Why play the fiddle? (Sally in the Garden)

I am working on my course Fiddle for Kids , or Fiddle Class , if you will , and you can check it out at fiddlestudiocom . It's coming along , should be out soon . You can check out all my courses there . Just go to fiddlestudiocom and click on courses . That's probably enough of an advertisement . The topic this week is why play the fiddle .

Week is why play the fiddle . I guess when I picked this topic I was thinking about just the reasons that folks pick up the fiddle . Because I'm a fiddler and a fiddle teacher . People talk to me about it . Talk to me about why they started or why they'd like to start . Sometimes they talk to me about why they'd never like to play the fiddle .

Maybe I'll do a sister podcast called why Not Play the Fiddle . Actually I did do a podcast about stopping . That was kind of a silly topic . So this is just a discussion a little bit about why people get into fiddling , what they think about it . If you're curious about fiddling , yeah , I can just let you know what I hear .

Maybe you'll have some new ideas or inspiration for fiddling or just kind of know how other people think about it , why they get into it . So there is the basic question why do we do anything ? Something in us wants to do something and , based on our whatever combination of genetics and environment , we pick things to do . And some people pick playing the fiddle .

I've heard from a lot of people who probably prefer classical violin . That's what inspires them , but they think fiddling will be easier . I don't think it's a bad reason to play . Why not Try it out ? I think in some ways it is easier . But you can't really learn classical violin by learning fiddle . It's not like a stepping stone .

To learn classical violin , you need to learn classical violin . It's like if you learn karate you haven't learned Muay Thai . Learn Muay Thai , you have to learn Muay Thai . Karate is a different thing and I would say the same . Like classical and fiddle , it is an easier alternative .

And if you love the sound of the violin and you're feeling a little overwhelmed by you know , trying to work up to a concerto or something , a fiddle tune is going to be a much smaller hill to climb and you might find you like the repertoire and the sound .

Who knows , now , some people are really drawn to the twang or the kind of folky country sound of the fiddle because they love the music . They love bluegrass or country , either as something they grew up with or knew from their parents or their grandparents , or sometimes just something they come across in the world and they're drawn to it .

It's like oh , I love the sound of that . I talk to a lot of people who are like I just love the sound of the fiddle , the twang of the fiddle . A lot of classical violin players get the opposite . People maybe grew up playing in their school orchestra but they always loved the sound of fiddling .

So they're trying to switch over the opposite of loving the sound of violin and getting into fiddling instead . There are folks who get started with the fiddle because of because of , like folk or traditional music heritage . I've taught kids and adults who were Irish , their family and they wanted to learn Irish music , or who had roots in Eastern Europe .

You know Jewish folks who wanted to learn klezmer , or people from down south who wanted to learn some of the traditional music that came from that area . There are people who decide they want a hobby and they pick a hobby , and sometimes that hobby is fiddling . Maybe it's because you have a fiddle .

Yeah , I've met people who said well , I have this fiddle for my uncle , have this fiddle from my cousin . I want to do something that challenges me , so I want to learn it . Basically just a hobby of opportunity , you could say . There's folks who are inspired by their friends or family members who played . I've taught a lot of kids like that .

Oh , she saw her cousin play , or want to play , like my older brother . People like that , even someone that you heard or saw in a movie or on TV or read about in a book . Yeah , something inspiring involving fiddling and it sparks your interest . Yeah , a lot of different places to come from , but I guess all of these roads lead to the fiddle .

If you're thinking about learning the fiddle , I recommend it . It's not too hard , it's very fun . Check out my courses if you need some help . Find some folks to play with . It'll be fun . Our tune this week is Sally in the Garden . This is a lovely old minor tune . Charlie plays it on the banjo . First .

I heard it from him quite a bit back in the day when Charlie used to play a lot of banjo , and from playing it a few times recently in Baltimore .

Here Seems to come out of Kentucky , as with several of the songs we're doing this month and there are some different versions with words , but I wouldn't say they were fine upstanding words , and Sally is usually not being a fine upstanding person in the garden . Maybe she's waiting to meet someone or maybe she's up to no good .

Either way , we won't be doing the words but we will be doing the tune

. So this is Sally in the Garden and there's a version on a Brad and Ken Kolodner album that you can check out where they pair it with Home with the Girls in the Morning . So a couple of really nice minor old time tunes . Here we go .