Scottish Fiddle Workshop
with Colin MacLeod, details and interview loaded with info and history below! There are some fun, educational links to music, poetry, and history peppered in as well!
Hi Colin, we are super excited about your Scottish Fiddle Workshop coming up on Tuesday, November 4! What are the deets?
📍 Blackerby Violin Shop, Austin, TX, 1111 W Anderson Lane, Austin, Tx 78757
🗓️ Tuesday, November 4th
⏰ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Workshop + Jam Session)
Tell us a little bit about yourself, your musical background, and your repertoire. When did you start playing? Who were your early teachers?
I’m a Scottish fiddle player with an intuitive style. I’ve lived in Scotland, South Africa, Australia, and now the US so there are a few fiddle & cultural influences mixed in there!
My strength lies in Scottish fiddle with classical roots—a style I jokingly call “Schlottish.” My approach centers on playing by ear and from the heart; it’s about connecting deeply in the moment and putting something of yourself into what you do.. At Blackerby Violin Shop, I felt this sense of connection among musicians.
I started playing at the age of 7 and always look forward to contributing to the magic that music brings to a social occasion. As I say to my students, ‘You Never Know Unless You Bow!’
My repertoire covers both Scottish, Irish and a bit of Cape Breton.
My early teachers were classical violin teachers at school, the judges at local & national Scottish Fiddle competitions e.g. the Golden Fiddle Awards and as a teenager, some lessons from Bill Cook from Clackmanna who was the leader of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. And I must also pay tribute to my first ever fiddle teacher, Mr. Shearer, who taught at the school in Kirkwall on the island of Orkney. On a trip to the Orkney Festival last year, I met someone who also had Mr. Shearer as a fiddle teacher. What a small world!
How will the workshop be structured on 11/4?
Arrive at 6 pm to ensure parking and get settled
🎼 1.5-hour workshop (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Learn tunes step-by-step by listening and playing
🎶 1-hour jam session (8:00 PM – 9:00 PM): Play what you’ve learned in a relaxed, supported circle
Is the workshop for all levels and all ages? How should participants best prepare?
Whether you're a beginner or an experienced fiddler, join us for a special evening where you'll learn Scottish tunes by ear, just as they've been passed down for generations.
Bring yourself, your instrument and a willingness to learn something new. Blackerby will have a handful of violins to borrow if you need one!
I heard there may be potluck style with a jam after the workshop. Tell me more.
Potluck style represents a chance to people to play different tunes in the jam after the workshop and for everyone to join in through the techniques we have been practising in the workshop.
Anything you’d like to share with the community to get us acquainted with the music? Perhaps a link to a fiddle tune?
Yes. Below you’ll find a video with a couple of my favourite fiddle tunes: The Kilt Is My Delight and Over The Moor To Maggie
Tell us more about the Scottish Fiddle tradition. Are there specific and distinct lineages and styles within the Scottish Fiddle tradition? Perhaps originating from certain regions or families?
There are 5 Scottish fiddle styles
Highland = Bold, pipe-influenced, powerful.
North East = Refined, expressive, classical-influenced.
Borders = Rhythmic, earthy, linked to English traditions.
Orkney = Smooth, lyrical, Nordic-tinged.
Shetland = Fiery, energetic, double-stopped, Scandinavian-rooted.
What is the role of fiddle in the Scottish repertoire? When did it become prominent? What was the socio-political context? Did it replace other instruments?
The role of fiddle, within the Scottish repertoire, is very pervasive. It is an instrument which can both be played solo or in a band setting and it a wonderful part of the social glue for the bringing of people together at social gatherings or ceilidhs.
I would say that the fiddle really became prominent in the 1700s with the birth of Niel Gow (1727-1807) and after the battle of Culloden in 1745, for a period of about forty years, it was only possible to play the bagpipes if a Scotsman was a member of the British army.
The fiddle is an instrument which is very portable and easy to carry. It also offered a lighter alternative for instruments being carried to dances or concerts than, for example, a harp.
Will you speak about the five Scottish fiddle styles and traditions? How do you see landscapes, daily life, sense of place, and linguistics as influences on musical tradition? How is this reflected in the modes and rhythms of Scottish music?
Yes, in the workshop, I’ll talk more about the five Scottish fiddle styles and traditions mentioned above.
For example, with the Highland fiddle style, there is a heavy bagpipe influence in the playing of the music. If you were to take a highlighter over the tops of the notes of a Highland tune and join these notes together, you might find that the outline is representative of the landscape which the tune is written about.
And in terms of daily life, repetitive musical rhythms have helped to keep people motivated which they are working e.g. ‘waulking the tweed’. ‘Waulking the tweed’ is an essential part of the tweed production process.
Within the Highlands, people used to walk huge distances and music, perhaps in the time signature of a 2/4 or 4/4 march was a way to keep people’s spirits up as they marched on their journey. An example of this type of tune is called ‘The Black Bear.’
Sometimes, a person might not have an instrument to hand and they would sing ‘mouth music’ or puirt-a-beul. This type of singing might find itself as accompaniment to perhaps a strathspey or jig. A strathspey or jig are different rhythms which people might dance to.
What is the cultural significance and musical benefit to aural / oral tradition vs. written and transcribed music? Why is this method and tradition important to pass on and preserve from both a cultural and technical perspective? How is this relevant to Scottish music?
The Aural/ oral tradition of learning tunes is one which humans have been using for hundreds of years and passing skills & knowledge from generation to generation so that each generation can ply the music of their landscape & heritage in their own voice.
When we were chatting via Zoom, we talked about sheet music being like a ‘seed bank’, storing the structure of a tune for future generations. The sheet music allows a larger number of people to access the songs or tunes.
The aural/ oral tradition of playing a tune or singing a song brings it to life and allows musicians to internalise the nuances & cultural memory of playing the tune or singing the song.
For centuries, Scottish music was passed down aurally/ orally from one generation to the next, allowing a musician or singer to access the nuance. Style, ornamentation involved in singing that song or playing that tune. And as mentioned before, each generation adds its own take on the rendition of the tune or song.
Last year, I was at the Salado Museum and watched a presentation given by Scottish singer Ed Miller. Ed is based in Austin, Texas and is one of the regular performers at the Salado Highland Games. Ed’s presentation focused on the rendition of a song by different generations. Each generation added a unique take & perspective on the rendition of the song.
When I think about the ways in which a tune might be played differently when played in the voice of each of the 5 Scottish fiddle styles, this reminds me of the blending of cultures in Texas and the way a Scottish tune, for example, ‘Solders Joy’ might be played in a country voice. I would love to talk further about this at our upcoming workshop at Blackerby Violin shop on Tuesday, November 4th.
What does intuitive playing mean to you? What do you mean by “You Never Know Unless You Bow.”
Intuitive playing, to me, means the player is combining all their senses to create a fresh, in the moment expression. The environment is definitely part of this e.g. a musician or singer being part of a band and playing to an audience, someone joining a Celtic music jam session.
Intuitive playing is also dynamics and adapts to the audience, the space and internal feelings.
I regularly say to my fiddle students, You Never Know Unless You Bow’ or Give things a go. That way, a player can start on the road to their musical adventures. When I hold both the fiddle and bow in each hand, there is silence. When the bow is pulled over the violin strings, there is sound and the musical adventures are beginning!
What is the history of written music within the Scottish repertoire? How has that changed over time?
Up until the late 1600s, music within the repertoire was passed from generation to generation through the aural/ oral tradition.
Towards the end of the 1600s and into the 1700s, music started to be recorded in the manuscript collections. Wealthier families and educated fiddlers wrote down local dance tunes, airs and variations.
Towards the end of the 1700s and into the 1800s, there was a growth in the publishing trade in Edinburgh and London and printed tune collections were publshied. An example of this are the collections of Neil Gow* (1727-1807) and his son Nathaniel Gow.
*Niel Gow is the grandfather of Scottish fiddle playing.
The publications contained tunes from social dancing and the variations of these tune. The collections provided a source of dance tune material for the ‘drawing room’ dances and also to professional musicians.
During the 1800’s, more and more music written within the Scottish repertoire was published e.g. the compositions of Scott Skinner, the father of Scottish fiddle playing and a famous exponent of the North east style of fiddle playing. The publications, in this era, were like the ‘seeds of inspiration’ for tunes which might have otherwise been forgotten. During this era, music was also adapted for piano and parlour performance. This created a widening of the audiences which the music reached.
With the folk revival of the 1900s, e.g. the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, music and songs were recorded and transcribed to preserve the oral traditions. More and more musicians were referring to these collections and the collections became a tool for preservation, education and also sharing the tunes with other cultures.
Now, music written within the Scottish repertoire is widely available in digital format, book format. There are online archives e.g. the University of Aberdeen has a digital archive for the works of Scotti Skinner.
Aural/ oral tradition is still important, allowing the knowledge from centuries of tradition still to be passed on.
Historically, Scottish colonial settlers in what is now the American Colony came from various regions of Scotland, with different and often opposing cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Some were forced out of Scotland due to land theft, oppression, and deportation from English colonial forces, and others employed by the monarchy as landlords prior to emigration. Over the decades and centuries. How do/did these contradictions shape Scottish music within Scotland and within the colony?
In the Highlands of Scotland, music e.g. pipe tunes, fiddle tunes, Gaelic tunes had a strong oral tradition and brought people together, honored memories or sometimes battles. A lot of people left the Highlands in the 1800s ans 1900s, sometimes forcibly, sometimes of their own free will e.g. during the Highland clearances, economic hardship or participation in rebellions e.g. the Jacobite rebellions. The Highlanders brought their culture of oral tradition, community and music making with them across the Atlantic.
From the Lowland Scots emigrants came merchants, artisans, people leaving for religious and economic freedoms. The traditions were more in line with psalm singing, ballads in the Scottish dialect and structured fiddle dance tunes.
There were, of course, people who came as administrators or landowners. They might have sold their land in Scotland and then emigrated. They brought with them, more formalised dances e.g. strathspeys, reels, jigs), dances which perhaps might suit a ballroom or gathering in a drawing room. Overall, people emigrating across the Atlantic, brought their backgrounds with them.
Within Scotland, there was a Highland v Lowland divide, with a Gaelic oral tradition emphasising community e.g. the idea of a ceilidh, perhaps work songs. The Lowland moved toward written collections.
After the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, there was a period in Scotland when there was a suppression of the Gaelic language and culture e.g. for a period of about 40 years, the bagpipes could only be played if a Scotsman was a member of the British army. It was after 1745 that the fiddle really came, pardon the pun, into play in Scotland and the instrument helped to keep the Gaelic culture, music and songs alive. Perhaps, having aspects of Gaelic culture banned fuelled preservation of tunes, songs and a culture.
The approach to music could also signal class identity e.g. rural Scots might rely on memory and aural/oral tradition to pass on tunes & songs to the next generation whereas the gentry could sponsor musicians to compose tunes and also support the funding of transcriptions, the writing down of music and the creation of collections of music e.g. Neil Gow.
In the American colonies, the Highlanders from my part of Scotland landed in Wilmington, North Carolina. The culture kept communal fiddle, bagpipe and dance traditions alive. Their styles of music influenced Appalachian fiddle, songs and down the road, bluegrass. From a religious perspective, some of the Lowland emigrants influenced psalm singing traditions and the development of american sacred music e.g. shape note singing.
We must not forget the ballroom or parlour dances which were also brought across from Scotland. Invitations to different homes might lead to an introduction to different types of dances e.g. with a European flavour.
Overall, with everyone arriving from Scotland along with people from Ireland, Europe, Africa, and other regions there was a rich cultural fusion and blending of music learning to the shaping of new genres of music.
In summary, in Scotland, there is still a strong aural/ oral culture and a heritage of ‘music’ collections and both inspire. In America, the Highland traditions and Lowland/ gentry musical heritages have inspired musical forms like Appalachian fiddling or approaches to psalm singing and the emergence of country/ bluegrass
Scots landed in various regions of Texas by way of several entry points, such as Canada or Appalachia, etc. Can you hear the imprint of these geographies in Scottish fiddle repertoire today? How has the practice and innovation of Scottish music played a role in shaping Texas music over the centuries?
When I think of Canada and the Scots influence, the region of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton comes to mind. The Cape Breton style of playing has a real drive to it. This can still be heard in Texan fiddling, especially with a sharper bow articulation.
With Appalachia, the Scots mixed with several cultures, including African banjo traditions. There was a more laid back feel to things with fiddle music leaning toward old-time dance forms. Moving to Texas, this style has influenced Texas ‘breakdown fiddling’ e.g. simpler dance tunes, cross tuning practices.
From the Deep South, there is the influence of blues, African rhythm and gospel influences. This brought in a swing inflection to Texas fiddle music, laying the groundwork for Western Swing.
Over time, Scottish music has actively shaped Texas Fiddle and Texas music. For example, the ceilidhs have influenced the evolution of community dances and dance halls. Scottish reels and jigs have evolved into ‘breakdowns’ and ‘hoe-down’ style fiddle pieces. Like ceilidhs, dances can last a few hours and musicians are playing for a few hours to keep the dancers light on their feet. It is said in Cape Breton that, during the course of an evening’s dance, a fiddle player might never repeat a tune.
Many fiddlers in Texas, as in Scotland, learn tunes by ear, passed down from generation to generation. This creates the space for each generation to add their own flavour to the playing of tunes and singing of songs. Through contests, Texan fiddling has brought in flashier renditions of Scottish reels. The Scots might have valued the danceability of their tunes for a ceilidh and the contests take these tunes to a new level of interpretation.
Scottish ballads carried to Texas from Appalachia, have been sung for generations in Texas and blending with the cowboy songs and Mexican corridos, create the foundations for shared traditions.
If you listen closely to some of the Texas fiddle tunes, you can still hear the Scottish connection e.g. Soldier’s Joy, The Flowers of Edinburgh.
Scottish Fiddle music is dance music. What were the dances like historically? Where were they held? When were they held? Who attended them? Who were the musicians? Who were the dancers? Did this tradition develop within a specific socio-economic class? What role did dances play and for whom? Has that changed over place and time? Will you elaborate on Ceilidhs?
The forms for dance, reels, strathspeys, jigs and hornpipes form a large part of the fiddle repertoire. The dance formats could be solo, couple or different sizes of groups.
Dances were held in village halls, barns, ballrooms, kitchens, assembly rooms and if it was good weather, outdoors.
The timing of the dances might be after harvest, special occasions like a wedding or local festival, perhaps New Year or market days. It was a chance for everyone to unwind, have fun and let their hair down.
In terms of who might join in with the dancing, it was open to everyone. This could be the farm laborers, the lairds, perhaps the neighbours, the local community of a village.
The musicians were fiddlers, sometimes pipers, perhaps small ensembles with fiddle, cello, harp or accordion. Some of the musicians might also sing or tell a story.
The dances were a place where people could meet, have conversations with their neighbours, perhaps meet their future husband or wife. It was also a way of building community.
In terms of a specific socio-economic class, in the rural areas, the dance might have been held in a barn, a village hall or someone’s kitchen. The gatherings were a great way to bring communities together and boosted morale in the community.
For the gentry, the dances might take place in a ballroom and there might be a dance master who would teach new steps to the people at the dance. I remember reading that Scott Skinner, the father of Scottish fiddle playing was actually a dance master for Queen Victoria’s children and taught them how to do Scottish country dancing.
And my hypothesis is that, with travelling musicians playing for different dances, over time rural traditions influenced gatherings in manors and stately homes and vice versa.
Dances provided a way to relax at the end of a hard day and opportunities for men and women to meet their future spouses. Dances were also a way to keep local traditions alive.
During the 1800s and 1900s, dances were formalised e.g. the formation of the Royal Scottish Country Dance society in 1923 in Scotland.
And in different countries around the world, e.g. Canada, Appalachia, Australia, Scottish dances blended with local traditions e.g. Cape Breton step dancing or American square dancing.
The word ‘ceilidh’ means a social gathering where there might be singing, dancing, storytelling and it was also a way for local communities to come together. In a more modern sense, a ceilidh is associated with group of people getting together for a community dance, an event, perhaps a wedding or a part of a festival. Within the band, there is usually someone who calls the instructions for the dances so that dance participants can have more fun.
Is there a different dance per each rhythm?
Yes. There is more than one type of dance for each rhythm. Sometimes, a dance might contain more than one rhythm.
For example -
Reels (4/4) - Lively dances like Strip The Willow or The Eightsome Reel
Jigs (6/8) - A bouncier feel, often for group dances. An exam ple dance might be the Canadian Barn Dance.
Strathspeys (4/4) - This is a distinctive Scottish rhythm. An example dance is the Robertson Rant.
Waltzes (3/ 4) - A slower tempo that couples can dance to e.g. Freestyle waltz
Polkas, two steps or marches (2/ 4) - Depending on the rhythms, these might match the rhythms for different dances e.g. Canadian Barn Dance
Did poetic and narrative tradition influence the structure and composition of Scottish fiddle/instrumental music?
Scotland has a long history of the passing of history, genealogy, folklore & music through poetry and song.
The patterns of telling stories through rhythm and repetition have been an inspiration for the patterns which we see in instrumental music e.g. the AABB format of a fiddle tune.
Here are some similarities between poems and Scottish fiddle tunes :-
The repeat of key patterns within a tune, like phrases within a poem
A poem has a beginning, middle and an end as does a fiddle tune.
A tune tells a story as does a poem
The similar endings of a tune], say for lines 1&3 and lines 2&4 might mirror the similarity of endings of a poem for the 1st & 3rd, the 2nd & 4th lines.
For example, in Scotland, around 1300, poetry served primarily to send messages celebrating national identity and historical figures during the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Vice Versa
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Poetic and narrative tradition influence the structure and composition of Scottish fiddle/instrumental music and tune format has also influenced the structures of songs.
For example, Robert Burns incorporated the Tune-First Method to collect an existing Scottish air and then tailor the verses of the song to fit the tune. He shaped his words to the contours of a tune, its rhythm, patterns and mood. The tune was a tune which the public already knew and so there was a greater chance for a song’s popularity to grow.
An example of this is Auld Lang Syne or My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose.
Are there vocals and singing in the repertoire?
Yes.
Two of my favourite songs are Happy Birthday and Danny Boy!
What are the personal and communal benefits to playing music with others? How does the Scottish fiddle repertoire center and foster community and creativity?
Something which I was recently reading really stands out about the personal and communal benefits to playing music with others. In 2013, there was a case study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden which revealed that singers’ heartbeats become synchronised while singing in a choir. Imagine what this might mean for playing music with others.
Some of the personal benefits of playing music with others are ➖
Emotional well being - Sharing an experience with others that someone enjoys can lighten the load of a day.
Skill Development - Musicians build skills when they play with others e.g. improving listening skills, timing, improvisation. teamwork.
Confidence & Expression - Musicians can feel more comfortable in a group to add something of themselves, the own voice to the mix.
Resilience & Memory - In some Celtic music sessions, each tune in a set of tunes, might be played three times providing musicians with the chance to memorise a tune. And musicians know that if they come back to the same session, the chances are that the tunes in the sets of music will be repeated. This knowing can nurture the skill of patience.
When I hear people talk about the communal benefits of playing music together, I think of:-
Connection & Belonging - In the shared experience of a group playing music together, one might find people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities
Cultural Continuity - When playing music together e.g. at a ceilidh, the stories, dances, tunes, songs of a culture are being kept alive and passed on to future generations
Inclusivity- Sessions and ceilidhs can welcome and invite musicians of different abilities and backgrounds to come together to play tunes, dance thus making the music more accessible.
Collective Creativity - When playing together, musicians can be inspired by what they hear to add their own musical ‘voices’ to the playing of tunes.
Community Identity - I would say each session and ceilidh which I have attended at different places and countries throughout the world, has their own community identity e.g. repertoire of tunes, sessions tunes or perhaps their own styles of dance.
The Scottish Fiddle repertoire fosters community and creativity through :-
Call and Response culture - In a music session, when one musician leads a tune and the other musicians join in, they might add something of themselves to the playing of the tune, perhaps some variations.
Regional styles - The five regional fiddle styles in Scotland are very distinctive. When musicians with different regional styles get together and for example, play tunes from the different regions of Scotland, there can be a cross pollenation of inspiration, innovation and creativity. Can you imagine being in a music session with all this inspiration and energy? I can!
Oral/ aural transmission - Much of the fiddle repertoire has been learnt by ear. The learning is in a way which each person playing or learning a tune can put something of themselves into the playing of that tune or set of tunes. This is a bit different from solely learning a tune from sheet music where the notes on the page might give the impression that there is only one interpretation for a tune to be played. Whereas, in reality, the notes on the page are seeds of inspiration as an illustration of how a tune might be played.
Improvisation & Variation - Through a mixture of ornamentation, bowing and rhythm techniques, a fiddle player can bring their own voice to the playing of a tune. These ‘tools’ have been around for a few hundred years and let fiddle players put something of themselves into their playing styles whilst being able to join in with a bigger community.
Gathering spaces - Over a few hundred years, fiddle players have supported communal events in rural areas of Scotland to the cities and further afield. These ‘ceilidhs’ or perhaps ‘jam’ sessions see young and old fiddle players alike playing together. And of course, you have fiddle players playing together with different levels of experience as we might find at Blackerby Violin Shop on Tuesday, 4th November.
How does Scottish music, as well as other culturally important folk traditions evolve with each generation of place and time?
That is a really good question.
Here are a number of different lenses through which we can look at things.
Transmission & Adaptation - A couple of years ago, at the Salado Highland Games in Salado TX, I remember attending a presentation by Ed Miller, Scottish singer now based in Austin. Ed gave the example of folk song and showed how much the rendition and playing of the song changed over time as different generations made the song their own.
Changing Social Contexts - As the world has become more connected and people have travelled, emigrated to other countries, musicians have brought their music with them. And with the integration with other cultures, this has created the opportunities for fusions of musical styles e.g. scottish music’s contribution to blues and country music. That is definitely a bit different from the social dances, local gatherings and storytelling of the 1700 and 1800s in Scotland. Or is it? There are still dance halls in Texas e.g. in Austin and the surrounding areas.
Migration and Place - I have touched upon the emigration of people from Scotland to North America, perhaps Cape Breton or the Appalachian Mountains. Each place, where people travel or emigrate to, creates opportunities for Scottish music, its ornamentation, rhythms, to fuse with other cultures to form new genres e.g. Cape Breton Fiddling, Old Time American fiddle.
Technology and Media - From the early printing presses to current social media, technology, over the centuries, has had an influence in the ways in which Scottish music and other culturally important folk traditions evolve with each generation. One example which springs to mind is, each year on January 25th, gathering of people around the world celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet and laureate in the form of a Burns Supper.. How did this celebration start? Possibly through the spread of a publication by Robert Burns called the ‘Kilmarnock Edition’ published in 1786. The book of poems proved very popular on this side of the Atlantic and were re-printed first in Philadelphia and then in New York. Nowadays, the spread of tunes, music and folk traditions is more instantaneous, providing ways to preserve or possibly challenge the uniqueness of sounds created within a folk tradition.
Identity and Revival - Folk music can become a symbol of cultural pride e.g. in the 1700s after the Jacobite rebellion in 1745. This was a period of political and social change in Scotland. And we are seeing this again in Scotland in the 20th Century with the revival of folk music e.g. the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh and the rise in the number of folk festivals, the emergence of traditional music degrees at Universities. Ireland is also a good example of this.
Innovation within Tradition - These days, listening to bands from Scotland, you might notice an international influence in their playing, an international collaboration of perhaps Scottish music with Jazz, African, or Galician cultures. There might even be electronic rhythms. This might mean that Scottish music aswell as other culturally important folk traditions reach new audiences, whilst at the same time giving rise to what is the ‘real’ sound of that culture or folk tradition. This is part of the debate which helps to keep cultures and folk traditions alive.
