Jump to content

Swedish fiddle tunes


John Adey

Recommended Posts

I heard a superb fiddle player called Rowan Luis Piggott at the Baring-Gould festival in Okehampton last October. Amongst other things he played a few Swedish tunes (a love of mine) and mentioned that he had produced a book of tunes. I bought it, via his website at:

 

www.RowanPiggott.com

 

I'm finding it an excellent source and thought other lovers of 'Scandi' stuff would be interested. It contains over 80 tunes, mostly with well written harmony lines as well as guitar chord symbols, plus lots of background information about many of the composers and a sketch map of Sweden with the various regions shown. If you are looking for more Swedish stuff I recommend it.

 

Apart from hearing him play on the one occasion I have no connection with Rowan.

 

Oops, sorry. He looks to have sold out, but hopefully that's reason to re-print, There's a sample page on his website.

Edited by John Adey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Arrived in the post from across the pond already yesterday, and it might even have been there a few days, as I had not even looked since Friday.

 

While I haven't had a chance to play any of the tunes just yet, I read through several of them before bed and at least in my head they sounded wonderful.  Sight-reading the peculiar rhythms and syncopations of Scandinavian music do give one pause though.  (Ha!)  I'm figuring that one concertina should be possible to play both the 1st and 2nd fiddle parts on some of these, although the lack of the low A reversal and the low Bb on my 26 button Anglo may complicate matters for a few passing harmony notes.

 

I have this on the nightstand now ready to hand; my location for whatever one thing I'm most delighted to keep perusing at the moment.   Very glad you let us know about it John!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Tradewinds Ted said:

the lack of the low A reversal and the low Bb on my 26 button Anglo

 

maybe you fancy considering the use of a tad of solder... ?

 

(partly depending on what you have under button 6 of course)

 

best wishes - ?

 

Edited by Wolf Molkentin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you like it Ted.

I find playing both lines on the one instrument great practice for familiarising yourself with harmony, even if it doesn't always quite work out. Maybe you can find an alternative harmony note that's accessible.

But my experience is purely with the EC, so this might not apply.

Happy exploring!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...