East Coast Fiddle Style

This style of Scottish fiddle music owes much to classical music and tunes from this area tend to be more technically demanding compared with tunes found in other parts of the country.

The following characteristics of North East fiddling can be noted:

- Staccato and other classical bowing techniques.

- More difficult keys including many tunes in flat keys.

- Chromatic passages.

- More difficult double stops and even triple stops.

- Higher position work, sometimes beyond third position.

- Precision of rhythm and intonation.

- Frequent use of unison notes.

Some of the bowing techniques and rhythms are specific to North East fiddle playing e.g. the up driven bow, and the use of classical ornaments such as turns and trills.

The first fiddlers were mentioned around the late 17th century and the Browns of Kincardine and Cummings of Freuchie were respected players and composers of fiddle music, especially strathspeys, in Aberdeenshire in the 18th century.

As with other areas of Scotland the North East would have had localised individual styles but these have now mostly been lost and the term North East Fiddle Style has come to mean the music in and around the east coast around Aberdeen and south almost to Perth. This area was greatly influenced by classical music and the best known fiddlers of the day received patronage from the aristocracy and landed gentry who could appreciate the classically related style. Some of Scotland’s best known fiddlers such as Niel Gow (1727-1807), Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831) and William Marshall (1748-1833) were considered great exponents and composers in the North East style. Other players, including those that take us to the present day, are the Hardie family, Scott Skinner (1843-1927), Hector MacAndrew (1903-1980), Bert Murray (b.1913), Paul Anderson, Douglas Lawrence and Jean - Ann Callender.

The classical influence in the North East fiddle tradition is seen not only in the way it is played but in the tunes and keys. There are lots of slow airs and strathspeys. Unlike the Highland tradition where many tunes were borrowed from the pipes the tunes from the N.E. were written by fiddlers for the fiddle by some of the fine exponents mentioned above.

The airs and strathspeys in particular were often demanding of good technique and used flat keys and position changes, double stopped chords and intricate bowing patterns.

William Marshall stated “that he did not write music for bunglers” indicating that the fiddle composers of the North East had a high expectation of the common standard of playing required for their tunes. Scott Skinner wrote tunes that today are considered virtuosic on the fiddle. The Mathematician from The Scottish Violinist is a good example, with its use of chromatic passages and high position work. The type of tune most commonly associated with the North East fiddle style is the strathspey and the secret of good strathspey playing lies in the bowing especially the up bow.

These notes on styles of fiddle playing in Scotland are taken from the book Traditional Scottish Fiddling published by Taigh na Teud. In the 144 page book there are tune examples of all the styles and a Cd of good Scottish fiddlers to illustrate the points.