William Meldrum Introduction to Ethnomusicology
MHL 568 December 14, 1999

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIDDLE TRADITION OF THE SHETLAND ISLES

The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles
 Peter Cooke
 Cambridge Studies in Ethnomusicology
 Cambridge University Press 1986
 General Editor: John Blacking
The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles is the first comprehensive study of the primary music of the most northerly of the British Isles. It was written by Peter Cooke, senior lecturer and head of the ethnomusicology department at Edinburgh University in Edinburgh Scotland. In the preface, Dr. Cooke discusses his reasoning behind the decision to write this book. When first appointed to a research position at the School of Scottish Studies, Mr Cooke looked into what music was most neglected by the schools researchers. He found that the music of the Shetland isles received very little outside scholarly attention, but was being internally researched by Dr. Tom Anderson and the Shetland Folk Society. Dr. Anderson provided audio recordings of Shetland music to the School of Scottish Studies, and it was these tapes that sparked Dr. Cooke's interest in performing a more intensive study of the music and culture.
Dr. Cooke brings to light two main problems in the fieldwork studies for this book. The first relates to the actual time spent researching and interviewing in the field. Most ethnomusicologists and anthropologists agree that at least one or two extended stays within the studied society are required to truly experience the culture and traditions, as well as gain the trust and acceptance of those being studied. However, Dr. Cooke's research was done over a period of ten years (1970-1980), with approximately two visits per year, each lasting about two weeks. Dr. Cooke agrees
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that this is not the most advantageous method of field work, but other commitments made longer stays impossible.
The next fieldwork problem relates to the vast number of isles to be visited and studied. There are well over 100 islands in the Shetland area, and it was simply impossible to visit all of them. However, Dr. Cooke supplemented his material with interviews with people from the areas in which he was unable to visit. For example, the Island of Fair was omitted because of weather problems, but he did interview a musician from the area. A very small town, Foula, was also not visited, but again Dr. Cooke was able to interview and get a sampling of the music from a native. Papa Stour, another small island, was not visited, but one of the most respected story tellers and teachers of Papa Stour traditions was interviewed at his new home on the Mainland.
Dr. Cooke closes the preface with a statement that is global in it's relevance to all ethnomusicologists. His statement sets the tone for his book, and gives it direction.
"Any work of music ethnography should attempt to answer at least the following
questions: Who are the music makers and their audiences? When is the music
performed and why? What music is performed? How is it composed and performed?
How are the performing skills learned and what aesthetic criteria are used by performers
and listeners? They may seem obvious questions and simple to ask, but it has not
proved so simple to answer them. Not all these questions can be answered in discrete
sections; for example the discussion of the repertory--but the answers to others only
emerge in passing in the accounts given to me by musicians and others during my
interviews with them." (preface, x)

1. ETHNOGRAPHIC AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 There are over 100 islands in the Shetlands, and are the northern most region of the British Isles. The area was originally Scandinavian, but pawned to Scotland in 1496. The Norse language was predominantly spoken in the area, but was slowly replaced by the Anglo-Scots dialect over a period of about 300 years. Many Shetlanders still consider themselves more Scandinavian than Scottish, or for that
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matter British, and that is particularly evident in the town names. Specific accounts of everyday life in the 18th and 19th centuries are difficult to research because of lack of documentation. What little was written of social life in the isles report the friendly and hospitable nature of the Shetland peasent-fishermen, a view still evident today. It is thought that the predecessor to the violin was an instrument known as the "gue". Very little is known about it except that is was possibly a type of bowed lyre or a rectangular bowed box-zither.
It is believed that the violin was first introduced to Shetland in approximately 1700, possibly by Hanseatic traders. An early 19th century statistical account for the Parish of Delting states one of the first mentions of the violin:
"Music and Dancing are favorite amusements especially in the winter. Many of the
common people play with skill upon the violin. Gin is the spirituous liquor most generally
in use; and although there are no alehouses, is often drunk by the lower classes in too
great quantities." (Reid Tait, 1925, p.44)

There were three basic rituals that required the use of the violin, the playing to the townspeople on the morning of Yule Day, accompanying ancient Norwegian sword dances, and playing at weddings, which was quickly growing in importance.
The dance music of the wedding was soon to become the most important repertoire for the Shetland fiddle player. There were three basic dances for which the fiddle player played. The "Aald Reel" or "Muckle Reel" was the oldest type of dance. It was circular in nature and was originally accompanied by Norse verse (an obvious influence of the former isle owners), but was gradually replaced by strictly fiddle music
that grew to bear little resemblance to the original Norse music. The "Scottish Reel" or "Shetland Reel" was a line dance with rows of men standing opposite rows of women. and was probably composed of both "reeling" (traveling) and "setting" (dancing on the spot opposite one's partner). The "Whalsay Shuffle" was a dance where dancer "gives
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each leg an alternate shake". It was a specialty of those from Whalsay.
The late 19th century is still thinly documented. Fiddle playing in association with the wedding ritual was continuing to rise in importance. Dancing to the fiddle sealed the official contract made in the bride's home several days before a wedding. The groom would visit a fiddle player to ask him to become the official fiddler of the wedding and also asked him to the bachelor party. The fiddler would lead the bride and groom to and from the church on the wedding day and of course, played at the evening's party In places where the bride was ceremonially put to bed, the fiddler would also be present
2. RECENT HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHED OF LIVING FIDDLERS
 Because the early 20th century is within the living memory of most of the interviewees, Dr. Cooke changed his delivery of information from a basic lesson in Shetland history, to a number of interviews with current Shetland fiddlers. Excerpts of the interviews are brief and written in the Shetland dialect. Each section is also supplemented by commentary supplied by Dr. Cooke. The merits of this approach will be discussed in a later portion of this paper.
Fiddlers from mainland Shetland are readily exposed to traditional Scottish music, and in addition to Shetland dance tunes, perform slow airs, slow strathspeys, pipe music, light classical tunes and non-indigineous dance tunes. They have more opportunity to learn from a fiddle teacher and are not necessarily self taught. Those interviewed include Bobbie Peterson (b. 1916), who discussed his father's influence on his music, his Christmas traditions, his lack of formal instruction, his self composed reels, and the fiddlers of today. Robert Barinson (b. 1906) is a member of the Shetland Folk Society Fiddle Band and told of of the mid 19th century religious revival in
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Shetland when dancing was prohibited, and music discouraged. Dr. Tom Anderson, whose research and recordings sparked Dr. Cooke's interest in the Shetland Isles, told of his time in the Royal Air Force, where he noticed that many other cultures were celebrating their own indigenous music, and that fiddle music was heard rarely if at all. He then made a decision that when he returned to Shetland, he would concentrate his studies solely on the music of the Shetland Isles. In 1960 Dr. Anderson formed the Shetland Fiddlers' Society, and later became the first officially sanctioned teacher of traditional fiddling in the Shetland schools.
The island of Whalsay is a traditional area with a large Scottish influence. Interviewees from Whalsay include Andrew Poleson (d. 1979) who discussed his his beginnings as a fiddler, the honor of playing at his first dance, and the infiltration of other instruments in Shetland musical society including the accordion, melodeon, guitar, and drums. Allan Tulloch, another Whalsay fiddler, doesn't mind playing with other instruments, as long as they play in 'fiddle-friendly' keys. Mr. Tulloch feels that his musical tastes are diverse, and he has much in common with the younger fiddlers of the area.
Other interviewees include John Roberton from the Island of Fetlar, who told of the "Fetlar Foxtrot", a blend of a Shetland-type tune with a foxtrot-like dance. Gilbert Gray (b. 1909) is from the most northerly island of Unst, and he stressed learning music orally rather than "aff o' the notts" (from written music). He feels that the fiddler should play his own version of traditional songs and helped to form the Unst Fiddle Society in 1967. From the Island of Yell, Dr. Cooked interviewed Willie Barclay Henderson (b. 1900) who discussed his learning to play the fiddle on a chocolate box, the popularity of dancing, all night dancing, and fiddler compensation.
I feel that this chapter is almost like watching a documentary film consisting of a
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narrator and switching back and forth to interviews. Using the verbatim interview style leaves the reader to interpret what is stated by the interviewee, but the selection of printed excerpts leaves some interpretation by Dr. Cooke as to what is important material. The use of the dialect was a first distracting, but eventually became less difficult to interpret. Below is an example of an interview with Willie Barclay Henderson.
"And he says 'I've been told that you er -- left playing the fiddle -- I'm heard you playing at
the Hall... and he says 'I'm thought a lot o' your playing', he says 'I think you'll tak your
fiddle and come down ta' me, he says, 'there's nobody coming to me'. And I went down, I
could jest play a part -- the first tune I learned. And I was two year wi' him, and he learned
me all about the Shetland reels." (p.44)
It seems that the reader must read the excerpts out loud to fully understand the meaning of the Mr. Henderson's statement, but once that is done, one cannot help but to speak in a nice Shetand dialect.
3. THE FIDDLER'S REPERTORY
 In the third chapter of this book, Dr. Cooke discusses the different aspects of the repertoire of the Shetland fiddler. He cites many examples and notates them with basic western notation with minor modifications to suit the piece. He also refers to a accompanying tape recording, however that tape was not accessible at the time of the writing of this paper.
The 'Muckle Reel' or 'Aald Reel' refers to pieces of music in simple duple time, and was at one time played for a reel type dance that is now obsolete. They are distinguished by the use of strong accented patterns (accents sometimes being forceful enough to sound two to three strings), short phrases repeated three or four times, phrases based on one triad or two alternating triads and unexpected changes of tonality (eg. from D to C).
'Shetland Reels' are by far the largest class of Shetland music and can be
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divided into asymmetric, common, and modern. Asymmetric Shetland reels are simply those whose phrase structure does not consist of multiples of two bars. Common Shetland reels are in regular binary form with 8-16 beats per phrase and generally triadic in nature. It is difficult to determine whether they should be interpreted in simple duple or compound duple time because of the variance of the non-primary beats, however this is a common problem for music of this area. Modern Shetland reels are similar to common ones, however because of the increasing skill of the fiddler, the triadic passages are spread all over the range of the fiddle, utilizing all four strings.
Dr. Cookegoes on to discuss Shetland variants of traditional Scottish and Irish tunes. The Shetland fiddler sometimes uses these pieces in his repertoire, but usually changes it to suit his needs, and renames it. However, if a fiddler plays another type of piece, such as an American country tune, a Scottish Canadian tune, or a modern Scottish or Irish tune, he will play it as close to the original as possible, and never rename it.
Some pieces are distinguished by the method in which they originated such as the 'Trowie Tune' which was supposedly inspired by fairies. A common explanation of it's inspiration consists of a fiddler walking home after a long night of playing and drinking, falling asleep on the side of the road, and waking to find fairies playing a tune that he cannot get out of his head. One wonders if these tunes were really fairy inspired, or alcohol induced. Other tunes named after their origin include "Greenland Tunes", "Whaling Tunes" (brought by whalers), "Yakki Tunes" (from Eskimos in Hudson Bay area, and learned by Shetland and Orkney whaling men), and "Wedding Tunes" (any tune associated with the wedding ritual).
Dr. Cooke closes this chapter with a discussion of jig time tunes and the listening repertoire. Jig Time tunes are ones that accompany jig type dances and are
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usually in compound duple time. Dr. Cooke divides these songs into modern jigs and 6/8 marches, indigenous tunes, wedding songs and marches, and imported jigs. The listening repertoire contains all tunes that are not danced to, including those that may have been previously use for dancing. He divides them into ceremonial music (wedding, Christmas, and New Years tunes), Non ritual music (slow airs, song airs, and modern compositions), novelty songs, and strathspeys.
4. MUSICAL STYLE AND PERFORMANCE STYLE
The fourth section of this book is dedicated to why and how the music of Shetland is performed. Shetland music is predominately light in feel and quick in tempo to facilitate the main function for most of the music--dancing. Dr. Cooke also discusses some bio-mechanical factors in how the music is written. Many pieces feature melodies that are controlled by the finger dexterity of the largely self-educated fiddlers. Even something as simple as how the fiddle is held, whether it be against the chest or under the chin, can control the musical elements of a piece of music.
Rhythmically, we need to look at the differentiation between 'lilt' and 'lift' in Shetland dance music. 'Lilt' pertains to the rhythmic flow of the melody. The scholarly imposed notation may suggest evenly spaced notes, but that is rarely the case. The relative proportion of notes can be 4:3, 5:3 or even as much as 2:1. Some transcriptions in this book are accompanied by a pitch graph or and spectral envelope or illustrate this even further. In his transcriptions, Mr. Cook utilizes alternate notation such as a slash through a note to indicate a shortened duration. 'Lift' on the other hand refers to the tempo and rhythmic vitality of the music.
The bio-mechanical factor is further discussed when Dr. Cooke discusses tonality. Much Shetland music is controlled by th limitations of the fingers of the player. Shetland music is usually played in first position with forward or backward extensions
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of the first finger occurring rarely. The fourth finger is almost never used, probably because some fiddlers hold the instrument against their chest rather than under their chin, making use of the fourth finger on the neck impossible. The second finger tends to vacillate in position creating the "neutral" third, a note that is somewhere between a major and minor third. The player, however, does treat the third as major or minor, although it may be difficult for the trained ear to distinguish it. The most common keys in Shetland music are D, G, and A and tend to be pentatonic in nature, also due to the fingering factor.
The phrase structure of Shetland music is rather simple in nature. There are usually one-bar phrases and rarely more than four or five phrases in each tune. Sixteen bar phrases are usually split into two halves, with the end of each "rhyming", that is having the same or similar characteristics.
Dr. Cooke then illustrates regional differences in the music of the Shetlands. Mainland Shetlanders use very clean accents and sometimes play on different strings simultaneously to create the illusion of two voice parts. The music of Yell uses a high bass tuning (a-d'-a'-e") to create a drone effect. They accents are not as bold as those of Mainland Shetlanders. Musicians from Yell also use the 'long draa' effect where the player ends the phrase with a long down bow that allow the bottom two string to resonate into the next phrase. The music of Unst and Fell contain less harmony, more stacatto, and less slurred passages. Music of Whalsay is generally fast with strong accents utilizing strong down bow jerks combined with short stacatto up bows. It is here that we see the first use of "shivers", where the performer plays one or two with a rapid change in bow direction, creating a shivering effect.
At the conclusion of this chapter, Dr. Cooke tries to illustrate the "Shetland Favour", a list of characteristics that is true of all Shetland fiddle music. He stresses
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the economy of musical material. Shetland music does not have long, elaborate melodies, but rather contain short, repetitive phrases. Diatonic scalar passages are almost non-existent and pentatonic motifs flourish, most likely because of the fingering factors discussed earlier in this paper. There is a rich, harmonic flavour created by the use of drones. The tempi of the pieces is quick, but not undancable, with a bit of 'lilt' that make it unmistakably Shetland.
5. CHANGE IN RECENT YEARS: FUNCTION AND AESTHETICS
 When this book was published (1986), Shetland fiddle music was going under a slow transformation from dance music, to listening music. While dance tunes are still part of the fiddlers' repertoire, they are played more listening environments. Shetland is no longer a one instrument community (the fiddle). The accordion has replaced the fiddle as the leader in community dance bands. Fiddlers are still present, but difficult to hear over the loud and brash accordion. However, playing with the accordion has actually made the today's fiddler more proficient because it makes him play more difficult passages in different keys. The availability of recordings, television and radio have diminished role of the domestic fiddler, and exposed him to different music. Increasingly, women are becoming fiddlers, perhaps outnumbering men in the near future. Most fiddlers now prefer to be accompanied by a piano or guitar, and have begun to use vibrato. Tonally, today's fiddler gives more regard to harmony (probably because of the accordion), and tends to write music with modulations to the dominant or relative minor key.
The fiddle is now being taught in schools, and even though the music is still primarily orally transmitted, some notation is being utilized. There is widespread belief among traditional fiddlers that teaching the fiddle in school is not appropriate. In the past, the fiddle was taught and absorbed at a slow pace from father to son, or mentor
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to student on a one-on-one basis. The student would learn at his own pace. Today, that is replaced by large group classes with structure and a specific curriculum. Many feel that this is negatively affecting the young fiddlers of today, and they seem to be correct, because there has been a steady decline in the enrollment of these classes.
The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles is a comprehensive look at the specific aspects and the proud tradition of Shetland fiddle music and musicians. It is very well organized and flows well. The interviews, although thorough, tend to get a bit monotonous because of the verbatim style and the use of Shetland dialect. The transcriptions were well done, and quite helpful in the absence of the accompanying recording. In his conclusion, however, Dr. Cooke seems to be a bit disgruntled at the changes in today's Shetland musical society. It may be difficult as a semi-historian to accept change and movement away from traditional styles, but change is inevitable and never ending. This is the only real criticism I have in this otherwise informative work.





BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cooke, Peter: 'The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles', Cambridge Univerity Press, 1986

Reid Tait, E.S.: The Statistical Account of Scotland , 1925