Fiddle Women

I attended the second gathering of the women's fiddle group last night. Before the gathering I spent some, but not enough, time learning "Booth Shot Lincoln," which the larger group has been playing for a few months now. It is a perky little tune, despite its name, and repetitious, which makes it both easy and initially confusing to memorize. It's in the key of A, which is not so easy on the cello as it is on the fiddle. I'm playing around with the octaves on the B part of the tune; I like the low sound on the cello, but the high octave might suit this tune better.

It took me forever to tune my cello last night. Perhaps it did not like the journey out into the cold because it usually holds a tuning very well. I finally got it in tune as the group was finishing up "Booth." Because this is a kindly group, we played it again later so that I could practice it too. This is a good tune because it is played at a speed I can handle, though I didn't quite get all the notes last night. Obviously I need to practice the tunes every day, not just the day before the session. We played the Scottish tunes I brought to the group last time, as well as some others we've been working on. All in all it was a good session, except that the host's dog insisted on barking loudly at the cello. Frequently. I've never had such a negative reaction to my playing!

I like this group for many reasons, not the least of which is that we are focusing on a small group of new tunes, rather than playing a whole selection of new (to me) tunes each time. The people (9 women tonight) are good and dedicated players, we tolerate sheet music, we play a little slower than the main group of fiddlers to better learn the tunes, and we meet only once or twice a month, which fits into my schedule. All I have to do is remember to practice between sessions, and all will be well.