Champion Fiddler, Inspired Performer
Teacher: Vi Wickam Description: Cincinatti Hornpipe is a great tune for practicing your bowing string changes. You get an opportunity to practice the High-Low String Change Pattern, followed by the Low-High Bowing Pattern. If you have trouble with the bowing patterns in this tune, it would be a good idea for you to start out your practice session [...]
Most of you know by now that I love Bb Hornpipes, and the twistier they are the better. Not only is Randall’s Hornpipe in Bb, but the B part of the tune totally puts you on your head because the arpeggio patterns start out in one direction, and then they flip backwards. It really plays [...]
Tonight I was looking through Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes, and I came across Sumner’s Hornpipe. When I played it, I instantly recognized the melody. I thought that the name I had heard it under was Queen of the West. I have heard Ed Carnes play it, and he called it Queen of the West, and [...]
I learned Birdie in a Snowbank off of a Fred Stoneking recording. I really appreciate having had a chance to hang around Fred at fiddle contests while I lived in Indiana. I learned some cool old Missouri tunes from Fred, and enjoyed his gentle crustiness. Really, one of the best things about living in Evansville [...]
Yeah, Baby. Hiawatha Hornpipe is another of my favorite Bb Hornpipes, and if you’ve been watching my Fiddle Tune a Day project for a while, you know that I love Hornpipes, especially in flat keys. I’m pretty sure that Danita (Rast) Gardner is the first person I heard play this song. She can play hornpipes [...]
Sailor’s Hornpipe has to go down in history as one of the catchiest tunes around. I can’t hear it without having it dance around in my head for hours. And, whenever I think of it, I also think of Popey the Sailor man. Toot Toot! Sailor’s Hornpipe according to Fiddler’s Companion SAILOR’S HORNPIPE [1]. AKA [...]
Harvest Home is a cool Irish Hornpipe. When I first heard it on the Jay Ungar and Molly Mason CD, Harvest Home, I thought, “Wow, that really sounds a lot like Cincinnati Hornpipe, and there is no doubt. They are pretty similar tunes. This is a recording of Steve Eulberg and I performing it at [...]
Possum up a Gum Stump is one of the first “Real” fiddle breakdowns that I teach my students. It’s not really complicated, but it’s easy to have some fun with it. Sometimes I play a tune by request, and today the request belongs to Linda Relph. I don’t really know much about it, but I [...]
I don’t know where I first heard Trafalgar Hornpipe, but it has some nice twists and turns. It sounds like something that I may have heard Mark O’Connor play as part of a medley, but I don’t have Trafalgar Hornpipe in my iTunes anywhere. On second pass, I think it was actually hearing Billy Contreras [...]
My inspiration for playing Westmoreland’s Hornpipe came from seeing/hearing Tony Ludiker play it on one of the youtube videos from Hallettsville this year. He played the heck out of it. I really like the groupings of 3 in the A part that give it a cool syncopated feeling, and the prevalent appearance of the minor chord [...]
