Cathy Clasper-Torch  

Cathy gave a very well-received workshop to 19 members of the Quiet Corner Fiddlers and fiddling friends on Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

Here's a note she sent QCF after the workshop:

Dear Amanda and Paul, Chuck and Noreen;
 
    A BIG thank you to you guys for the invite to lead a workshop for your awesome group of fiddlers!!   I can't believe we talked about it a year ago, and now it's come and gone!  It was such a delightful evening meeting/hearing the gang--what a fun and talented group you have!!  From the youngest to the oldest (whoever that was!) (actually, it was probably the French fiddler whom I didn't meet!) : )
 
    You'll have to tell me how/when you incorporate your new tunes (and songs!) into your repertoire and performances!  You are so lucky to have an accompanist like Noreen! And great singers as well!
 
     Thanks and love to you and the rest of the fiddlers!
     cathy : )

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At the start of the workshop she had everyone warm up with a bowing exercise - playing full length bow strokes for a G scale starting on the G string, then a D scale, then an A scale. She used the scales to encourage everyone to play double stops... play the G scale with a double stop on the open D and G, and the D and A strings open while playing the D scale.  After briefly explaining the idea of 1/4/5 chords**, she divided the fiddlers into two groups and had one group play chords while the other group played melody for South Wind and Shee Beg Shee Mor.

We played 'South Wind' and 'Shee Beg' by following the guitar chords on the printed music:  

G chord - play the open G string and open D string

D chord - play the open D string and open A string

C chord - play the C (3rd finger on the G string) and E (1st finger on the D string)

  or C sus chord - play the C (3rd finger on the G string) and the open D string.

A chord - play the E (1st finger on the D string) and the open A string

Cathy handed out written music for a 1930s pop song 'Sweet Sue' and the Yiddish tune "Tumbalalaika"  (words to Tumbalalaika ) (simple version of Tumbalalaika melody wrong key, sorry, will look for another version) and used this tune to show bowing techniques... she played the first part of the tune sweetly, and then did a more aggressive bowing on the chorus where she kind of lifted her bow, then did a very strong down bow followed by a short up bow, lift the bow and another short up bow to give a Boom-da-da  kind of rhythm. 

The Irish tune 'Britches Full of Stitches' was used to demonstrate some simple ornamentation and medley'd with 'Red Haired Boy'. Then the song 'The Parting Glass' was used to remind everyone of the idea that if you can sing it, that is a tremendous help in learning to play it!  (words to 'The Parting Glass'  and Parting Glass melody - there are lots of audio versions of this song recorded on YouTube and elsewhere on the net.)

This was a very successful workshop. Everyone enjoyed Cathy's positive guidance and comments and listening to her beautiful playing.

(Matt McConeghy)   (ps if anyone took any pictures or recordings I would be happy to add them here...)

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** Warning - Several Sentences of Music Theory Below !!!!

Cathy didn't have time to explain how this works, but for those who are interested....

Most tunes we play use what we call the 1, 4 and 5 chords.  For the key of C, that would be the C, F and G chords (as in CDEFG). For the key of G that would be the G, A and D chords (as in GABCD).  When we say "G chord" we mean what a musician would call the "G major chord."  A "major chord" is made by using the 1st, 3rd and 5th note in the scale of that key. So, for the key of G the major chord would be (GABCDEF#G) 

OK, so a 'G chord' consists of the notes G, B and D but generally on fiddle you can only play two notes at a time, so
-- if you play the open G string and open D string then you are playing most of a G chord

In the key of G the '4 chord' is C  ( GABCD, right?) -- the C major chord would have the notes C, E and G, (the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in the scale of the key of C)  Or, instead of a 'major' chord you can play some of the various modifications. Cathy suggested a C'suspended' or Csus chord, which gives a neat kind of 'unresolved' sound... Suspended chords are called 'suspended' because they kind of leave you hanging... A regular C chord is CEG but a suspended C chord has CDG or CFG instead... that sounds cool, but it sounds like something needs to happen next! So after you play a suspended chord you either have to 'fix' it by sliding on to the CEG, or as we played, go to the G chord.    

and in the key of G, the 5 chord is D (as in, GABCD)
-- the D chord has the notes D, F# and A (the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in the D scale). So an open D string and open A string are most of a D chord.

for the A chord, the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in an A scale would be (A B C# D E F# G#) or A, C#, E.  So, an open A string and open E string make most of an A chord, or, Cathy suggested using the E note (1st finger on D string) with an open A string to make a more mellow sound.

Here are more links to info about fiddle chords... 

OK, End of Music Theory. :-)

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