I have seen two or three discussions on how to play scratch triplets on the fiddle but I'm trying to learn and need all the help I can get. If these questions have already been covered in another post, would you please provide the link to the discussion?
What tunes would be good to use in practice ---maybe a tune that requires a lot of scratch triplets?
How did you learn to play them?
Is there a tutorial on the web?
To get the scratch sound, do you apply more pressure with the thumb and index finger, or is it just a very small flick of the thumb and index finger with no downward pressure?
Does the scratch triplet consume the same amount of time (get the same number of beats) as a melodic triplet or a fast roll? (i.e., How do you count it?)
Where do you use them in a tune vs. melodic triplets?
How do different fiddlers do their scratch triplets (Tommy Peoples' vs. Eileen Eivers' vs. Liz Carroll's, for example)? Do some of them use some downward pressure at the time the index and thumb are flicked and others don't? (I've heard Tommy Peoples hits the frog end of the bow with his pinky--does he also use pressure?)
too many questions. And the answer to all of them is "it depends".
I'm not being facetious, it's just that there is so much variation.
But basically, that scratchy sound comes from too much pressure on the bow to get a clean sound. You end up snagging the string rather that cleanly vibrating it.
Tommy Peoples doesn't whack the stick with his pinky--it looks that way because his pinky (like many of not most trad fiddlers) isn't clamped to the stick, so it flutters a bit from the hand motion of the triplet.
Better, too, not to think of it as a "scratch" triplet. Scratch is something you want to add sparingly. More important to hear all three distinct bits of the triplet.
Tommy Peoples *used* to (by most accounts) flick the end of the bow with his pinky, but he doesn't anymore. Michelle O'Brien picked it up from him, and last I heard, still manages to do "the flick" quite well. But it's a rare trick.
Tommy would, however, point out that he starts his triplets with an up-bow, which is a bit less common than starting on the down-bow...
Beyond that, FiddleCrazy, if you want to learn to play triplets, you just have to do them over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Eventually you'll get the sound you want to get.
Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
I have seen two or three discussions on how to play scratch triplets on the fiddle but I'm trying to learn and need all the help I can get. If these questions have already been covered in another post, would you please provide the link to the discussion?
What tunes would be good to use in practice ---maybe a tune that requires a lot of scratch triplets?
How did you learn to play them?
Is there a tutorial on the web?
To get the scratch sound, do you apply more pressure with the thumb and index finger, or is it just a very small flick of the thumb and index finger with no downward pressure?
Does the scratch triplet consume the same amount of time (get the same number of beats) as a melodic triplet or a fast roll? (i.e., How do you count it?)
Where do you use them in a tune vs. melodic triplets?
How do different fiddlers do their scratch triplets (Tommy Peoples' vs. Eileen Eivers' vs. Liz Carroll's, for example)? Do some of them use some downward pressure at the time the index and thumb are flicked and others don't? (I've heard Tommy Peoples hits the frog end of the bow with his pinky--does he also use pressure?)
Thanks
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by FiddleCrazy
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
too many questions. And the answer to all of them is "it depends".
I'm not being facetious, it's just that there is so much variation.
But basically, that scratchy sound comes from too much pressure on the bow to get a clean sound. You end up snagging the string rather that cleanly vibrating it.
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
It takes an extremely short stroke too - I rarely can do it in
context - but that's the least of my problems
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by mhuppert
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
no, it doesn't have to take a short stroke. (though the loss of proper notes in a longer stroke may not sound that good)
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Tommy Peoples doesn't whack the stick with his pinky--it looks that way because his pinky (like many of not most trad fiddlers) isn't clamped to the stick, so it flutters a bit from the hand motion of the triplet.
Better, too, not to think of it as a "scratch" triplet. Scratch is something you want to add sparingly. More important to hear all three distinct bits of the triplet.
Here are some relevant threads:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/8870/
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/6022/
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4190/
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/39/
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4385
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4823/
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Some good reels for practicing bowed triplets include:
Brenda Stubberts
Crossing the Minch
Silver Spear
Maids of Mount Cisco
Road to Lisdoonvarna (the reel, not the slide)
Really, you can take any tune phrase that begs for them and run it over and over.
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
As Jeremy says in the comments - this tune is 'triplet-heaven' - it is of course Fermoy Lasses
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/219
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by domnull
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Rolls are nicer in Fermory Lasses. Scratch triplets? Scratch me arse!!!!!!
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by richard white
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Of course rolls are nicer in Fermoy Lasses. (But Jeremy can't play rolls on his bazouki)
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
I've never heard alec finn do a triplet in my life, and he's the greatest BOUZOUKI player in the Irish music idiom.
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by richard white
Re: Learning Scratch Triplets on the Fiddle
Tommy Peoples *used* to (by most accounts) flick the end of the bow with his pinky, but he doesn't anymore. Michelle O'Brien picked it up from him, and last I heard, still manages to do "the flick" quite well. But it's a rare trick.
Tommy would, however, point out that he starts his triplets with an up-bow, which is a bit less common than starting on the down-bow...
Beyond that, FiddleCrazy, if you want to learn to play triplets, you just have to do them over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Eventually you'll get the sound you want to get.
# Posted on May 9th 2008 by Georgi