Shetland Fiddle Style

The strongest influence on Shetland style fiddle music was probably the Hardanger fiddle and its music introduced from Norway around the end of the 16th century (“da muckle fiddle wi mony strings”). The hardanger has five sympathetic strings below the regular strings that resonate when a tune is played on the upper strings. There are many tunings used in Norwegian music. The bridge of the hardanger is much flatter than that on a fiddle allowing two strings to be played simultaneously, thus “the ringing strings” that is common in Shetland traditional tunes. By the early 1700’s the fiddle as we know it had been introduced but the Hardanger’s influence on both the music and dances remained.

Some areas of Shetland had distinctive stylistic features; in the island of Yell players tended to use the upper half of the bow with continuous short bow strokes; in the island of Unst the up beat and down beat quavers were accented more for a heavier sound. Often fiddlers from both these islands used scordatura tuning, ADAE being popular. On the island of Whalsay fiddlers used few slurs and when they did it was often to create a “back bowing” style that made for very distinctive accented rhythm. Versions of some Scottish tunes could also be found in the Shetland repertoire. Poor transport communication between the islands resulted in a variety of regional versions of the tunes though the fiddlers on the fishing boats often exchanged tunes.

There is now a general style known as Shetland style but this has only happened in more recent times. With much better transport links between the islands fiddlers can meet up and swop tunes much more easily. With fiddle tuition in Shetland schools and many fiddle groups, Shetland music is now going from strength to strength. However the music has become much more standardised and sadly many of the regional styles and versions have fallen out of use.

In Shetland fiddle music had two main functions. It was played for ceremonial/descriptive music and it was also played for dancing. Shetland had some unique dances but though many of these have died out the tunes still remain.

Shetland players of the last century played with their fiddle on the upper arm rather than on the shoulder and under the chin. It has been suggested that this is the reason for many of the older tunes being in D and G as this position restricts the freedom of the left hand to reach the 4th finger and change position. Some of the old tunes were neither major nor minor but modal, as is also found in some Highland fiddlers’ pipe tunes and as is found in the traditions of Norway and Cape Breton. The tonalities of some Shetland tunes also differ from the normal in that a tune may change key dramatically within its parts. Most mainland tunes will stay in the same key. Shetland reels have similar endings to mainland hornpipes and imply syncopation frequently in the tunes.

Scordatura, drones, strong accents, particular bowing styles, playing in octaves all lead to stronger sound and this may be the reason for their use in Shetland music in the days before amplification, pianos and accordions.

The following characterstics of Shetland fiddle music can be noted:

- use of ringing strings, octaves and other double stops

- syncopated rhythms and strong accents

- frequent use of cross bowings

- scordatura tunings

- changes of key within tunes

- preservation of ritual and work tunes