An introduction post

[stuntviolist]

Hi. As you can see from my username I'm a violist and I'm interested in learning to fiddle. I also play guitar and a little mandolin. I've been learning some folk tunes on my viola (I hope that's not too wrong) and thought I might be able to get some support here. Are there any other violists playing folk music around? Maybe sometime soon I'll

Comments

[dracostellae]

Yep, I'm a native violist. I added fiddle about nine years ago, but I still play folk songs on the viola, and I am our Celtic band's only violist. :)

Playing folk songs on the viola is not wrong at all. :) I find that slower pieces sound quite nice on viola, but I tend not to do jigs and reels on it so much, as the viola always sounds just a bit muddled and growly when I do them. But I do play them on the viola, and that's how I started.

Good on ya! We need more violists, folk or no! :)

[stuntviolist]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one. When I brought it up to some other violists they seemed to think I was nuts.

I've also noticed the growliness when I try to play faster stuff. I do think the hornpipes I've played sound neat on viola.

[dracostellae]

They do. :) There's a hornpipe or two that our director has me play on the viola rather than the fiddle.

[rutemple]

The fellow who keeps the ultimate Viola-joke database is himself a violist who plays folk tunes; I don't know if he's a member of this community or not (hey, JCB?)

http://www.mit.edu/people/jcb/jokes/

[stuntviolist]

Really? Interestingly he emailed me a couple of weeks ago because he saw my username and liked it. Small world.

[treecipitation]

I play fidle but love violas. Someday I hope to have a 5-string fiddle and the best of both worlds. There's a violist who comes to my local Irish session and plays the melodies of the slower tunes, and bass/harmony lines to the reels. It sounds awesome.