Chiff and Fipple Forums

I'm two months into learning fiddle myself, and found that waltzes seem to sit well with learning to bow, and you get all that nice practice with long tones. Hector the Hero can be played on the D and G strings only. Josephin's Waltz dips to a Low C and stretches up to a high G but it was very memor...

I'll chime in also about set-up. The price you mentioned for a beginner's instrument seems reasonable. And there are many good beginner's instruments in that price range. Ease of play is the thing, so the action should at least be checked by a luthier. I'm just learning fiddle, also on my own with t...

Well, after looking around at some of the guitars mentioned in this thread, and letting the whole thing simmer a bit, I ended up getting a cheapy dreadnought with a solid spruce top and ply sides. It's a house brand guitar of a big Canadian Music store chain (the brand is "Northland"). Sor...

Sorry, I think my description of the Burns flute should be "having a lot of resistance", not high backpressure. I think that those are two different qualities.

mike

I've noticed that some flutes seem a bit louder to the player compared to others. At my session we have folks who play a Hamilton, a LeHart, Seery, M&E original, and I play a Rudall-style flute made by Jon C. My first flute was a Casey Burns std. We swap instruments around. All of these seem to ...

Does anyone here know if a 3/4 sized viola can be strung as a violin? Pardon the de-rail on the the thread, but the question came up for me the other week. A colleague of mine grew up playing viola in Quebec, and she'd like to try Irish music and dust off the viola that she last played. It's a 3/4, ...

How about a teardrop or pointy-shaped ring that would fit snugly around the metal part of the tuning slide? It could be just wide enough so's not to interfere with tuning, and removeable by separating the barrel from the headjoint? Or put a bead on a hair elastic and wrap it round a few times. Or an...

I'm thinking that The Macarena would sound killer on button accordion, though 8) . Imagine getting the basses going... Ooh, another one: An Feochn (sp?) is a no no on banjo. :lol: I don't even think it would sit well on fiddle, but that might just be because I've always thought of it as "that b...

I think that "Music for a Found Harmonium" sounds dreadful on flute, but nice on fiddle. Likewise some of those tunes with lots of pedal type passages. (e.g., Devils' Dream, The Golden Keyboard), or those tunes that have those ascending patterns like The Mason's Apron, sound nice on fiddle...

Jim, Nothing really to add to the above excellent posts, other than to further say that that wasn't at all a stupid question. An even if it was, well :lol: It's a bit worrisome to read a post that contains the plea: "please don't flame me". One wonders what other forums you've been burned ...

I learned Calliope House with the B-part (high) first, so whenever we play it with people outside our two usual session crowds, we yell "Calliope B-first" during the set. Creates some confusion, but oh well.
Others that come to mind are The High Reel and The Skylark.
Mike

I have a Waltons C that has some sort of lacquer on it from the factory. My fingertips have burned splotchy spots around the holes that I can't polish out like my plain brass ones. I suppose if you went with a thicker lacquer it might help, but don't most brass/wind instruments have shiny pearl bits...

Molloy and Keane's "Contentment is Wealth" is all tune sets and is just Flute/Fiddle and Guitar. Marcus O'Murchu's debut album O Bheal GoBheal (sp?) has 21 tracks on it, mostly tune sets with some nice mixolydian and dorian tunes. Sort of a sparse recording, mostly duets with guitar or 'zo...

Fun question. Lots of stuff to consider and rant about :) One of the biggest aha! things I've read here is that Pratten flutes get a bad rap for needing more air because something about the bore or whatever makes them very forgiving, so you can still produce a decent tone with a more relaxed embouch...

Thanks for the heads up on that. I really hadn't considered an Epiphone as a potential purchase. That's a very nice looking guitar in that link. There are some Epiphones at the local Long and McQuade music store. I'll go strun a few and star scouring Ebay and such when I'm ready to buy.
Mike