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Cairdeas na bhFidléirí is an organization set up to promote Donegal fiddling, and sponsors a number of events in the county. I am proud to host their pages on this site. Cairdeas runs the Donegal Fiddlers' Summer School in August each year in Glencolumbkille, Co. Donegal, and during the summer in Ballyshannon, the weekly Magh Ena Residential Donegal Fiddle School. The schools are growing in popularity, fairly inexpensive, and the very best Donegal fiddlers have been the teachers. What a deal! All you have to do is get to Donegal! Here is a review of the 1997 Summer School in Glen.
There is also The Frankie Kennedy Winter School (but this is an old page). Apparently it's become the hot spot in Ireland for ringing in the New Year. Current details from Gearoid Mooney on the upcoming 1999-2000 school are here; old information, on the 1998-9 school, is available here. The Altan site has an exceedingly well-written review of a recent session. Here is a review of the 1996-7 session of the school -- more about the concerts than about the teaching. Someone else wrote an interesting review (external link) of the first (?) session of the school.
Here is another page about sources of fiddle instruction in Donegal.
First, the golden words of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, in an interview in Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1995: "If you're interested in Donegal style, I would say to get as many records as possible in that style, and especially solo albums the likes of John Doherty's Bundle and Go and his other solo album, or James Byrne's The Road to Glenlough. Just listen to all the different styles and choose what you want. And go there! It's not just the style. The style comes out of the environment and the people and the feeling you get. It's the atmosphere there. You have to go there and seek out the places that all the tunes are from around all those areas. They're named after certain areas, like 'The Cliffs of Glencolmcille' and 'Biddy from Muckross.' Go to those places and you get the whole feeling, you know you really do get the feeling of the tunes."
Next, a lot of sound advice from Martin Dowling, who has studied Donegal fiddling. He is not an expert, he says; he gives his advice based on observation of many friends who play Donegal music. But I at least have found his advice helpful. He writes: "... put Altan and Peoples aside for the time being and focus on your Doherty tape(s). Play with minimal slurring of notes together with the bow. Play evenly, without syncopation, so that each note gets equal treatment. Play lightly with a quick bow movement. Use ornamentation with the left hand sparingly, and triplets with the bow often. Practice your triplets over and over and over and over. They are crucial for playing hornpipes, strathspeys, highlands, and reels in the Donegal style.
"I recommended Doherty over Altan and Peoples at this stage only because he was a fiddle player of the previous generation who has had an enormous influence on all Donegal fiddle players, including Peoples and the members of Altan. It has nothing to do with authenticity. Searching for the most authentic style is wrongheaded, as far as I am concerned. Feldman divided the styles into four regions, but within those regions there is and was great variety. It comes down to individual expression in the end.
"I certainly wouldn't steer you away from Altan or Peoples on the grounds that they are less authentic! It's just that Peoples' style is so distinctive that you may end up sounding more like him than like the majority of Donegal fiddlers. And as for Altan, the pace of the music is so fast that I fear you will miss what's actually happening with the bow. I think that it is only after inspecting Doherty that you will appreciate what Altan are doing. I invite you to try and play along with one of their tracks without slurring any notes!
"... a word of warning. It will not be a matter of playing the Donegal style when you want to. It will demand a pretty serious stylistic commitment from which there is no turning back.
"... my strongest advice: to play in that style you must go to Donegal and seek out individuals who will assist you. I highly recommend the fiddle school in Glencolmcille held in the first week of August every year."
Something now Caoimhín Mac Aoidh (author of Between the Jigs and the Reels) wrote to me. I had told him I avoided listening to fiddlers who slur a lot (e.g., Kevin Burke and Martin Hayes) for fear of wanting to slur myself. He replied: "Don't give up listening to the slur bow fiddlers. They have their good points too. But to play Donegal music, you must commit yourself to it. Be disciplined and learn the bowing style. Soon it'll come to you enjoy all of the styles but in terms of playing choose what fires you and follow it directly."
Caoimhín Mac Aoidh has written an on-line fiddle tutor -- a number of transcriptions in abc format, together with extensive notes on how to practice and play the tunes. Have a look!
Here is a further informal introductory guide to learning Irish fiddle, by Larry Sanger, first posted February 1998, and updated occasionally since then; comments welcome.
Here list traditional music sessions, courtesy of Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, and this (external link) is a huge list of sessions in various countries, but with some information about Donegal sessions.
Some transcriptions (in ABC format) of Donegal tunes
(List provided by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh.)
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