The Bridge
I am excited to announce the publishing of my book later this
year. It is in the editing stages and a
lot is yet to be done, but it has been accepted for publication. I would like to dedicate my book to George
Custer, my fiddle teacher who passed away recently.
The Bridge discusses the rich music culture of violin playing
and of fiddling. When I first visited
the United States in 1990, I noticed the remarkable similarities between violin
and fiddle technique. I noticed some of
the similar changes both have seen through time, like baroque violin
performance to modern day performance and old time fiddling to bluegrass
fiddling and beyond. The book
intertwines my personal findings with a gradual forming of a philosophy
regarding violin and fiddle playing and teaching both.
I too observed the general opinion between fiddlers and
violinists alike that violin playing and fiddling are two totally different styles. Many times I heard how violinists just cannot
get the feel…they don’t play with a loose wrist, they play with a blanket of
intense vibrato and they have a hard time improvising. In my book I will address these issues.
I have come to believe we can learn to play both fiddle and
violin in the many different styles. We
can teach an all-round approach right from the start. We need no different instruments – yet we
need an appreciation for and understanding of the depth of the styles we aim to
play in.
My research in fiddling from the perspective of a European
violinist with a baroque specialization, took place in the early 90s. I wrote the book around the start of this
century and finished writing it in 2009.
Due to life’s circumstances, it took till today to get it closer to
publication. I look forward to the day
my book is available to a larger public.
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