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| The Fiddle | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Riddles & Jokes | Is it okay to call a violin a fiddle, or is that a gross insult? | |||||||||||||||||||
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It grows in the woods, It bellows in towns, If you guess what it is, I'll give you a pound. Why do they call it a "fiddle" and not a "violin?" Okay, here's another one... What's the difference between a violin and a fiddle? It's a fiddle when you want to buy it and a violin when you want to sell it. For answers to other Big Questions I have received go to Good Question! |
Yes. It is okay to call a violin a fiddle, though it seems that when one calls a violin a fiddle they have implied that that particular instrument is for whatever reason not a violin of quality. Let me explain: Way back in the medieval days any instrument that was played with a bow was called a fiddle or depending on one's native langauage a fedylle, fiele, ffythele, phidil, vithele in English; viele, vielle, viula in French; Fiedel, Videl, Vigel in German; viella, vidula, viola, in Latin; fele in Norwegian; and vihuela de arco in Spanish. You can see from sounding out the words above that fiddle is probably the term that would have most easily evolved if the English and the Germans had perfected the instrument that we know today as the Violin. But it came into its own in Italy. And the Italian words for "fiddle" sound more like "violin." | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Big Question! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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What is the difference between the fiddle and the violin? This is probably the question any fiddler is most often asked and here's an answer: The only real difference is the way the instrument is played. Both are the same instrument. If there was a technical difference in the structure of the instrument it might be in the bridge. An instrument that is played as a violin generaly has an arched bridge. This allows for bowing of single string more easily that the flattened bridge that is sometimes seen on a "fiddle." The flattened bridge can cover a multitude of errors in pitch and stroke of a note. One string hides the sound of the other, in a sense. But it can also enhance the sound. Playing two strings at a time allows for chording (such is also done in classical playing) and also the addition of a drone string, a string played along as the melody line is being played on an adjacent string. Beyond that, a violinist may have learned a song from a piece of sheet music, then followed the arranger's notations for playing the piece, adding bits and pieces of one's own soul and heart for interpretation of a piece, of course. A fiddler, learns a tune maybe by sheet music, maybe by ear, then "fiddles" with the tune till they get it right. We all had to start somewhere. What would we self taught pros have done without Mel Bay? Here is a link to the Mel Bay Company site. A book and cassette I always recommend to beginners is "Kid Fiddle." The tunes are simple but popular among fiddlers. The print is big if your eyes are bad. They have other great books for learning violin and fiddle, too. Check them out.Here's how to get there: The Mel Bay Company | ||||||||||||||||||||
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