Subject: Fiddler player yells From: NicoleC Date: 29 Oct 02 - 07:10 PM Preface: Only on MudCat You know that 'whoop' that fiddle players do? (Almost all of 'em, it seems.) Is that supposed to signal something? Sometimes it seems like there's a key or tune change coming up, or a shift in tempo, but other times is seems like they are yelling just because... okay, just because. Can anyone clue me in? |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: catspaw49 Date: 29 Oct 02 - 07:21 PM Bow up the ass? Spaw |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 29 Oct 02 - 07:32 PM I've never heard a fiddler whoop at any time other than when a tune change is coming up. If one were to do it at any other time it would confuse hell out of eveybody else in the band/session. Hmmm.... Maybe that's why they do it. They're sadistic and like to watch guitar players screw up. Bruce |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: smallpiper Date: 29 Oct 02 - 07:41 PM You could be right thats why I started arythmical hupping it throws em (fiddle players) into a right fit! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Dead Horse Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:15 AM Try listening to Cajun music. 'Taint only the fiddler who yelps! And it aint got nothin' to do with key changes, aiy-yere! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: The Shambles Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:44 AM Fiddle player yells.............What? |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: greg stephens Date: 30 Oct 02 - 06:03 AM These yells seem to me to be generally spontaneous exuberance rather than specific signals. Far from annoucing key changes, for eaxmple, they often greet the new tune, rather than announcing it.It is very noticable that loud hooching tends to occur when a Scottish band does the classic exciting key change from G to A.The stopped strings of G change to the open strings of A and the musicians and dancers explode with the pleasure of it. In cajun however there is indeed some information often carried in the "aieeee" call.Fiddlers and accordionists often play different versions of the same tune when they take there solos, with different lengths of phrase, particularly in whether they include "hangs"(extra half-bars to extend the last note of the part of the tune). It is common practise to yell on this hang, which lets the accompanists know where the tune is going to start again. If you listen to old recordings you will hear the yells at these very speciific points: in an AABB type tune the yells tend to come at the end of the first A or B part, which is the point where the rest of the band will not necessarily know how the part is going to end: because it's the first time the soloist has played that bit. On a related topic, I have had the pleasure of playing with a lot of Kurdish musicians recently. When the music is going well, the dnacers or drummers make an unbelievably thrilling ululation which makes the hairs on your neck stand up.Worth learning how to do it! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: The Shambles Date: 30 Oct 02 - 06:22 AM Beats lifting one's foot up. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: catspaw49 Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:15 AM Send some of those Kurds, specifically the females, around to me huh Greg? Nothin' like a good ululation to get the day started right. Why hell, a well performed ululation is good anytime! Spaw |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: greg stephens Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:21 AM Well I'm practising hard and I think I've nearly got it; maybe I'll come round and try it on you spaw. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: wilco Date: 30 Oct 02 - 09:33 AM Those aren't whoops from the fidler. Those are cries of pain from the accompanists. At least that's what my accompaniests tell me when I play the fiddle. Screeeeeech, Squawwwkkkk. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 30 Oct 02 - 11:47 AM Greg - Than was very informative about the Cajun part changes. I'm always amazed at what you can learn at this site. One of the reasons, I suspect, most fiddlers whoop or holler to signal a tune/tempo/part change is that it's damned hard for most people to speak whilst playing that instrument - unlike guitar or banjo. The best most of us can manage is an incoherent squawk! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: NicoleC Date: 30 Oct 02 - 12:25 PM Wow. So it's generally supposed to mean something in some circles, but don't count on it. :) Actually, that makes perfect sense. So if I learn to do the right yell, I can really mess up the other players! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Sorcha Date: 30 Oct 02 - 12:28 PM Frankie Gavin (DeDannan) yells "hup!" to signal a tune change in a medley. Probably others do to. I just holler for fun--doesn't mean a thing. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Amos Date: 30 Oct 02 - 02:04 PM And some fiddlers who have bowed out won't yell because they don't have the guts... I guess.... A |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: PageOfCups Date: 30 Oct 02 - 02:42 PM I thought it meant the fiddler was channelling Bob Wills... PoC "Aim low, Sheriff, they're ridin' Shetlands!" |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,Richie Date: 30 Oct 02 - 09:54 PM There are many tunes in which the fiddler yells, whoops that are organized parts of the tunes. Sometimes there are also spontaneous yells. Some good documented yells are found in Thede's "The fiddle Book" "Bear Creek" page 108 has yells in specific places and "ha, ha" on another part. "Hop High Ladies" p. 99 has "wa-hoo" in designated places. Bayard's fiddle book is also a good source. If you need more info, let me know, -Richie |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Bassic Date: 30 Oct 02 - 11:36 PM Hup! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Jim Krause Date: 31 Oct 02 - 12:32 AM But sometimes when the music is really good and the band is tight, I can't constrain myself from hollerin' out
OH YEAH!
|
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,IanB at work Date: 31 Oct 02 - 12:13 PM The Cajun bandleader Jimmy C Newman instructs people that the Cajun yell must go : Aaaaaah-eeeeee!, geteting louder on the second syllable. I love Greg's remark that 'the musicians and dancers explode with the pleasure of it'. Spinal Tap meets Ceilidh band!!! - Ian B |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Dead Horse Date: 31 Oct 02 - 01:41 PM 'the musicians and dancers explode with the pleasure of it'. That would account for the sticky mess on some dance floors! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: The Shambles Date: 31 Oct 02 - 02:29 PM Come Dancing? (An old UK TV show and an old joke). What is white and wiggles on the dance floor? |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,an annonomissed banjo player Date: 08 Apr 03 - 12:30 AM An answer to an old question( like 5 months old)...why does the fiddle player yell AAAAAAHH.....EEEEEEEE! Because the banjo player is sick and tired of hearing him squeak and scratch and just stomped on his foot! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Cluin Date: 08 Apr 03 - 01:39 AM I don't think it signals much since they usually hoot after the new tune or section has already started, like, f'r'instance, a couple or three bars into the reel after the two jigs are dispensed with. In my experience, it's either exuberance or to get the rest of the band and/or the audience pumped. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Peter Kasin Date: 08 Apr 03 - 01:58 AM In irish music, I've often experienced the "Hup" as signaling a change in tune, and "key!" as a change in key, if the player doesn't know what key it is, or for if exclaiming a key in a noisy setting might confuse people if saying "D" for instance, is misheard as "G." But I've seen people mishear "key" to mean G, D, and E, so I'm not sure how well that works. Chanteyranger |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Mark Cohen Date: 08 Apr 03 - 04:46 AM Well, Chanteyranger, I've always understood "Key!" to mean, "Somebody get me the key to the restroom, I have to go NOW!" "G" (or "Gee!") means, I believe, "Everybody scoot your chair a few inches to the left, I'm about to fall off the stage." ("Haw!" is the same thing, but "to the right.") "C" means "I feel a cold coming on; may I have a large glass of orange juice, please?". And "E", which is generally stretched out over several bars, with a rising inflection, means, "You just spilled your tea in my lap." I'm sure there are local variations, of course. Aloha, Mark |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 08 Apr 03 - 10:21 AM What's confusing is when the tune changes, and you're trying to work out the new key, and it's still in the old key. Most fiddlers I know seem to be the silent type. I think the whooping variety may be more of an American breed; but I've never been to Scotland. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: greg stephens Date: 08 Apr 03 - 10:29 AM McGrath of Harlow: have you really never been to Scotland? I would make a shrewd guess you are in the region of 60 years old, you live in England and have Irish connections, so will presumably have been to Wales many many times. Scotland is not that long a drive or train ride from Harlow Is there a particular reason you have never been there, it seems to me a surprising omission. I should go and have a look forthwith. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Strupag Date: 08 Apr 03 - 10:50 AM Actually the tradition all started here http://www.yell-tourism.shetland.co.uk/ |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Sandy Mc Lean Date: 08 Apr 03 - 11:00 AM You won't hear whooping from Cape Breton style fiddlers. The life of the music is in the instrument itself. At a square dance you will often hear a whoop from the dancers. Bob Wills made some good tunes but it would have been better if he kept his mouth shut . :-} Slainte, Sandy |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,petr Date: 08 Apr 03 - 11:46 AM well Ive heard and been told that its a more of a yell of exuberance and getting caught up in the excitement, certainly it is used as a signal for tune change but not always, sometimes its when there is a change in keys, or other times when the tune speeds up. Frankie Gavin in one of his recordings gives an explanation (citing the above and encouraging the audience to do it as well) - its not always the musician that does it. He also notes that the whoop varies in parts of Ireland, in some places they yell 'up ye boy ye'. Liz Carrol mentioned a fiddle player who, when excited yelled 'house' which I think was a reference to set dancing, 'house' being one of the moves in which the couples rotate around the set. whoooo hoo Ive never been able to dot them particularly well, it usually sounds like a whimper. petr |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 08 Apr 03 - 03:21 PM True enough, never got round to going to Scotland. Whitby is about the closest I've been. Something to look forward to. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: daithi Date: 09 Apr 03 - 04:21 AM Yerr-ah! |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: greg stephens Date: 09 Apr 03 - 05:42 AM McGrath,I think you may be suffering from boreaphobia. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: Mark Cohen Date: 09 Apr 03 - 05:48 AM Afraid of a bore? Why not just walk away? Well, of course, if you're in a car with him/her, that might be difficult. But still, it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing to cause fear--uh, what's that? From Latin (and Greek)? Oh...that's different...never mind. Aloha, Mark (who's been to Scotland) |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 09 Apr 03 - 06:03 AM Scared of those Northern Lights up near the Arctic circle, greg? That might be a factor. Someone set up a Mudcat gathering up there, to motivate me to make the trek North. |
Subject: RE: Fiddler player yells From: GUEST,Sharon G Date: 09 Apr 03 - 01:48 PM I'm a fiddler (Irish & contra dance)- I don't use "hup" for tune changes- (often the mandolin player or I will say the new tune) If it was a great set at a session or dance, or a great tune in the middle of a set... I gotta let it out: "Whew!" or something like that. It's like an exclamation point at the end of the sentence. Sharon |
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