# Fiddle Weekend at Halsway Manor in Somerset, October 2015.



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

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I chose the course because it dealt with English folk music - I have difficulty in playing Scottish & Irish reels fast enough - and also because, though it catered for people who played by ear, it also provided music if one wanted. I can play by ear, but I need to know the tune first, and these days find it harder to pick up a new tune and also to pick out the key when a group of fiddlers are playing together - my hearing is not what it was. So I took my own music stand & was glad that I did; so did quite a few others. 

Nevertheless, I was nervous. But the tutors - Nick Wyke, Becki Driscoll & Dave Shepherd - were very kind and helpful. Also, though there were plenty of fiddlers who were better than me, there were some who were worse, and this gave me some confidence. All my fellow-students were very nice & friendly and the ones who were more experienced or who had been before were encouraging too. In my turn I tried to encourage the few who couldn't cope as well as me. 

It was a huge advantage that I'd come because of a recommendation from a member of a fiddle forum that I belong to. I met him at Halsway straight away, and he was so helpful & funny. He was in a different group to me but every time we met up at meals etc he asked me how I was doing & really looked after me. Thanks, amigo!

The course dealt with things that were new to me - improvising within tunes, arranging & developing tunes, and learning about chords and arpeggios. The chords were taught by Dave Shepherd, and he moved too fast for me, because I don't know much about musical theory - but I shall try & improve in this area as I think it would improve my sound. My fiddle forum friend told me that last year he'd struggled too, but he'd worked on it & this year he was really enjoying himself & was joining in properly. 

Becki was a stylish fiddler, producing a wonderful relaxed & vibrant English melodic sound, and she was very kind too. In her class I learned about modes & we tried transposing simple tunes into different keys and noticing what effects it had. Soldier's Joy played in a minor key sounds like a melancholy Russian folksong! This teaching was done largely by ear but was no problem for me. 

Nick introduced us to improvising accompaniments to tunes - chords & arpeggios - and I thought he was brilliant at relating to his class and moving slowly but steadily so that we all made sound progress and could be confident that we were coping.

In the evenings there were sessions in the bar, but because I had my husband John with me, I didn't stay for those. But I gather that they went on late and that as the weekend progressed, the students became much more confident about joining in & also introducing their own tunes. 

On Saturday night the three tutors gave a public concert in the Long Room at Halsway Manor, and John was able to come to that too. We both thought it was fabulous. Dave Shepherd played the first half and gave us a lot of ancient French dance tunes - very lively & with an amazingly rich texture, because Dave's playing is full of chords and he has strong, vigorous bowing too. His love for this music shines out. After a brief interval, Nick Wyke & Becki Driscoll played for us - they did a mixture of English songs & dances, some played in a straight/traditional manner, and others 'jazzed up'. I am a bit of a purist, but I loved their arrangements. They got the audience singing along with them. They are life partners and have a huge rapport with each other and the audience, and are full of fun & jokes. During the final section, the three fiddlers played together. 

On Sunday afternoon the three groups joined together as a 'fiddle orchestra' as we tried out Becki's arrangement of a Scandinavian tune. There were three violin parts, and an access course for those who couldn't cope. Every group had a chance to play the tune, and other sections where we'd play a counter-melody or chords. We could opt for what we thought we could manage. I ended up in the Second Violins, and though in places I hesitated, I was mostly okay. When the Second Violins got the tune, we weren't playing loudly enough, so Becki told us to play fortissimo, and I had the confidence to go for that when we had the final run-through. I really enjoyed being part of an orchestra & following a conductor - it reminded me of when I had been a child in the York Schools Strings Orchestra. I gave up the violin at the age of fourteen or fifteen as a direct result of a mortifying gaffe I made in a concert at the York Guildhall which has haunted me for fifty years. Now, finally, I feel that the ghost has been laid. 

We then played through together all the tunes that the three tutors had taught us, before disbanding. Most people were vowing to go again next year, though the date of the 2016 Fiddle School has not yet been fixed. I think I would like to go again, and I would also like to try other Fiddle Schools.

It has done wonders for my confidence.


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