phys. ed.

[billkilpatrick]

an interest in the fiddle has caused me to see a lot of contemporary youtube videos of old-time/bg fiddlers and i have to say that on the whole ... in the main ... they appear to be in a lot worse physical shape than mandolin players - just. almost everyone in retro - b/w videos appears thin in comparison.

if pantagruelian guts and walrus-y jowls are a prerequisite for fiddle playing ... i don't think i can do it.

[jim_n_virginia]

an interest in the fiddle has caused me to see a lot of contemporary youtube videos of old-time/bg fiddlers and i have to say that on the whole ... in the main ... they appear to be in a lot worse physical shape than mandolin players - just. almost everyone in retro - b/w videos appears thin in comparison.

if pantagruelian guts and walrus-y jowls are a prerequisite for fiddle playing ... i don't think i can do it.

That's easy ... they are in demand more so they work more and have the money to eat! LOL!! :mandosmiley:

[JCook]

Maybe the jowls help them hold the fiddle.

Jack

[Alex Orr]

That's because old-time fiddle players never die!! Seriously, those dudes always seem to be fiddling away well into their nineties.

[JeffD]

"pantagruelian" is my new favorite word. And luckily it doesn't apply to me. Nobody would confuse me with an athlete, but I am not near pantagruelian.

I haven't noticed the trend with fiddlers, OT or otherwise.

I have noticed a Pillsbury dough boy trend in BG guitar players at festivals, but my sampling has not been scientific.

[catmandu2]

Bill, the "old-time" tradition in the US does not entail: healthy eating, exercise, or abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol. You may want to stick to gamba playing :whistling:

[JeffD]

Bill, the "old-time" tradition in the US does not entail: healthy eating, exercise, or abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol. You may want to stick to gamba playing :whistling:

Gamba playing, which has a tradition of healthy eating, exercise, and abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol??? :disbelief::confused::grin:

[Fretbear]

Pantagruel(ian) = Gargantua(n); just don't give anyone "the fig"......
The first "real" bluegrass fiddler was actually named "Chubby", playing them Florida Blues....

[billkilpatrick]

Gamba playing, which has a tradition of healthy eating, exercise, and abstinence from cigarettes and alcohol??? :disbelief::confused::grin:

the wrong gambit, there ... the only tradition early music offers is leotards, shoes with no arch-support and mu-mu's.

[allenhopkins]

I've seen fiddlers all over the body-fat scale; Benny Martin may be at one end of that scale, Kenny Baker toward the other. Many in between. As for mandolinists, I still remember my first impression of mid-'60's (perhaps I'm referring both to the year, and the waistband size) Bobby Osborne. He's taken off a bit since then.

But a good point made above: those musicians who came out of the rural Southern tradition a few decades ago weren't exactly raised on macrobiotics and vegan organics. They ate fried food, smoked up a storm, "drank when they're dry," and were products of a culture that found such things perfectly normal. They sang songs about the joys of adultery, and the joys of Jesus, back to back without noticing any contradiction. It was a cultural intersection when they started performing for college audiences (including me) in the North.

[catmandu2]

... fried food, smoked up a storm, "drank when they're dry," and were products of a culture that found such things perfectly normal. They sang songs about the joys of adultery, and the joys of Jesus, back to back without noticing any contradiction.

The tobacco and alcohol industry is still going strong in the South. But, contradiction is part of the human experience and no wonder that songs about sin and redemption are prevalent. I regard the prevalence of alternating porn and religion business organizations one observes along roadways in the South as natural expressions of sin and repentance. It's just more "out there"... down there.

[foldedpath]

We used to have a vacation place up in the northeast Tennessee mountains. Nobody but a hardscrabble farmer could stay thin for long, on the local diet of biscuits 'n gravy, barbecue, fried chicken, buttered corn and country ham.

Okay, now I'm getting hungry....

[Coffeecup]

Natural selection - as circumference increases it gets to the point where the player can no longer reach his mandolin. That doesn't happen with a fiddle, it just provides the player with an arm rest.

[JeffD]

They sang songs about the joys of adultery, and the joys of Jesus, back to back without noticing any contradiction. .

Its sin and repentance. Over and over. Songs about the human condition and about how both sin and repentance are part of the human experience. I would include two other elements, sorrow and joy. All the death and murder sorrowful songs and then all the happy and light hearted songs.

And sometimes its all wrapped up together in one song.

Jaybird died of whooping cough, sparrow died of colic
'Long come a frog with a fiddle on his back, c'mon girl to the frolic.
Whoa Mule whoa; whoa mule, stay,
I ain't got time to kiss you now, my mule's running away.

I used to have a big old mule, rode him into town
Before I had him cross the creek, the buzzards had him down
Whoa Mule whoa; whoa mule, stay,
I ain't got time to kiss you now, my mule's running away.

Peter was a big old boy, Peter wasn't stout
Then Peter took the measles, and Peter petered out.
Whoa Mule whoa; whoa mule, stay,
I ain't got time to kiss you now, my mule's running away.

[chasray]

Natural selection - as circumference increases it gets to the point where the player can no longer reach his mandolin. That doesn't happen with a fiddle, it just provides the player with an arm rest.

I've seen some good sized mando players....the mandolin looks like a belt buckle hanging low so you slide it up on your chest and rest it there. And sing tenor.

[catmandu2]

I've seen some good sized mando players....the mandolin looks like a belt buckle hanging low so you slide it up on your chest and rest it there. And sing tenor.

That's one of the advantages of playing upright -- it's "slimming." ;)

[thesubliminalman]

[QUOTE=JeffD;714163]Its sin and repentance. Over and over. Songs about the human condition and about how both sin and repentance are part of the human experience. I would include two other elements, sorrow and joy. All the death and murder sorrowful songs and then all the happy and light hearted songs.

And sometimes its all wrapped up together in one song.

QUOTE]

I NEED to hear that, do you have a mp3 or link to a sound or vid file?