Hey Ho,

thanks for responses,

well I'm down south, (Dorset and now Brighton) and so I suppose I am particularly keen on the traditions from these areas, (easy to find songs from these areas, not so much the dance tunes) I know a fair bit of the Northern repertoire including 'Scottishy' Northumbrian tunes and enjoy a lot of this, but I would like to play my own regional style......   just can't think of what that is?


I don't have a specifically Irish style, (certainly not enough to distinguish a regional preference) and I have also learned from predominantly English musicians, it's just that a lot of the time .... they're playing Irish tunes.

So, to be truly trad should I learn from someone that plays trad Southern English fiddle?

Who?

This description appeals to me...

English Fiddle Style

and suggests 'rich in ornamentation'
Sounds like they're describing my playing!!!!

Alex

Some responses:-

Lester
"Probably, in the same way that if I went to an Irish session and played their music in a Morris dance melodeon style it would not be Irish Traditional Music"

That's true, although Morris has a very distinctive style and contemporary Irish trad music is also well defined, in a way I don't think English music is....

(Howard Jones quote "continuous, transmitted process.")

....but there's not an unbroken chain of tradition, nor is a there a distinct enough modern interpretation of Trad English by which you can define it. Is there?


If, as my linked website seems to suggest, some trad English was fast, ornamented reels, then I'm not content to just let the other traditions have them, as we currently appear to. If I play a fast reel people will most likely say it's Irish (or in an Irish style) but if it has been played like this in England previously then why shouldn't I say it's English, merely because there isn't an unbroken chain?

Hmmmm....