
1. Patreon
2. Books
3. Subscription video courses
4. Website
5. Email to request pdf’s.
1. PATREON
This is a platform where anyone can help support creative artists and get closer access to their work. You can join me on Patreon at three levels, for £4, £10 or £40 per month.

At the lowest level you get access to all my pdf’s and tune collections, plus many exclusive tuition videos not available to the public.
At level 2 you can join also me once a month for a group Zoom chat, and can request three backing tracks each month.
Level 3 gives you all the above plus a free lesson once a month, and access to all my backing tracks.
You can find me on Patreon at
/ thefiddlechannel
2. BOOKS
I have seven fiddle tuition books published by Schott Music, all widely available from the publisher, from Amazon, and many other outlets. All come with audio tracks illustrating the tunes and exercises.
Exploring Jazz Violin
Beginning Jazz Violin
Discovering Rock Violin
Exploring Folk Fiddle
Exploring Klezmer Fiddle
Hungarian Fiddle Tunes
French Fiddle Tunes
Exploring Country and Bluegrass Fiddle
You can order from
bit.ly/31ZWmgm
3. VIDEO SUBSCRIPTION COURSES
I have three video subscription courses
MUSIC GURUS- Exploring Jazz Violin. Based on my Schott book
Parts 1 and 2 are each £26 for 26 lessons, covering the first and second halves of the book
Part 1; tinyurl.com/49tfk5ef
Part 2 tinyurl.com/23atebfc
-MUSIC GURUS Discovering Rock Violin. . Based on my Schott book
£35 for 46 lessons
tinyurl.com/2ua2kuxh
ACADEMY OF FOLK
Includes a folk fiddle primer course, with introductions to basic techniques and concepts plus an Irish Fiddle course. A monthly sub of $9.99 gives access to all lessons
academyoffolk.com/
4. WEBSITE
My website is probably the most extensive and detailed summary of fiddle styles on the web, as evidenced by the range of top hits on Google for many fiddle styles.
www.fiddlingaround.co.uk
_______________________________________________________________________
TO REQUEST PDF’S, or ask any questions, CONTACT ME AT
[e-mail]

[@Arrayarr]

This is a great lesson! Thank you!

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Thanks Bob!

[@dalemcgregor3925]

Woo Hoo! Thanks Chris. Wonderful version.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Thanks Dale.

[@orbitsc2]

It kind of drives me crazy how Irish trad supposedly doesn't have any swing but here we are. I've read that the closest thing to swing is heavy and light notes but both styles of rhythmic devices are found all over the place. Thanks so much for mentioning the swing and ending aspects!

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Glad you found this interesting!

[@jimdorans4527]

Good explanations, Chris. I have been playing that tune on and off for years, but had forgotten its name! I've now given it a bit of extra growl on the viola :) Now, at around 08'03 you compared the "stop" (lifting the bow) to flute players taking a breath, then you said (if I understand you correctly) fiddle players tend to imitate pipers. Did you mean to say "imitate flute players"? Also, I came up with a little variation on the repeat. Not sure if I invented it, or inadvertently nicked it from elsewhere in the past, but it works quite well, I think, especially if you lift the bow to his the bottom two open string. It's on the 1st 2 bars of the A part, and it goes, in abc notation, A2AB AFED | B2 [G,D]A BcdB | Thanks for another good video!

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Jim. Regarding my comment at 8.03, my point was that trad fiddlers tend to imitate pipers- ie, the bow never leaves the strings. So the lift off (copying the flute, instead) makes a nice change.

[@jimdorans4527]

@@TheFiddleChannel Ah, right. Thanks for the clarification.