One-year anniversary

[dylanblawrence]

I first picked up a fiddle on Dec. 5, 2019, and wanted to commemorate my one-year anniversary of playing the fiddle by playing the tune that convinced me to try this instrument in the first place. It is the Scottish tune, Niel Gow’s Lament for the Death of His Second Wife. Certainly not perfect, but hey, it’s gritty and authentic!

[Nick Wilkins]

That’s so good, Dylan – really well done. I hope I can play anything like as well when I’m a year in.

It sounds really celtic, and I love all that double-stopping!

[dylanblawrence]

Thanks so much for the kind words. Not like I am some grizzled veteran or anything, but if I can offer one piece of advice, it would be to take videos of yourself playing the fiddle, and then go back and really study them. When I did this, I realized I was often rushing through certain parts of tunes, and was consistently too sharp on the third finger D note on the A string. I did not realize either of these until I watched myself. Do it!

[jason kleinberg]

Yes!! I like the tone and embellishments.

[Kvmceff]

Nice playing. Very sad. Wonder what the lament for the first wife sounded like?

[Nick Wilkins]

Hopefully this won’t break the spell, @kvmceff but actually Neil Gow’s second ‘wife’ was his violin, which he accidentally damaged beyond repair. Some say he sat on it, but I don’t know if that’s true.

[cynhrossi]

Dylan!

That was wonderful, very inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing…you’ve learned a lot in one year! And you’ve offered good advice. What particular version or music sheet did you use to inspire your arrangement?

Thanks, again, for sharing. I loved your embellishments and double-stops. They really sound good and well placed. You inspired me to go listen to versions of this lovely lament and put it on my list of songs to learn. Bravo!

And I just love that painting on the wall behind you!

Cindy

[Ginny]

I really enjoyed that Dylan! You have a nice tone, and I loved all the double stops. I can see why that song inspired you, it’s beautiful. Thanks for sharing your playing.

[Anonymous]

Beautiful song and beautifully played.
I saw you also played Mallai Chroch Shli. Can you tell me where you got the sheet music for
These 2 tunes? They are wonderful!!!

[dylanblawrence]

All, thanks for the kind words, and sorry for my delay in responding. In answer to the questions:

1) For the sheet music for Niel Gow’s Lament, I believe I obtained it from the abcnotation.com/tunes website. The sheet music is pretty basic.

2) For the embellishments, that is mostly based on my listening to various versions of the song available on Apple Music, Spotify, etc., and implementing the embellishments that both sound good to me and are within my ability. My two favorite versions are by Alasdair Fraser and Chris Duncan. I could listen to them all day.

3) For the sheet music for Mallai Chroch Shli, I could not find sheet music online, so that was 100% trial and error. If you’ve not discovered it yet, the app the ‘Amazing Slow Downer’ is awesome for figuring out tunes for which you don’t have sheet music. It slows down tunes on your device without affecting the pitch.

4) Apparently, Niel Gow’s first wife bore him eight children before she died. She clearly deserved a lament too, but I’ve not found one for her.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Dylan, you’ve been very helpful. Love your rendition of the songs.
Doing great in just 1 year. Happy Anniverssary.

[Carl Sutherland]

Dylan, that was great. Fantastic that you came that far in one year, congratulations
Carl S

[WyoBob]

Great job! One year playing? — Really good job!

[Owen]

Hey Dylan,

Fine job playing, in tune and un-rushed! Glad you posted.

[Jim Guinn]

Very well done, Dylan. I really enjoyed your playing. You’ve done well in 1 year. Keep up the good work!

[kate.kakadu]

Can’t wait to be able to do double stops like that! They add so much to the emotion of the song. I’ve been playing a similar amount of time and haven’t got them yet. Well done, sounded great!

[WyoBob]

I enjoyed your playing very much.
Thanks for posting.

[Author]

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