I want to learn some more fiddle slow airs and I have the book, "100 Slow Airs" along with the cd. However, what I'm hoping is that some ne can recommend to me is recordings of great fidders that include one or two slow airs.
A few other questions:
Who has set the standard for the fiddle slow air?
Is it wrong to play double stops or chords in a slow air?
What makes a great fiddle slow air?
I'm very confused about the whole slow air genre. Thanks,
I am a big Liz Carroll fan. Though she is known more for her brilliant fast fiddling, she does play airs beautifully. Check out Lament for the First Generation on her website: http://www.lizcarroll.com. I think that tune is on Lost in the Loop. Not sure if a lament is technically an air, but...whatever.
I am no expert but it seems to me that there are many legitimate ways of playing slow airs. Some great players of slow airs (Tommy Potts, Neillidh Boyle) use double-stopping so I wouldn't worry about that if you feel like putting some in. I don't think there is a single standard.
Some slow airs players I like include Potts and Boyle, also Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. And John Doherty does a nice job too.
If you search any of these fiddlers in the database most of their CDs will have slow airs on them.
I have heard that Matt Cranitch did a whole CD of slow airs and he is a good fiddler so that might be worth checking out. There is a Topic CD called "Coolin'" which is all slow airs, though not all fiddlers.
A great feeling for the music makes a great slow air. Some players keep close to the song tune, others take great liberties (like Potts).
But you shouldn't listen only to fiddlers on slow airs, listen also to flautists and pipers and whistlers. I can't say I'm a big fan of slow airs on the box though some players make valiant attempts.
The Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland by Tomas O'Canainn: Book and CD is a good source. Better than the Waltons book, I think. Variety of instruments on the CD. Short but useful intro. in the book. I bought my copy from Ossian Publications in Cork.
I won't rise to the comment re slow airs and box players!!! Except to say that most box players don't seem to bother to try and play airs.
Mind you, I was listening to a fiddle CD by Paul McNevin, I think it is, instructional one. And I must say, that I don't think slow airs are his strong suit. So perhaps, it just comes to the person - after the air is best played an expression of something within, regardless of instrument.
For me the famous Kerry fiddlers Julia Clifford, Dennis Murphy, and Padraig O'Keeffe play the most engaging airs on fiddle. Their albums usually include a good proportion of that too. (along with slides and polkas) Kevin Crehan's CD also has a nice selection of slow airs, followed by the dance tune versions of the preceeding air.
I don't think it is wrong per se to play double stops and chords in your airs - try telling Mrs Ellen Galvin that! Do check out recordings of sean nos singers too if you're serious about learning slow airs.
I'll second the feedback on Liz Carroll. "Lament For The First Generation" was part of Mick's documentary on the Irish immigration to America in the 1800's. "A Decade and a Day" on her Lake Effect album is great also.
Katherine, you asked who has set the standard for the slow air. This would be the singers, most especially the sean-nos (old style, without the little slanty thingy because I'm too lazy to go look it up on my character key map, again) singers, and especially the ones who sing in Irish. I've heard over and over again that, while it's certainly possible to play a pretty air without knowing what the words of the air are, you cannot really get to the real heart and soul of the piece without having learned the song in the Irish (unless of course it's only out there in English!).
Somebody I know sent me an e-mail from a workshop they took from a fiddler who was talking about this -- I'll try and find it and post the info for you. It was very interesting.
Agreed about singers! I've learned as much about timing and phrasing of slow airs from listening to Namh Parsons sing as I've learned from listening to Kevin Burke, Tommy Peoples, Johnny Cunningham, etc, play.
I'm sorry Katherine we've all concluded that you'll just have to learn Irish & you can't have my credit card, sorry it's been getting heavy usage lately
Hmmm. A friend just sent me this, which is lovely, though it wasn't the e-mail that I had in mind -- which went into detail about how the sung words and internal rhymes and rhythms influence the way you ornament and bow the air...
Hmmm.... This is a problem. Maybe I could put on Niamh in one ear and Tommy Potts in another and try to imagine them wrestling?
Seriously, I have some Seanos cds, but want to hear the airs played by 'the great ones' --fiddle masters. But I think you're probably right as well, Zina; especially when getting into the heart of th tune, I just need to start at 'a tune'!
I have the Tomas O'Canainn recordings, but I was unimpressed. If I find something that I really like from all these suggestions, I'll be sure to post it.
BTW Mike, another charge is just additional sky miles to Ireland. (At least, that's what I like to tell myself.)
Um, well, at "a song", perhaps. I can't seem to find the aforementioned e-mail, drat it. Someone, a fiddler who was teaching, was demonstrating how the Irish words for the songs, with their internal rhymes and rhythms, would clearly affect how you would ornament and bow the air. Whoever it was who sent it to me was saying that the fiddler's examples were incredibly illuminating. Wish i could find that e-mail or remember who sent it to me!
Katherine, if Brendan McGlinchey gives slow air workshops in the USA, make a point of attending. You'll learn a lot from one of the best around.
Or, if you can, come over the Pond to the Scoile Eigse in Ireland where he's one of the leading gurus.
I'll also second what Zina has just posted - a knowledge of Gaelic is essential if you want to get serious about slow airs.
Eugene O'Donnel, Slow Airs and Set Dances is good (http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display.php/771), and Johnny Cunningham does a *gorgeous* setting of "the Mist-covered Mountains". I think it's on Fair Warning under another name--does anyone know if it's also known as "Sad Is My Fate (Is Bronac Mo Cineamuin)"
Are you talking about only Irish fiddlers? I think Scottish fiddlers tend to play slow tunes more often. Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham in fact record more airs than reels or jigs. Not very famous yet, but try Patsy Reid's solo debut album: http://www.tradmusic.com/artistinfo.asp?artistID=656 You will never be disappointed with her playing of three gorgeous slow airs.
As for Irish fiddlers, I personally love Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh's playing of a song air on "Ceol Aduaidh": very straightforward but sounds like a real human voice. And check out this edition of Ceili House: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7august.ram Junior Crehan's interpretation of slow pieces is just outstanding.
Some of the best slow airs for fiddle come from Donegal. They have a different character to other regional airs. The Glackin brothers (Paddy, Séamus and Kevin) are well known for their solo and unison playing of airs. I'll hoke out some tune names from my CD collection.
As mentioned above, Matt Cranitch made a whole recording of slow airs. I haven’t heard it, but he is one of the best slow-air players around, and I would think it worth a gamble. It’s titled “Aisling Gheal” and is on the Gael Linn label. I also had been going to recommend Eugene O’Donnell’s recording, but checked out the track listing and there are only 2 slow airs on it, most of the tunes are set-dances. Sean Keane of the Chieftains has a couple of very heavy slow airs on his first solo recording on the “Claddagh” label.
I’d echo the recommendation for Brendan McGlinchey. I reckon the best playing of a slow air on fiddle I ever heard was played by him at the first Jimmy McHugh Memorial week-end, and that was recorded on video. “Copperplate” Distribution in London were selling it, and proceeds from the sale of that particular recording go to funding the annual week-end which is held every January in Glasgow in memory of Jimmy. Unfortunately, because of different video formats, I don’t think it would be much use to you if you’re in the USA though.
Eugene O'Donnell did another recording called "The Foggy Dew" with pianist James MacCafferty, and that one is pretty much all slow airs. Eugene was a master of the slow air. He's still alive at home in Derry, AFAIK, but I hear that due to old age he no longer plays, sadly. But his playing is well worth listening to and learning from. Like the recently-deceased Sean McGuire, Eugene was occasionally criticized for having too much classical influence in his playing, but in most peoples' opinions his sheer musicality more than made up for any of that. In his youth, he was a classical violinist, but at the same time he was a champion step dancer. Perhaps that's why he was best known for his playing of the set dance pieces as well as the airs.
Both of Eugene's albums - "Slow Airs and Set Dances" and "The Foggy Dew" were released on Green Linnet in the vinyl/cassette era. I don't know if either of them ever made it onto CD. The Green Linnet website doesn't show either of them in the current catalog. But keep an eye out for them - you never know where a copy might turn up...
Speaking from a Scottish fiddling persepective, I would have to say Duncan Chisholm is the king of slow airs. Check out his albums, Redpoint and Door of the Saints. Whenever he plays these, the entire room just goes quiet. He is a legend. And there are some slow airs I know which DO use double stopping - Prince Charlie's Last View of Scotland is one, and is beautiful. But they are not very common, perhaps because it is more difficult to get the tone and vibrato normally used in slow airs when you are playing two notes together, one of which is probably an open string. There are a few types of slow air as well - the old gaelic type, some of which originated as songs and therefore i would agree with everyone saying you need a bit of gaelic knowledge to do them justice, and also the big meaty slow airs written by those such as Niel Gow and Skinner. These two types of piece are both great but totally diferent from each other and use different styles and techniques.
Fiona, I'd second you regarding your comments about Duncan Chisolm. Very good point about the Gaelic airs too - there are some little played, but very special ones to be found in the Fraser collection.
Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
I want to learn some more fiddle slow airs and I have the book, "100 Slow Airs" along with the cd. However, what I'm hoping is that some ne can recommend to me is recordings of great fidders that include one or two slow airs.
A few other questions:
Who has set the standard for the fiddle slow air?
Is it wrong to play double stops or chords in a slow air?
What makes a great fiddle slow air?
I'm very confused about the whole slow air genre. Thanks,
Katherine
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by fiddle_around
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
I am a big Liz Carroll fan. Though she is known more for her brilliant fast fiddling, she does play airs beautifully. Check out Lament for the First Generation on her website: http://www.lizcarroll.com. I think that tune is on Lost in the Loop. Not sure if a lament is technically an air, but...whatever.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by tara~the~fiddler
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Hi Katherine,
I am no expert but it seems to me that there are many legitimate ways of playing slow airs. Some great players of slow airs (Tommy Potts, Neillidh Boyle) use double-stopping so I wouldn't worry about that if you feel like putting some in. I don't think there is a single standard.
Some slow airs players I like include Potts and Boyle, also Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. And John Doherty does a nice job too.
If you search any of these fiddlers in the database most of their CDs will have slow airs on them.
I have heard that Matt Cranitch did a whole CD of slow airs and he is a good fiddler so that might be worth checking out. There is a Topic CD called "Coolin'" which is all slow airs, though not all fiddlers.
A great feeling for the music makes a great slow air. Some players keep close to the song tune, others take great liberties (like Potts).
But you shouldn't listen only to fiddlers on slow airs, listen also to flautists and pipers and whistlers. I can't say I'm a big fan of slow airs on the box though some players make valiant attempts.
Mike
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by 2ndFiddle
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
The Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland by Tomas O'Canainn: Book and CD is a good source. Better than the Waltons book, I think. Variety of instruments on the CD. Short but useful intro. in the book. I bought my copy from Ossian Publications in Cork.
I won't rise to the comment re slow airs and box players!!! Except to say that most box players don't seem to bother to try and play airs.
Mind you, I was listening to a fiddle CD by Paul McNevin, I think it is, instructional one. And I must say, that I don't think slow airs are his strong suit. So perhaps, it just comes to the person - after the air is best played an expression of something within, regardless of instrument.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by the wounded hussar
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
For me the famous Kerry fiddlers Julia Clifford, Dennis Murphy, and Padraig O'Keeffe play the most engaging airs on fiddle. Their albums usually include a good proportion of that too. (along with slides and polkas) Kevin Crehan's CD also has a nice selection of slow airs, followed by the dance tune versions of the preceeding air.
I don't think it is wrong per se to play double stops and chords in your airs - try telling Mrs Ellen Galvin that! Do check out recordings of sean nos singers too if you're serious about learning slow airs.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by Eldarion
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Thanks for all these suggestions! Names that I recognize and should own, but don't.
So if Mike, Eldarion go ahead and give me that credit card number and all hop right over to amazon. ;)
Katherine
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by fiddle_around
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
I'll second the feedback on Liz Carroll. "Lament For The First Generation" was part of Mick's documentary on the Irish immigration to America in the 1800's. "A Decade and a Day" on her Lake Effect album is great also.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Katherine, you asked who has set the standard for the slow air. This would be the singers, most especially the sean-nos (old style, without the little slanty thingy because I'm too lazy to go look it up on my character key map, again) singers, and especially the ones who sing in Irish. I've heard over and over again that, while it's certainly possible to play a pretty air without knowing what the words of the air are, you cannot really get to the real heart and soul of the piece without having learned the song in the Irish (unless of course it's only out there in English!).
Somebody I know sent me an e-mail from a workshop they took from a fiddler who was talking about this -- I'll try and find it and post the info for you. It was very interesting.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Agreed about singers! I've learned as much about timing and phrasing of slow airs from listening to Namh Parsons sing as I've learned from listening to Kevin Burke, Tommy Peoples, Johnny Cunningham, etc, play.
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by sara g
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
I'm sorry Katherine we've all concluded that you'll just have to learn Irish
& you can't have my credit card, sorry it's been getting heavy usage lately 
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by 2ndFiddle
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Hmmm. A friend just sent me this, which is lovely, though it wasn't the e-mail that I had in mind -- which went into detail about how the sung words and internal rhymes and rhythms influence the way you ornament and bow the air...
http://brendantaaffe.com/irelandjournals/index.php?p=5
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Hmmm.... This is a problem. Maybe I could put on Niamh in one ear and Tommy Potts in another and try to imagine them wrestling?
Seriously, I have some Seanos cds, but want to hear the airs played by 'the great ones' --fiddle masters. But I think you're probably right as well, Zina; especially when getting into the heart of th tune, I just need to start at 'a tune'!
I have the Tomas O'Canainn recordings, but I was unimpressed. If I find something that I really like from all these suggestions, I'll be sure to post it.
BTW Mike, another charge is just additional sky miles to Ireland. (At least, that's what I like to tell myself.)
Katherine
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by fiddle_around
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Um, well, at "a song", perhaps.
I can't seem to find the aforementioned e-mail, drat it. Someone, a fiddler who was teaching, was demonstrating how the Irish words for the songs, with their internal rhymes and rhythms, would clearly affect how you would ornament and bow the air. Whoever it was who sent it to me was saying that the fiddler's examples were incredibly illuminating. Wish i could find that e-mail or remember who sent it to me!
# Posted on April 7th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Katherine, if Brendan McGlinchey gives slow air workshops in the USA, make a point of attending. You'll learn a lot from one of the best around.
Or, if you can, come over the Pond to the Scoile Eigse in Ireland where he's one of the leading gurus.
I'll also second what Zina has just posted - a knowledge of Gaelic is essential if you want to get serious about slow airs.
Trevor
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by lazyhound
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Sounds like my credit card isn't much good anyway. I should trade it in for an Aer Lingus!
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by 2ndFiddle
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Eugene O'Donnel, Slow Airs and Set Dances is good (http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display.php/771), and Johnny Cunningham does a *gorgeous* setting of "the Mist-covered Mountains". I think it's on Fair Warning under another name--does anyone know if it's also known as "Sad Is My Fate (Is Bronac Mo Cineamuin)"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display.php/412
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by s1m0n
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Are you talking about only Irish fiddlers? I think Scottish fiddlers tend to play slow tunes more often. Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham in fact record more airs than reels or jigs. Not very famous yet, but try Patsy Reid's solo debut album: http://www.tradmusic.com/artistinfo.asp?artistID=656 You will never be disappointed with her playing of three gorgeous slow airs.
As for Irish fiddlers, I personally love Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh's playing of a song air on "Ceol Aduaidh": very straightforward but sounds like a real human voice. And check out this edition of Ceili House: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7august.ram Junior Crehan's interpretation of slow pieces is just outstanding.
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by slainte
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Some of the best slow airs for fiddle come from Donegal. They have a different character to other regional airs. The Glackin brothers (Paddy, Séamus and Kevin) are well known for their solo and unison playing of airs. I'll hoke out some tune names from my CD collection.
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
As mentioned above, Matt Cranitch made a whole recording of slow airs. I haven’t heard it, but he is one of the best slow-air players around, and I would think it worth a gamble. It’s titled “Aisling Gheal” and is on the Gael Linn label. I also had been going to recommend Eugene O’Donnell’s recording, but checked out the track listing and there are only 2 slow airs on it, most of the tunes are set-dances. Sean Keane of the Chieftains has a couple of very heavy slow airs on his first solo recording on the “Claddagh” label.
I’d echo the recommendation for Brendan McGlinchey. I reckon the best playing of a slow air on fiddle I ever heard was played by him at the first Jimmy McHugh Memorial week-end, and that was recorded on video. “Copperplate” Distribution in London were selling it, and proceeds from the sale of that particular recording go to funding the annual week-end which is held every January in Glasgow in memory of Jimmy. Unfortunately, because of different video formats, I don’t think it would be much use to you if you’re in the USA though.
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by Kenny
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Eugene O'Donnell did another recording called "The Foggy Dew" with pianist James MacCafferty, and that one is pretty much all slow airs. Eugene was a master of the slow air. He's still alive at home in Derry, AFAIK, but I hear that due to old age he no longer plays, sadly. But his playing is well worth listening to and learning from. Like the recently-deceased Sean McGuire, Eugene was occasionally criticized for having too much classical influence in his playing, but in most peoples' opinions his sheer musicality more than made up for any of that. In his youth, he was a classical violinist, but at the same time he was a champion step dancer. Perhaps that's why he was best known for his playing of the set dance pieces as well as the airs.
Both of Eugene's albums - "Slow Airs and Set Dances" and "The Foggy Dew" were released on Green Linnet in the vinyl/cassette era. I don't know if either of them ever made it onto CD. The Green Linnet website doesn't show either of them in the current catalog. But keep an eye out for them - you never know where a copy might turn up...
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by johnkerr
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Speaking from a Scottish fiddling persepective, I would have to say Duncan Chisholm is the king of slow airs. Check out his albums, Redpoint and Door of the Saints. Whenever he plays these, the entire room just goes quiet. He is a legend. And there are some slow airs I know which DO use double stopping - Prince Charlie's Last View of Scotland is one, and is beautiful. But they are not very common, perhaps because it is more difficult to get the tone and vibrato normally used in slow airs when you are playing two notes together, one of which is probably an open string. There are a few types of slow air as well - the old gaelic type, some of which originated as songs and therefore i would agree with everyone saying you need a bit of gaelic knowledge to do them justice, and also the big meaty slow airs written by those such as Niel Gow and Skinner. These two types of piece are both great but totally diferent from each other and use different styles and techniques.
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by Fi
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Fiona, I'd second you regarding your comments about Duncan Chisolm. Very good point about the Gaelic airs too - there are some little played, but very special ones to be found in the Fraser collection.
# Posted on April 8th 2005 by Ron P
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Try "The Lament for Oliver Goldsmith" Seamus Creagh on the CD with Hammy Hamilton and Con O'Driscoll
# Posted on April 9th 2005 by Ian Stevenson
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
Alisdair Fraser did an album with a cello player that might be of interest for the Scottish traditional contribution. (^:
# Posted on April 9th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: Fiddle Airs??- Recommend Cd Recordings
> Try "The Lament for Oliver Goldsmith" Seamus Creagh on the CD with Hammy Hamilton and Con O'Driscoll
...or indeed Seamus Creagh playing any slow air. "Lament for Kinsale" is another fine example. Easily one of my favourite fiddlers of today.
# Posted on April 11th 2005 by Presumin Ed