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Abstract
This article examines the formative interaction between instrumental technique and musical style by analysing different approaches to the violin/fiddle. It is argued that technique is constitutive of style and that musical concepts are intimately related to the accumulated experience of sensations associated with handling the instrument in a particular way. The point of departure is the initially open nature of the violin's expressive affordances, and how these are defined through the interactivity between a performer and an instrument. Two cases are analysed with a focus on how an individual approaches the violin/fiddle in terms of technical solutions (including instrument hold, left-hand posture and bow hold) that are involved in the production of stylistic signatures. The analysis supports the argument that the violin/fiddle is a highly flexible technology, the expressive potential of which can only be assessed by considering the vast diversity of approaches with which the instrument is engaged.
Notes on contributor
Dr Mats Johansson is associate professor of Traditional Arts at the Telemark University College. His research focuses on music's role in the formation and negotiation of cultural identities; discourses and practices of style and genre; representations of gender in musical performance and historiography; rhythmic performance and microrhythm; musical learning and embodiment; vocal performativity, authenticity and musical subjectivity; music and interactive media; and authorship, copyrights and cultural ownership. He was recently postdoctoral researcher on the Norwegian Research Council-funded project Popular Music and Gender in a Transcultural Context, where he worked in close collaboration with Professor Stan Hawkins.
Notes
1. In this context, unorthodox approaches refer to the ways of holding and handling the instrument that are markedly different from those prevalent in classical violin schools and institutionalised teaching.
2. Be it noted that attempts to make a distinction between the concept of style and that of genre commonly defines genre as a category or type of music (the what), while style is defined as a way of making music or a manner of articulation (the how; see Hernandez Citation1995; Moore Citation2001). This illustrates how music terminology is contextually bound, which in the current case exposes an overlap between technique (when being distinguished from style) and style (when being distinguished from genre). In other words, both technique and style may refer to the how aspect of the process of music making, that is manner rather than matter. Moreover, in the style/genre case, as well as that of technique/style, the distinction between manner and matter is severely complicated by the fact that categorical determination (which genre? and which style?) often is made with reference to criteria that have more to do with manner (how/with what technique the music is performed) than with matter (the type of composition being performed/the character of interpretation achieved through a particular technique). This being said, the uncomfortable convergence of concepts (particularly that of technique and style) is the very premise on which the main arguments in this article rest.
3. In lower-level teaching, even repertoire is often presented and used as if stylistically neutral. For instance, in Scandinavia, the standard violin instruction literature is filled with folk tunes (mostly Scandinavian and ‘Celtic’) without the implication that students should specialise in, or even be taught the basics of, the styles of playing with which this repertoire is associated.
4. Clearly, violin études are not really stylistically neutral; they are built on scales used in some styles of music while not in others, and they will inevitably carry the traces of the musical concepts held by their creators. However, études do not necessarily resemble actual pieces of music. Rather, they are designed to improve the student's control of a particular technical skill. Yang (2006, 12) defines études as ‘instructional musical compositions that concentrate on specific technical aspects. The word étude is originally French, and its English translation means study, a piece for practicing’. He also states that ‘studying études is one of the most essential parts of learning a specific instrument. A violinist without a strong technical background meets many obstacles performing standard violin literature’ (Yang Citation2006, 3).
5. In addition, some of O'Connor's own compositions are included in the teaching material.
6. Accessed March 18, 2013. http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/200911/10653/.
7. Accessed March 18, 2013. http://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/200911/10653/.
8. Another striking example of the difficulty of separating technique from style is the persistent use of grace notes and other embellishments in traditional fiddle styles. Considering that these elements are present almost by default (and likely cannot be removed at will), their use is often better described as a part of the very technique of handling the instrument (i.e. the way in which the fiddler more or less unknowingly begins/forms a tone) than as stylistic adornments added to the melodic line.
9. Similarly, with regard to singing, Rebecca Plack (2008, 3) asserts that ‘many stylistic gestures are in fact grounded in a singer's habitual vocalism’, ‘that much of what we call style actually has its roots in a singer's technical habits’ (Plack Citation2008, 26).
10. This is a frequently recurring issue in forum posts and discussions on the web (see, e.g. http://www.thesession.org/discussions/ and https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A0=IRTRAD-L).
11. The whole argument rests on the premise that mastering a style is a matter of definition within (sub)culturally negotiated boundaries (Johansson Citation2010). In other words, the criteria by which a musician is considered to have learnt to master a new style are not idiosyncratic but socially and institutionally determined within ‘stylistic communities’.
12. See Jensenius (Citation2008) and CitationShapiro (2010) for an overview.
13. This view stands in stark contrast to the widespread notion of a mainly one-directional ‘chain of cognitive events between musical concept, technique and performance’ (Holmes Citation2005, 220). Likewise, when Holmes insists that expert performers carry an internal blueprint of their ideal performance which they work long and hard to follow (Holmes Citation2005, 222), there seems to be little room for imagining the chain of cognitive events being reversed, i.e. a chain as in performance – technique – concept.
14. The following clip is a flamboyant example (the tune is a reel called ‘Charlie Lennon's no. 4’): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx8lRx7BTTA.
15. What is referred to here is not triple subdivision of the beat but a type of ornament which is emblematic of Irish traditional music – a very rapid burst of notes, the speed of which is independent of the tempo of the tune (see the Hayden clips for examples).
16. Hayden's ‘solo’ recordings (Hayden Citation1988, Citation1999) feature several ‘duets’ with himself on both the fiddle and the banjo. At times, the two instruments are remarkably synchronised down to the slightest ornamental onset. It is also noticeable that the solo fiddle tunes are crafted in the same way as on the ‘duet’ tracks. These observations are interesting in light of the notion that the idiomatic constraints of different instruments are allowed to dictate the way ornaments are performed and assessed (Cowdery Citation1990). For instance, in Irish traditional music, instruments with completely different sound-producing properties frequently perform in unison, meaning that the actual realisations of ornamental figures will have to differ. To take one out of many examples: on the bagpipe, one cannot play three tones of the same pitch in succession (as in the fiddle/banjo triplet). The solution is a so-called ‘crann’, where very short notes or cuts are placed so as to interrupt the melody note and create the impression of a subdivision in three. Importantly, these (triplet vs. crann) and other ‘styles’ of ornamentation are completely compatible, and their coexistence does not disturb the experience of being synchronised. In a way, then, Hayden's approach challenges this stylistic logic of idiomatic appropriation by ‘insisting’ on assimilating the fiddle to the banjo. Or, to stay more in line with the overall argument in this article, his fiddle style/technique demonstrates how the idiomatic features of the fiddle/violin are not given once and for all.
17. The following clip is representative of the effortless virtuosity and playfulness of Hayden's banjo style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udQWcXkTeE0.
18. The following clip is illustrative of all the above points, including the abundance of staccato triplets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfcqGJBxxSg.
19. Setesdal is a district in southern Norway known for its peculiar spoken and musical dialect. The latter is characterised by dance tunes called gangar in duple metre. In the associated style of playing, fiddlers utilise extensive droning and ornamentation combined with rhythmically distinctive bowing figures which often include polymetric phrasing (see Levy Citation1989). Daniel Sandén Warg has specialised in this regional style to an extent that few can match, this in contrast to Cathal Hayden's more eclectic stylistic orientation.
20. The following clip with Sandén Warg performing the tune ‘Heggtveiten’ is illustrative of many of the points discussed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAp0WK8qoPQ.
21. Alternatively, style is (re)defined to mean the type of repertoire being performed, which would arguably empty the concept of meaning and usability.