Oh ye yaille chere by Raymond Francois. There are others but none that compare to the size of this volume. The others I've seen aren't as good. You should trust your ears instead of a book. It'll get you a lot further in Cajun music. Watch documentaries if you're curious about how sounds manifest themselves in the physical form. Watch Cajun visits and blues des balfas by Yasha Aginsky. Both available on folkstreams.net for free streaming. Mostly fiddlers on those
Ye Yaille, Chere is the best out there for a basic guideline on the tunes and the notation for fiddle isn't all that bad. Definitely should only be used as a starting point though. Get your hands on as many CD's as you can and recognize that most of them are going to be recorded with C accordions (the fiddle player usually tunes down a whole step so instead of E A D G it becomes D G C F)
I would also look into some of the instructional videos out there. Mitch Reed has several that I hear are top notch and Al Berard also has one or two out as well. I'd steer away from any of the Mel Bay or stuff that isn't even really written by people that truly understand the music.
Hey CHarlie, I have Oh Ye Yaille (the Big Yellow Book), so you can check it out when you come up. I also have one of the Mitch Reed DVD's, which you're welcome to borrow.
The Yellow book is a great source, but the notation used and the division of measures, especially as in discovering where the melody starts after f.i. the lead-in notes (kick-off), can be a little confusing at times.
As with any folk music based on playing by ear the improvisational aspects of Cajun fiddling is what makes it such fun to play fiddle, even more than playing accordion maybe. You will never be able to write that aspect down, but only after knowing the core melody of a tune by heart, and then start to mess around with it. Michael Doucet done some great notation attempts of his improvisations included with the DVD; when a trained music reading violinist plays it you can hear Michael's exceptional playing skills from that.
I have quite a collection made myself with notation for our bands' fiddlers, meant as basic example of a tune and guide, meant as starting point, and always tell the ladies once they "know" it by heart a little, throw the sheet music out the window if you want to discover the soul of the tunes. If you're looking for a particular one, maybe i can help you out a little. - Nout
Forgot about those dvds. Here is a comprehensive list of excellent cajun fiddlers that have instructional DVDs
Hadley Castille (never viewed this one)
Mitch Reed (highly recommend these)
Michael Doucet (highly recommended) He also has an audio only version with sheet music I think, if you can still find it. We have it here in the library in Baton Rouge. The two are separate. They have two completely different lists of songs. Both are excellent learning tools.
Tina Pilione (Highly recommended) p.s. I really like this one because she shows you how to play the songs in multiple keys. E.g. If a song is in D she also shows how to play in C (one step down) on tuned up fiddle. I thought this was really cool.
Al Berard (never viewed)
Dejalma Garnier (Recommended for creole) Mel Bay production but still a good video
and if you go to my youtube favorites page there are a **** load of instructional videos that I have favorited that others have graciously uploaded from various cajun fiddle camps across the country. Including videos from two of my favorite fiddlers Joel Savoy and Kevin Wimmer.
username is TCadien
Best of luck. if you have any questions about fiddling or are interested in some free skype help shoot me an e-mail. It was given to me freely and I am glad to return the favor.
I find the adjusted tuning interesting, but playing in all the keys with standard tuning should probably work out all right - but I will see what you're talking about. I imagine it's an issue of awkward string crossings and or doublestops. It will be an interesting comparison with the southern Appalachian style. I'll be checking out the Yellow Book big time today! Thanks.
you got it right about string crossing and double stops. Once you get to know the music you'll get what I'm saying. The players that can pull it off playing in standard tuning with C accordions and can make it sound "authentic" and not "nashville" are few and far between.
Well, every violinist brings his/her musical soul and background with. I'm an orchestral and chamber music violinist, with lots of experience in improvisation. And I've done tons of wedding gigs, both in solo and and string quartet formats. The Acadian musical world is fun and engaging. It will be a blast to learn the music. But it will have my imprint on it, and that's not a bad thing.
Well, as for fiddling pur sang, and as fiddle teacher at times, i always find that a classical trained violinist very rarely gets to understand the rhythmic ins and outs of a different bowing technique used in folk music like Cajun, Old time Country, Bluegrass, Irish. And they find it even harder to understand the importance of bluesy sliding in to a note and as such how to add some spicy dirt to their playing skills. - Nout
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
