A difference in style in playing the music of the Shetland I

Trad Irish Music
1

I am learning several tunes from the Shetland Islands (jigs and reels) and was wondering because of the Norwegian influence/heritage, that there were stylistic differences in playing the tunes on the whistle, that would be similiar or different in from ITM.

Especially in accents or accenting a different note etc.

MarkB

Wind Sour, down wind of Detroit

[ This Message was edited by: MarkB on 2002-08-22 16:40 ]

2

I think this is partly connected with the Scottish-Irish question.

Again, there´s no a particular Shetland whistle style so, if we want to play Shetland tunes with whistle in a “Shetland style” we have to look at how the tunes are played with a traditional instrument, in this case, the fiddle, and see how can we adapt that style into the whistle and which else can we add to it.

I´ve played some Shetland tunes with the whistle (Jack broke da prison door, Da day dawnes, The Full rigged ship…), what I do is trying to sound similar to the Shetland fiddlers I´ve heard and, beacuse of the Norse influence, picking things from Norwegian and Swedish fiddlers.

I like playing these tunes with dynamics, some syncopation; I play very few rolls, no crans, but trills, triplets, double-taps, more strong occassional tonguing, etc…

The Swedish multi-instrumentist Alle Moller has recorded a CD with Aly Bain in which they play Shetland music with a strong Nordic bias. Alle Moller plays whistles on some tunes.

Cheers,

Manuel Waldesco

3

Hi Manuel

Thanks for the reply. I have several CD’s on order including Alle’s. Plus I will be ordring some Norwegian TM just for a listen.

I dearly love ITM but I am a rover when it comes to tunes. Two years ago I started with A Dossan of Heather and have been working my way east and north.

So much music so little time.

Mark

4

I have an old LP of Norwegian fiddling with a few Shetland tunes on it. The notes allude to the influence of Norwegian music on Shetland music. I also picked up somewhere a tape of Shetland tunes played by Tom Anderson. I think he was Aly Bain’s teacher. There’s a booklet with the tunes and a few words about each. I don’t get much sense of the style from that but I haven’t listened to the tape in ages. The Ale Moller/Aly Bain recording is a winner.

Steve