Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling . I'm Megan Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of the Kilmovee Jig from a session at the Art House Bar in Baltimore , Maryland . Hello everyone , I hope you are well . Today I'm going to be talking about playing in tune .
Just a little topic for the fiddle . This is for you if you have recently taken your tapes off , if you had something on your fingerboard or if you notice that you play out of tune . I play out of tune sometimes .
I don't usually notice when it's happening , but I will sometimes hear recording of myself , even on this podcast , and think , oh , I was playing out of tune . I hope that it's comforting to you that for me , after playing violin and fiddle for 38 years , with a degree in violin performance and 20 years of teaching , I still play out of tune .
Tuning is connected to what you're hearing and what you're noticing about what you're hearing and then what's happening with your left hand on the string . There's two different issues there . It's a little easier to fix issues that are happening just with your hand . There's three parts of your hand . There's just where your hand is on the fingerboard .
Then there's getting your finger spacing and finger placement correct . Finally , there's the micro adjustments . That's the one we're all still having fun with all these years later . Fixing your hand is easy . I call out to my kids One of my kids was just practicing and I just called out fix your hand .
Because they weren't listening to what was happening on their instrument and their hand was literally just in the wrong place . They don't have tapes on . So they got their hand in the right place . Then it sounded fine . Make sure your hand's in the right place . That's an easy fix . Getting the finger spacing right this is a second year problem .
Oh my goodness , people play their first year . They still have tapes on . They're playing a lot of A major , a lot of high twos , and then suddenly you're in the world of high twos and low twos and your tune needs to move around all the time . It can be a big issue with tuning .
You'll really want to make sure that your fingers are working independently , only one at a time . If every time you play a three , you're blocking your fingers down your two , just automatically going to that high two spot , oh , you're going to have problems .
So you need your fingers to be working independently , you need to make sure you understand what you're playing , what key you're in , and I would say and this comes a little bit from my music education background I studied music learning theory in college . Music learning theory is really big on hearing the roots and the chords and the patterns .
I think knowing the chords , which is basically hearing the chords , playing the chords or playing the bass line , is very helpful in developing the instinct to put your two in the right place . And that connects to the third level of tuning , even once your hand's in the right place and you're getting your fingers spacing .
Basically right , we all put our fingers slightly in the wrong place sometimes and you're going to have to make micro adjustments . On the hearing side of this , you can work on it by practicing with a drone or in unison with someone or with accompaniment I didn't mean the wrong order , but kind of easiest to get it exactly in tune in unison .
And then you can go from there to working with a drone and from there to working with accompaniment with like chords . The highest level would be playing with , with nothing else , and and that's that's tricky to stay in tune like that On the other side , out of your head out of your ears and into your hand .
You need your hand to be unlocked on the string in order to make those micro adjustments . So if you're gripping the neck , if your fingers are really heavy and locked down on the string , you won't be able to to react to what you're hearing . So those are things you can work on .
Stop being sliding your thumb back and forth on the neck , swinging your elbow back and forth . Make sure your arm is unlocked , shaking your hand out , trying not to grip the neck so much . That will actually help your tuning because your fingers will be able to react to what you're hearing .
All of this is challenging and I would say possibly the most challenging is just paying attention to what you're playing and what you're hearing around you . I mean , that's when I'm playing out of tune , it's because I wasn't paying attention . I find that my students pay a lot more attention to what they're playing when they're not looking at music and reading .
I mean it's one less sense that you're using . So you want to have music that you can play without reading it off the sheet . So you're playing it from memory . You're already going to be listening in a different way , listening closer , with a lot more awareness of your tuning .
This one's maybe not as common , but when I work on improvisation with kids and adults , I find that their tuning improves . I got this from Alice Knaak when you're making up your music , you're listening to it in a different way . You're not just recreating something that someone's given you .
You're listening to it as it's being created and you're kind of evaluating whether you like it or not . Well , that goes for the tune , but it also goes for the tuning . So when my students are improvising , their tuning tends to be a lot better . I'll do a podcast on how I ease people into improvising and composing . I think it's really useful .
But even if you're just messing around on your fiddle , making up some stuff that you think sounds good , you may find that that has a beneficial effect for your tuning and playing in tune . Good luck , it's a big project Moving on . Our tune today is The Kilmovee . This is a jig that was popularized by a player named Dermot Grogan .
Dermot Grogan was a flute player and button accordion player from County Mayo in Ireland , and so some people call this tune Dermot Grogan's , but it is , I believe , a traditional Irish tune . Dermot was born and raised in the town Derry Tavrain in Kilkenny in County Mayo and learned whistle and flute from his father , who was a musician .
He also played the accordion . He was a button accordion player and as an adult he moved to England and then in New York and he was very well respected musician .
Sadly , in the early aughts he had a very serious cancer diagnosis but was actually able to move back to Ireland , reconnect with some friends and play music there in the last couple years of his life . He passed away at the age of 48 . This tune I found on the session . You can look for it there .
I will put my transcription on my website , my blog , and it's also recorded on Brendan Callahan CD where I am , so you can check it out there . Okay , here we go . Hey , thanks for listening . You can head over to fiddlestudiocom to find sheet music for this tune and more information about becoming a member of Fiddle Studio .
I'll be back next time with another tune for you . Have a wonderful day .