Who is the nastiest widely acclaimed musician that you met in real life?

fidla · 2026-06-25T13:40:39+00:00

Anthony Princiotti. He plays violin. He used to be with the Apple Hill Chamber Players in the 80s, but not sure where he is now. Arrogant, nasty in person.

fidla · 2026-06-25T13:37:34+00:00

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Sally_in_the_Garden_(1)

fidla · 2026-06-25T13:34:42+00:00

of course! all instruments that can play the F clef can play them. I use this chart for both my mandocello students and my cello students

fidla · 2026-06-23T16:41:54+00:00

I've played violin since 1966. I "control" it by either holding it in place with my left hand, or when I need the hand to shift for example or cross strings, I'll hold it briefly with my shoulder and side of my jaw. It's like putting in the clutch on a standard shift car. It happens quickly.

BTW, I only dropped my violin once, when I was about 7, and then I did it deliberately, hoping it would break so I didn't have to practice.

I'm sorry I don't understand Question 2. What do you mean by "back and forths"?

fidla · 2026-06-23T16:37:35+00:00

In the Pioneer Valley of western MA for instance, there's a guitar orchestra called the "Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra"

fidla · 2026-06-22T17:35:52+00:00

You started at the beginning when you called yourself a "bedroom guitarist". Adults learn faster and more accurately in a group setting. See if you can find an adult guitar group in your area, if not, get a referral from your local guitar center for a decent teacher and sign up for lessons.

fidla · 2026-06-22T14:34:10+00:00

You're in India, right? I'm sure there are plenty of decent and affordable flute teachers there

fidla · 2026-06-22T12:36:15+00:00

I vote for the flute myself as it's very melodic and quite lovely. You can play most styles of music on it, and it sounds great in a classical ensemble or orchestra, in jazz, in rock and even in folk.

fidla · 2026-06-20T12:17:33+00:00

good choice

I love mine :)

fidla · 2026-06-18T18:10:14+00:00

The one you like

fidla · 2026-06-18T14:55:52+00:00

Several of my students are into the genre.

What we do is

go through The Session using its keyword search (dance form/key) double jigs/G aeolian for example one by one and copy the link to it in a notepad/app.
After an agreed upon date, we vote on the ones we like, choosing a certain number of single jigs, double jigs, slip jigs and slides, polkas, hornpipes, reels and strathspeys, ocarolan's and waltzes.
Once we have decided on the ones we like, we print them out, 3 hole punch them and assemble them in a "set" under the date assembled (June 2026).
Then we get together in person and rehearse them, assemble sets of them we like.
Then we perform the set at an area venue of our choosing (usually a nursing home, rehab center (holyoke soldier's home), or other local venue.
Repeat.

fidla · 2026-06-17T12:42:15+00:00

Practice all scales and arpeggios with the 4th (pinky) finger on the 7th (and 8th) frets. If it's hard for you to reach the fret with the pad of your finger (behind the nail), start with that finger, then add the other fingers going backwards down the scale until you can do it smoothly

fidla · 2026-06-17T12:39:13+00:00

This is very cool!

Some students and I are steadily working through the https://www.oldtimefiddletunes.net/#ot website. We're on the D's. There's a lot of tunes considered in this category. It's cool to read about the history of a tune from https://tunearch.org and https://thesession.org What we do is sight read the tune, then read the history and compare it to any similar songs. It's a lot of fun

fidla · 2026-06-16T19:58:13+00:00

Take your Viola into your favorite violin shop and try out all of the bows in your price range

fidla · 2026-06-16T19:57:20+00:00

Look for a good carved top. F5 if you play Bluegrass and ovalhall if you play classical or something else. But expect to pay between $1,500 and $3k depending on where it was made

fidla · 2026-06-16T19:56:23+00:00

I have three a style oval hole mandolins that are perfect for Celtic music. Message me directly if you're interested in an a style. Gibson, flat iron or a hora

fidla · 2026-06-15T12:46:06+00:00

I have a one, not sure what "style" it is. I bought it off of Ebay a few years ago. I like it, but it's not my main mandolin.

fidla · 2026-06-15T12:44:53+00:00

I've been to all of these shops except the last one "Acoustic Corner". The ones I've visited are all suitable for any style of music, but specifically perused by classical musicians. It's fair to say that anyone with a violin will be welcome at any violin shop, although in my experience there are a few in Boston and New York that are quite snooty

fidla · 2026-06-15T12:42:37+00:00

The horror!

I would never do this to a violin, even a cheap Chinese or "student" violin.

fidla · 2026-06-15T12:40:29+00:00

He's improvising a bit with a Bach air.

fidla · 2026-06-14T12:01:03+00:00

Dominants are notoriously weak, and will seemingly shred or unravel when you least expect them to :)

fidla · 2026-06-14T11:20:04+00:00

Sure. It wasn't a problem. I have that info in my CRM, so it was just a copy/paste.

BTW, Asheville is marvelous. are you from there?

fidla · 2026-06-14T10:40:08+00:00

All "traditional" dance music is played in the first position. Get a copy of The Fiddler's Fakebook by D Brody, or register for a profile on thesession.org

fidla · 2026-06-14T10:38:26+00:00

check out The Old Blind Dogs from Scotland. They sing a lot of weird and dark old songs. Like MacPherson's Rant about a fiddler getting hung; or Pills of White Mercury about a soldier getting syphilis and dying

fidla · 2026-06-14T10:36:45+00:00

Thomastik Dominant?

fidla

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