Talk: Fiddles And Violins

Collected by Absie Morrison Mary Celestia Parler; Campbell, Ark. Transcribed by November 6, 1954 Neil Byer Reel 222, Item 3 Fiddles And Violins MCP: Did they hold their fiddle the way you do, up under your chin? AM: No, sir, like thisaway. (Holding fiddle against arm.) They didn't hold a fiddle like we do, they wasn't taught to hold it....You know you couldn't use your hand down thataway playing the fiddle and play what we do....You've got to have it up here. They didn't. Everyone of them held it just alike, they didn't hold a fiddle like we do. Now Dad taught us to hold it right up here, he taught us to learn to play like that, yeah.... MCP: What kind of strings do you have on your fiddle? AM: Oh, I use lumian strings, steel lumium strings... MCP: You use aluminum or steel strings instead of using the cat gut strings? AM: Oh, yes. MCP: Well, tell...about the difference in the bridge between a fiddle and a violin. AM: Well, they've got to be adjusted according to the way the violin's shaped up, the bridge has....Some fiddles are made different than the others. If you adjust the bridge to the right height is all they is to it. Get it just right. MCP: It's not exactly like a regular violin? AM: No, they have a high bridge and they use Italian strings and they note the strings 'stead of putting it to the fingerboard to make the chord. I can play thataway, but I play thisaway. Reel 222, Item 3, con't. MCP: AM: MCP: AM: A lot of people don't think there's any difference between the actual instruments. They think it's just the difference in the way you play. No, they's a difference in the instruments, too. This is a high-priced violin I'm playing on. Yes, but you've strung it like a fiddle... Oh, yes, it's a fiddle. I play the fiddle, I don't play the violin.Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation