I am a Classical trained Fiddle Player--whatever that means........I played only classical music from age 12 to 17, then discovered "fiddle". My teacher was a real snob, and refused to admit that anything other than classical was real music. The guitar player that was teaching me Fiddle was just as big a snob, feeling that Classic was not worth anyone's time.

The upshot is that I spent 15 years trying to sound like a fidder, and still use bowing techniques unique to classical players............I also use vibrato a lot, esp. on slow aires (wrist) and occasionaly an arm vibrato on the reels and jigs--just a quickie thing on the "long" notes.

Marion, the trick is to be relaxed and go with the rythym. Catch the beat and you can't go wrong. On jigs, hit the accent hard on the first and 4th beat--One two three, Two two three. With reels, the feel is more of a continuing thing--just keep the 4 beat going.

Slow Aires--play your heart out, and get as Classical as you like.

Dance muisc--just hit the beat hard so the dancers will feel it.

About the bridge arc--I have two fiddles, one with a very arched bridge and one with an almost flat bridge. The flat bridge does make it easier to do both fingered/open stops, and double fingered double stops because the spaces between the strings are narrower on the flat bridge. The right hand does not have to do as much work as it would with an arced bridge.