The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles

Abstract

This is a an introductory ethnographic account of one of the liveliest musical sub-cultures in the British Isles. In Volume One the first chapter sketches in the general ethnography of the islands and surveys the historical sources that inform one on music-making and on the role of the fiddle and its repertory up top the beginning of World War Two. Chapter Two brings the history of the tradition up to date with a set of biographical sketches compiled from field interviews with some fourteen fiddlers selected from a variety of island communities. Such aspects as how they learned to play, how the repertory is transmitted, performing practice and the social context of their music-making are illuminated through the words of the musicians themselves. The musical repertory is then discussed. A typology of dance tunes is derived from terms used by the musicians themselves. The style of some of the earliest pieces, mostly now obsolete, suggests links with Scandinavian musical traditions, while the remainder of the repertory, which is principally dance music, suggests increasingly strong Scottish influences on Shetland culture. Musical style is discussed in Chapter Four and the influence of social context is examined, particularly the relationship between dancing and its music. Two 'folk' terms are singled out for special attention - namely 'lift' and 'lilt' - which are considered to be of paramount importance in good fiddling. Bio-mechanical factors are also discussed insofar as they affect musical range, tonality and modality. A number of 'fiddle keys' are identified and the unresolved question of the use of 'neutral' intervals is also briefly examined. The performing style of several fiddlers is also analysed so that the distinctive features that mark out one musical community from another can be identified. Such differences are considered to be a function of the relative past isolation and the social self-sufficiency of the Shetland communities. A final chapter discusses change in recent years and relates the changing social role of fiddlers to changes in musical aesthetics and performing style. Changes in the mode of transmission are also scrutinized, in particular the increasing use of recordings and broadcasting media and the introduction of formal teaching of 'traditional' fiddling into Shetland schools. The author concludes that this, together with the diversification of musical culture in Shetland are likely to have a profound effect on the tradition. Volume Two contains some 70 musical transcriptions used for illustrating discussions in Volume One, as well as lists of recordings of tunes and texts lodged for further study in the archives of the School of Scottish Studies. A cassette containing 35 of these recorded examples is bound into the back cover of this volume.

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