TEACHING: The Art of Trick & Fancy Fiddling
VIDEO: Watch all the members of the Koehler & Kelly families surprise the audience with their Novelty Fiddling!
FIDDLIN' AROUND
A fiddle mom shared a cute story with me recently. After seeing me perform, her son would NOT stop talking about how much he loved the fiddle and wanted lessons. He kept saying, "I love all the places she plays!!" which was a curious thing since he had only seen me once. After a few months of lessons, I decided to teach him some novelty fiddling. He lit up and exclaimed, "this is the day I've been waiting for!" Apparently, when he said he loved "all the places" I played he was talking about the Trick Fiddling I had done at the show ... behind my back, over my head, behind my legs ... thus all the "places" I played.
NOVELTY CATEGORY
I grew up fiddling in the Northeast fiddle contest circuit in the 70's-90's. The Novelty Fiddle Category, also known as the Trick & Fancy Class, was definitely a favorite to both compete in and watch. This was a time for fiddlers to show their lighter side with a mix of fancy fiddling (complex fingering/tricky bowing), sound effects (train/cars/animals) and fiddling in unconventional postures (behind legs/over heads). Audiences were treated to competitors step dancing while fiddling, people fiddling while blind folded, contestants flipping their bows into the air like batons, several versions of Orange Blossom Special and Mocking Bird, fiddlers playing while standing on their head (true story--my sister Rebecca!) and a few players diving into a summersault (with their fiddles tucked under their chins) only to finish the tune standing back on their feet. A-maz-ing!
The judging of this class varied from contest to contest. Some were carefully scored using the standard contest rubric, while others skipped the panel of judges altogether and used an applause meter (ie. the act with the most applause won!!). At one contest, an applause meter allowed my 4 year old son, Gaétan and me to take home a trophy for our T & F routine based the audience's reaction to his adorableness while playin' Boil 'em Cabbage with his mommy.
FIDDLE TRICK GUIDE
Get out your fiddle and give it a try!
Gretchen Koehler offers 4 visual tricks and her favorite Trick & Fancy routine!
VIDEO GALLERY
These are some of my very favorite Novelty videos. Pass the popcorn!
A master trickster, BARON BUIKA playing TWO violins at the same time!
In 1910, WILLIE HALL with an impressive version of "Pop Goes the Weasel."
LEAHY with some classic Novelty Fiddling.
KOEHLER & KELLY close their show with some lighthearted "Trick & Fancy" fiddling.
EVAN PRICE shares his amazing playing with a disassembled bow.
For some extreme Novelty fiddling, check out MARK O'CONNOR fiddling while on a skateboard.