Vibrato in Old Time Fiddling?

Yesterday I observed a fiddle contest and noticed some participants using a lot of strong vibrato.  They scored high and I felt it a good opportunity to reflect:

Among Old Time fiddlers, I have heard discussions and opinions being shared regarding the use of vibrato.  Certain Old Time fiddlers are convinced that this particular style of fiddle playing must be without any form of vibrato. Then again, depending on their regional tradition, other Old Time fiddlers have a slightly varied idea allowing for limited use of vibrato. I vividly remember the comments of an Old Time fiddle judge at a contest: some of the contestants were using vibrato while playing Old Time tunes and that was absolutely against the rules of Old Time fiddling.  Another Old Time fiddle judge, with a slightly different fiddle tradition, was of a different opinion and felt that some vibrato could be used, though sparingly.  It goes without saying that these two judges had very different opinions on the performance and the style in which the tunes were played.  

The question arising here is: are we discussing fiddle style or a violin approach to fiddling?  Is strong vibrato impressive and does it indeed enhance the fiddle tune?  I can't help but wonder. I have come across similar discussions regarding Baroque violin performance and it is my opinion that vibrato can indeed be used both in Baroque violin and fiddle music if used sparingly with a sense of enhancing the note or phrase.   Jaap Schrӧder mentions in his book, "Bach's solo violin works, a performer's guide": Vibrato has had an expressive function at all times; its application in the “warming up” of long notes was basic to early vocal training.  One could say that the sound becomes ornamented, and indeed the vibrato, like the trill, belongs to a repertoire of ornaments.

In other words I believe it takes a lot of musical control and understanding to use vibrato in fiddling...I was not impressed with the vibrato use I heard in the fiddle contest.  However, times and opinions change.  It remains an interesting topic and I'd love to hear your thoughts...

     

A loose wrist only in fiddling?

Fiddlers profess the importance of the loose wrist movement. Some of the finest fiddlers have explained to me how different fiddle bowing is from bowing by violinists. They emphasize that in order to play a good sound fiddle tune, it is imperative to have a loose wrist. It has come to their attention that violinists, on the whole, do not use that technique. To me this is a very interesting observation.

In order to use the circular bow movement, as tends to be the norm among Baroque musicians, one cannot ignore the wrist. The wrist in these strokes will have to be loose. The intense use of the lower part of the bow and the fast, crisp passages in Baroque music invite a loose wrist. A typical 16^th note phrase with repeated string changes - as one can find for instance in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi - loses its character, intensity and speed if they are executed solely with the arm. One can imagine a frantic arm-waving violinist, who may well be in trouble. Good violin technique involves the use of a loose wrist. However, the wrist is not the power source but rather the conductor of power driven by the arm. Violinists use the arm to support a full and varied sound. Therefore the use of the wrist is integrated in the total bowing technique of any good violinist. The use of the wrist is really dependent on the music itself and the style of music.

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