Violin or Fiddle

[NCFreak]

Okay, is it a Violin or a Fiddle??? Personally, I call it a Violin. Isn't it the same instrument? The only time I say fiddle is when I'm talking about Sara as a fiddle player. As in...I always get crap for going nuts over some fiddle player I don't even know.

[OrnotMajestic]

I think it has more to do with the style of music played. Violin sounds classical, while fiddle sounds bluegrass/country. But that's how i've always heard it...personally, i inter-change the two....

[matt the fiddler]

there are some minor phisical differences. such as a fiddle having a flater arc on the bridge [easier to drone]- and a little different action height- but now most fiddlers i know play what woudl be considered violins.... very little of the old ways such as on the elbow playing... but mostly yea- the way it is played... personally i use both names interchangably- but some people get mad when i do...

matt

[OrnotMajestic]

Originally posted by matt the fiddler
personally i use both names interchangably- but some people get mad when i do...

matt

Hear Hear!! Yup....people have gotten mad at me for the same thing!! I guess i'm not that much of a purist to worry too much....

[Bart Simpson]

The difference between a fiddle and a violin is, a fiddle player stands up when he plays and a violin player sits. Lol sorry just an old musical joke.

[Goose_17]

an even older musican's joke (funny thing is first that i know it but i'm not a musican..k..nvm..it isn't funny)...

know what the difference is btwn a violin and a fiddle? a violin uses strings..and a fiddle uses strangs......


if you don't get it...prounouce the last word like you are from the south....if you still don't get it....don't worry about it...

chris <><

[kokomo88]

I always thought of it this way, same instrument different thoughts,

Fiddle- listen to a story about a man named jed, poor mountainer barely kept his family fed, and then one day he was shootin at some food , when up from the ground came a bubblin crude

Violin- we are gathered her today to see George and martha washington move into the white house accompanied by John hancock in his nasty white bug filled wig,


that's my take on it

[MemphisLovesNC]

The bridge being flatter on the fiddle makes a HUGE difference. It's so much easier to play double stops (two/three strings at once) and do the string-crossings (ala Orange Blossom Special style). I had a fiddle bridge when I started playing many, many years ago (in fact, 19 years ago, and I'm 27)-- when my dad thought I was going to play in his bluegrass band. Then I never did that and began playing classical exclusively, and got the rounder bridge. OUCH! Pain in fingers from higher action!! It took a while to build up the calluses. Anyway, now that it is many years later, I want to go back to the fiddle bridge cause my dad was right...bluegrass is more fun to play!

[kokomo88]

build up callouses? does that mean on like. the uh, oh what do you call it....the bottom of the tip of your finger? you know, where you do fingerprints..?

[Bart Simpson]

Anyone got any other musicians jokes?

[ViolinMari]

Gosh there are SO many good music jokes out there!! Has anyone ever seen the website Peter Letvin's colletion of Viola jokes??? IT is the most complete collection I have ever SEEN. It takes like 5 hours just to read through the whole thing, and that's only if you don't have to stop and catch your breath for laughing!

[mandofocus]

Yeah I got one -
How many trumpet players does it take to screw in a light bulb?



One. He holds the bulb and waits for the world to revolve around him.


Respectfully,
PJ :cool:

[ViolinMari]

OMG, that is FAR too true!!!!! Any people who play in classical orchestras will back me on this. :) I'm a classical person myself, and have spent the better part of my life in orchestra. Gotta love the trupet jokes! But, the all-time BEST is viola jokes. I mean, let's face it: Something as downright STUPID as a violist is just begging to be made fun of!.....plus it's tradition. Violinists and cellists alike have been wisecracking on their fellow string insturments for generations!!! :D

Some of my favorites:

Q: What has an IQ of 157?
A: The world of violists combined.

Q: What's the difference between the first and last stand of violists?
A: A couple of bars.

Q: How do you get 10 violas to play together?
A: Shoot 9 of them

Q: You are driving down the street and you see a violist and a conductor. Who do you hit first?
A: The conductor: bussiness before fun


LOLOLOL

[matt the fiddler]

my 2 favs are.....

how do you tell if a violist is outside your door?

~they can't find the key... never knows when to come in...



what is the difference between a dead violist on the road, and a dead skunk?


~there are skid marks in front of the skunk......

[OrnotMajestic]

OK, not violinist jokes, but musician jokes none-the-less....

Q: How can you tell if there is a drummer at your door?
A: The knock keeps getting louder....

Q: What did the timpani player get on his SAT scores?
A: Drool.

Q: Why was the bass player mad at the viola player?
A: Because they twisted one of his pegs, and wouldn't tell him which one!

Q: What happened when the trumpet player locked his keys in his car?
A: Took him an hour to get the flautist out!

Q: What do you call 100 tuba players at the bottom of the ocean?
A: A good start.

Q: How many violin players does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: 5. One to do it, and 4 to brag about how much better they could have done it.


That's all for now......

[Banjo_Ken]

OK... It's lucky for most of you that I haven't been reading this thread for a while... everybody repeat after me: I will not make fun of viola players. Being a violist is not the easiest job in the world, epically when there are 7 violists as opposed to about 30 violins! It may not be the most important part in an orchestral setting, but *I* happen to like it!

Ken

PS - Our conductor and string instructors at this school (Binghamton U) use violin and fiddle interchangeably.

[ViolinMari]

Ah Ken.....

There's always ONE of you out there!! :):) The defenders of violas. Truly ou have quite a job, but I must compliment you on your spunk. :D I must also tell you that I too AM a violist....although I don't call myslef such! My first insturment is violin, and that is undoubtably the insturment of my heart, but I also play viola with the best of them.......AND tell viola jokes with the better of them!!! [evil eye] See, being a violist myslef gives me LICENCE to tell the most dirty aweful viola jokes I can come up with. Sorry, but I just find them so funny!!!

And has anyone else ever noticed how when a viola joke is told about another insturment, it just ISN'T as funny?????? Hmmmm.....

Mari


Ps. Q: What's the difference between a viola and a chain saw?
A: You don't pour gas ON the chain saw; the person holding the chain saw can probably read music; you can't fake cutting down a tree......:P

[Jianjen]

Q: How do trumpet players greet each other?
A: Hi, I'm better than you.

Q: How do you make a trombone a french horn?
A: Stick your hand in the bell and play the wrong notes.

And I'm surprised this one hasn't been posted yet:

The symphony orchestra was performing Beethoven's Ninth.
In the piece, there's a long passage, about 20 minutes,
during which the bass violinists have nothing to do.

Rather than sit around that whole time looking stupid,
some bassists decided to sneak offstage and go to the
tavern next door for a quick one.

After slamming several beers in quick succession, one
of them looked at his watch and said, Hey! We need to
get back!

No need to panic, said a fellow bassist. I thought
we might need some extra time, so I tied the last few
pages of the conductor's score together with string.
It'll take him a few minutes to get it untangled.

A few moments later they staggered back to the concert
hall and took their places in the orchestra. About this
time, a member of the audience noticed the conductor seemed
a bit edgy and said as much to her companion.

Well, of course, said her companion. Don't you see?
It's the bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the
bassists are loaded.

(Not to endorse drinking or anything of the like. =))

[OrnotMajestic]

LOL!

Now that was funny!!

And you are not alone...while i'm not a bow-drawn string instrument player myself...I have a friend that has a Masters degree in Viola performance....how do think that makes HIM feel? Hee hee hee.....

...bassists are loaded....that's funny....:D

[ViolinMari]

In full agreement!!!! That IS funny!!!!.....very much so!! My younger bro is an awesome bassist, and he is familiar with that very passage in Beet. #5. He always jokes about bringing a book for the occasion, but going out to the bar is a new one even on him!!!

[ViolinMari]

Ugh, m'bad......I said Beet #5.....meant Beet. #9 -_-;;

[matt the fiddler]

mari- there you go making beethoven roll in his grave again....

by the way- everyone is always asking to hear me play... [sadly one of the most asked questions to me] do you really play the fiddle] etc. and only the brave and stong willed will make it through that list of musicians jokes...
this is a recording [not the best quality] of a tune violinmari and i arranged and played this summer in our quartet formerly known as the rockinest funk jammers- :D

here it is (http://www.nickelcreek.info/~nc-mm/rockinist_funk_jammers_tritopackastan.mp3)

[ViolinMari]

lol!!! gosh Matt, you think THAT'S bad, you should hear when I actually PLAY the stuff!!!! :o [sob]


And oh yes, if I might add to the advertising here, that recording is AWESOME!!! (and I don't just say that cuz I'm co-arranger and performer either.....::crosses fingers::)
No, seriously, it is some GOOD STUFF. I've listened to my tape of it about 100,000,000 times. (went through 6 sets of batteries in about two weeks for it too) And even besides the tune itself (The Trip To Pakistan...a real gem!), even besides the arrangement....the QUARTET itself is totally through the roof. These guys are some of the best fiddlers I have ever gotten to play with. (Matt's an insane genious with those chops!! :D) It's some good stuff!!!: Give a listen all!!!

(see, the real point is here that our 4tet plans to be famous, and we are actually advertising our first hit single right here on this forum.......:p)

[OrnotMajestic]

I enjoyed it VERY much!! I love 4tets.....

My friend, the one that plays the viola, was in a 4tet also.....they did some funky Kronos covers, some Phillip Glass, and they did some Bach in swing time. It was nuts!! Then they busted into some impromptu jams. They asked for suggestions from the audience (for styles, etc) and then they'd just bust into it. It was the most amazing stuff i've ever heard. They did some recording, but i haven't heard it yet. If i get my hands on it, i'll be sure to post some of it here......

[matt the fiddler]

seriously we need to get a rockinest funk jammers reunion...... and find some gigs to go play around... mabye record some in an auctuall studio.. our own version of fiddlers 4

by the way- did you hear natalie hass has been promoted to instructor level? she gets her own concert next year...

[OrnotMajestic]

Well Matt, if you DO have a reunion and go on tour....make sure you come out here to Oregon. After the response to my friends quartet, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem for you to get gigs....