The violin is traditionally associated with western style Classical music. Musicians who learn the violin do so by reading printed music, playing exactly what is written from one note to the next. The music associated with playing the violin is often regarded as being complex and challenging. One example of an accessible sample of violin classical music is Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. When this piece was written by Tchaikovsky it was regarded as such a difficult piece that nobody could play it. It was dedicated to a violinist named Leopold Auer who was not able to play it, but he was able to teach it to a number of his students. Now most serious caliber violinists can play this piece, but it still continues to be beautiful and challenging.

The violin is also commonly associated with Indian classical music. There is also a written tradition here, but it involves more improvisation than western Classical music offers. On the other hand, fiddle styles of music have preserved aspects of music that Classical violin music lost during the 16th century and 17th century. Many musical selections played with a fiddle are written in scales that the classical violin no longer makes use of. Also, there is a lot more improvisation involved in playing the fiddle, which was especially popular during the 1700s. Classical violinists also play instruments using different tunings, but the most popular tuning is GDAE, which was settled on in the 1700s. Occasional fiddle styles and tunes require changing the way that the instrument is tuned. There are a wide variety of different fiddle traditions ranging from Cajun to Scottish, from Irish to Canadian and from Cape Breton to Old Time.

There are multiple styles of fiddling within different regions, like Irish fiddling styles which vary significantly from one country to the next. Fiddling is not passed down through written music, but rather through oral tradition, as younger fiddlers tend to do their learning directly through older fiddlers. Currently most fiddlers are still learning through one another, either through in-person training or through music recordings.

Oral tradition has a completely different affect on music in interesting ways. Fiddlers may not exactly remember directly what someone else played, and therefore may adapt the music to themselves, playing some notes differently. Fiddlers often play for dances, so they vary the tunes so that they are not simply repeating themselves over and over again while people complete an entire dance set. Some traditions are related historically when it comes to fiddling, which sets it apart from the traditions set forth by violin playing. For example, a song called Devil's Dream was originally a tune from Ireland, but it became an Appalachian Mountain tune throughout history. The Irish version and the Appalachian version differ significantly, and yet there is still something between them that is common to both versions.

Originally posted 2009-01-07 05:47:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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cape breton, classical violin, classical violinists, different regions, fiddle styles, fiddle traditions, fiddlers, fiddling styles, improvisation, indian classical music, leopold auer, musical selections, oral tradition, playing the violin, printed music, styles of music, tchaikovsky, violin music, Violinist, western classical music