I got to see John Carty play last night at a friend’s house. Carty is a well known Irish fiddle and banjo player; he’s teaching at O’Flaherty’s music workshop this weekend and stopped off in my city to do this house concert. I only recognized a few of the tunes, but i was paying more attention to his technique, anyway, since i’m trying to improve my own.
I noticed he plays with the neck of the fiddle pitched forward, and no shoulder rest. I don’t get to see a lot of fiddle players up close, but his right (bow) hand looked more relaxed than maybe i’ve ever seen. His pinkie doesn’t even touch the bow most of the time. And he has (please excuse my expression) normal human fingers instead of the long thin spider fingers i’ve seen a lot, that i was worried one needed to be a really good player.Â
I went to the concert on my own, but there were several people i knew there either from Wednesday open session at the pub, or a couple of my teacher’s other students. During the break i got to geek out about Ireland with one of my teacher’s brand new students. She’s in high school and wants to study abroad in college. We both have Claddagh rings.
One of the other guests brought the most amazing apple ginger pie. She said it was a family recipe; they’re from the Netherlands. ...tonight is lesson and session, and tomorrow afternoon i leave for O’Flaherty’s! (w00t!)
