CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
Southern American Folk Fiddle Styles — Ethnomusicology
- Key
- burmanhall1975-southern-fiddle-styles
- Authors
- Burman-Hall, Linda C.
- Issued
- 1975-1
- Type
- article-journal
- Container
- Ethnomusicology
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 47-65
Raw CSL JSON
{
"URL": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/849746",
"page": "47-65",
"type": "article-journal",
"issue": "1",
"title": "Southern American Folk Fiddle Styles",
"author": [
{
"given": "Linda C.",
"family": "Burman-Hall"
}
],
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
1975,
1
]
]
},
"volume": "19",
"container-title": "Ethnomusicology"
}
Claims
-
Citing Samuel Bayard, Burman-Hall writes that traditional fiddlers keep several equally acceptable ways of playing certain passages in mind, and that even fiddlers who insist on one 'correct' version introduce alterations; over time such re-creation can change, merge and recombine tunes.
"Bayard feels that each traditional player has several alternative and equally acceptable ways of playing certain passages in mind for at least some of his tunes"
-
Burman-Hall identifies the convention of perpetual variation as the most profound characteristic distinguishing folk fiddling from fine-art violin playing: the traditional fiddler may realize the outline of a tune differently each time, chiefly through changes in bowing (rhythm) and melody.
"Although many differences between fine-art violin and folk fiddle performance techniques are illustrated by the foregoing, the convention resulting in perpetual variation of material is the most profound distinguishing characteristic. The traditional fiddler may realize the outline of the tune in various ways each time it is played."
-
Burman-Hall distinguished four Southern fiddle substyles (Blue Ridge, Southern Appalachian, Ozark and Western) partly by where and how much fiddlers vary a tune: Blue Ridge players concentrate variation in the coarse (low) strain; the Southern Appalachian region produces the most major variants; and Western (Texas and Oklahoma) variation is deliberate, with few of the incidental variations found elsewhere.
"Variation is characterized by deliberate changes, with few instances of the incidental variation so universally found in other style areas."
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