January Workshop Summary

Sunday, January 12, 2025


Skip started with a tune to demonstrate some Scottishness and a few tips on technique. The tune was Auchenblae, which is in the SMC library (28.11), but has not been played recently. See the dots.

He then presented the three tunes scheduled for the workshop:

The Cradle Song, Scottish March, and Millbrae. See the dots.

While written music was provided in advance, Skip made a point to say that he learns strictly by ear, and he encourages that approach. He recommends humming the tune as a way of embedding it into memory.

Fiddles benefited from demonstrations of slides and cuts, and one particularly interesting technique involved sliding down instead of up - applicable, of course, only in certain situations. He talked about the importance of accordions in being able to provide chords with the piano side as opposed to the button side. Noting the ability of accordions to swell in volume, Gordon (who was accompanying Skip on piano) suggested a concept for guitars especially, where, even though they technically can’t swell once a chord is playing, they can play the chord with a flourish that provides the spirit of a swell.

Skip introduced the concept of the “suggestion” of a note. Sometimes a note which is technically not correct might move the tune along in a certain way. This can be especially effective if the tune is being played multiple times, to add some variety.

While we often look to workshop leaders for guidelines (if not rules) about how to play, Skip seemed to favor an unbound approach - worry less about specific methods and more about making the tune more interesting, by whatever means.

We played through all three tunes, and at one point featured particular instruments (others dropping out) for different times through the A and B sections.

The most notable take-away from the workshop was being regaled with stories from Skip’s long career playing not only Celtic music, but Bluegrass and Cowboy music as well. He cultivated an early friendship with Ali Bain in the 1970’s and got to play with other musicians in Scotland and Ireland who, at the time, were not well known, but many of whom later became prominent figures in the Celtic Music scene.

Skip’s most recent recording is a 4-CD set called Celtic Fiddle Rambles.

Unfortunately he was out of inventory and couldn’t bring any, but they are being reissued and can be ordered from Skip’s website.


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December 8 Gathering Notes