Natalie MacMaster - Tullochgorum

[rickyranter]

This is Canadiana

[ellenanna55]

I recently took up the cello at the age of, ahem, 55, and I am amazed by this woman. The fact that she can dance and STILL hit every note on key alone is incredible not to mention the speed at which she can play! I am very excited to be seeing her in Ogunquit, Maine on the 26th of July!

[shaloneithne]

@ellenanna55 from my own experience sometimes it's harder NOT to dance. Especially if you know the tune well and it's a bouncy piece. It looks like she might even be doing this one by memory, if so it's even easier. There's a tune called Wassail that I CAN'T stand still and play even when I switch instruments to the recorder or the Psaltery.

[jingram97]

shes my best friends cousin...just sayin

[newticulz19]

i want to see a natalie macmaster VIOLIN HERO xD

[Benj888]

She must scratch a mean back.

[cowpoke1000]

If I wanted to listen to this muck I would look at Donal's videos. Do what you do best Natalie. Love ya!!

[sarahcrayner]

How do you learn to be this good? This really makes me want to go practice four hours! But how?! GAH!

[samansun]

@sarahcrayner

She speaks the forgotten tongues of the past, practice just keeps it alive.

[Poodlepups]

Eek! Guys, I'm not a classical violinist, I'm a semi-beginning fiddler, and I really do love Natalie McMaster! No need to get nasty. On second viewing the amp problem is pretty minor in this video. I have seen videos in which the sound is so nasal you wonder if it's a keyboard (not with Natalie.)

[001hamish]

Welcome to the world of the East coast!! Only one way to do things here, your own way!! =D

[mikemomajr]

i think that is her hardist song EVER

[persyphanny]

She's brilliant!

[payton317]

a very good song maybe the best

[fbchicco69]

bravissima....sopratutto dal vivo....

[mapearce1]

What a national treasure! And ever so cute too!

(Now quit stalling Natalie - marry me!)

[valleygroomer]

Love ya Natalie ~ Another Scotia Princess!!! =)

[walkerman2503]

Ach, you poor sassenach Protestants

[mikemomajr]

wow i like this a lot

[canerandagi]

sei un sogno bellissimo ciao luck

[NorthTulsaBoy]

Lookin' good, and soundin' fabulous !

Great tone.

Natalie, you Rock !

[116connor]

yeah i'd pee in her butt

[Bufalocarlos]

she is crazy and I love her!!!!....great great great!!!....I like her a lot!

[mapearce1]

Almost started readin',....but then I thought,...shoosh,...just gonna listen,...my kitchen door is always open Natalie! Ya can always fiddle the night away in my heart!

[TobiasMacIsaac]

Amazing!

[Crazycowledgend]

She's a one woman rhythm section but with a left hand like that she'll never get out of first position. There's a whole range of notes unavailable to her. I loved the bowing though. I've never heard anything like it.

[foilwrapper]

You seriously think so? I've seen her play all over the fingerboard brilliantly. As a fiddle player, one of the pet peeves I always have is classical players telling me that I can't do this or that because of how I hold the bow or how I have my left hand. Fiddle players can do all the stuff classical players do, we just have less rules (and seriously rules are no fun in music anyway.)

[fourplusseven]

Of course Natalie gets of out first. Some people are simply impudent!

THE TRUTH: the top fiddlers of the folk and classical streams can each do things that the other stream can't do. Hilary Hahn couldn't play Tullochgorum, but MacMaster couldn't do this:

/watch?v=wStfRp8UWfM

Why not enjoy them all? (And try to ignore the haters...) We have such a rich world of music.

[ainefidileir]

I love your attitude!! Seriously!

The only reason I dislike so many classical players I know is simply because they are so damned convinced that there's only one way to do something...

then they get a bee in their bonnet to try this "wacky traditional music" and sound like crap! LOL

and that's only because they would never take any advice from us lowly trad and/or self-taught fiddlers :)

I have just as much respect for Hilary as I do Natalie.

It's about the feeling - the end product people!

[Joolz211]

@ainefidileir Too true- I've seen this happen a lot, especially when classical players realise that they're not going to get the kind of recognition they were hoping for as 'serious' musicians. They then seek to involve themselves in 'alternative' forms of music.

[ainefidileir]

right on!!!!!

Classical players generally don't get it.

Unless they're serious Baroque nerds, then they have a shot at it :)

crazycowledgend: I'm not trying to be rude, but maybe if you'd loosen up a little and broaden your horizons, you'd hear lots of stuff like this.

This piece was written in the late 1700s - 1776 I believe but my memory fails for dates....and sheet music! I play by ear.

So does Natalie by the way.

[fourplusseven]

Heh heh.

If there's one thing I've learned in this lifetime, it's that most everyone thinks their way is the best way -- until they actually start looking at the other side of the fence clearly and in unbiased fashion. The problem is most people don't get that far and they get tribal about it. (In a bad way)

To recognize that there is such a thing as 'just as good as me but completely different..." is a good step for a human to take.

Enjoy, laters!

[1offkilter]

Love what you do . . .knew you first (except Buddie) with Cookie from N.S. May you not forget your roots. . .

[Poodlepups]

It's well played, but I have issues with the amplification devices that make it sound like a cheap electric violin. It doesn't ring as it should.

[morigue]

It's to be expected that there is a loss of sound quality, given that the video has been re-encoded/ re-compressed more than once to make it here to YouTube.

[TheBenjaminKaminski]

@Poodlepups I know what you mean, but I think that's goes with the territory for amped Cape Breton fiddle.

[fiddlebbb]

@Poodlepups I've listened to her for years and that's just the way she sounds. She really presses into the string and doesn't get lots of ring. It's a really unique energy-infused sound. Also she goes for more edge by playing really close to the bridge. Chilly!!!!

[Varian128]

@Poodlepups

Amplifying the violin is so new that technology hasn't really had the time to generate decent pickups... The only way to get a really natural amplified sound is to use a microphone, but then there's feedback (especially in the size concerts she plays) as well as whether or not she is able to dance around like she does. I, personally, think it's a small loss in favour of getting to hear this wonderful fiddler. :)

[raebuckland]

amazing! i love her so much, i used to want to be here.

[savethetrees433]

Spiccato is also popular in Eastern European gypsy fiddling, and contemporary Celtic fiddling

[iamNOTirishgah]

some classical pieces will use a little spiccato, but it's not as prevalent as in fiddling

[maidenrulz73]

i don't like the when she bounces the bow off the strings...she does that alot...i'd rather listen to buddy

[JinxIgluAndHartly]

its an american style of playing when she does that, its called chopping

[nashixe]

Um, no. Its a style of playing called "Spiccato" and incidently popular in Cape Breton fiddling.

[maidenrulz73]

not very popular among the older players

[BrainFPatterson]

@JinxIgluAndHartly Scottisj

Fiddling legend Jame Scott Skinner used a similar bowing technique in his version, which I hae on CD. Mind you he was also an accomplished classical player. The standard he set seems to have scared most poeple away from palying this. His bowing was phenomenal - as, it hardly need be said, is NMM's here.

[daskarf]

i agree

[maidenrulz73]

c'mon....you wouldn't?...talking all this bs about cb music...lol....buddy plays it how it was composed...not just to get a rise from the crowd

[ainefidileir]

not saying I don't like Buddy!

[shawnyboie]

lots of people play this tune

the best versions are angus chisholms and arthur muises i find

[poker1701]

shes a good vioin player but this songs a bit dull sorry.good quality vid thoe

[tullochgorum]

Good to hear someone actually playing this - there seems to be such an aura around Tullochgorum as a test piece that hardly anyone seems to record it...

[ainefidileir]

yes! there's such a stigma built up around it that a lot of people are almost afraid to tackle it.

love the username btw ;)

[twilighterforevaluhv]

dude!! i dance to her all the time!!! shes amazingg!!!!!

[360FFrPyl3]

She is fantastic. We LOVE YOU NATALIE

[laserspatula]

just throwing it out here, im searching for a few tunes I had a while ago and have got this far, definitely this style of fiddle playing with breton/french singing, i think there was a strong vocal of 'vous', any ideas!?

[morigue]

Have you checked out the videos by the Québécois group Le Vent du Nord?

[laserspatula]

thanks  morigue, checked them out they sound good.

[akropiss]

@morigue after all mate, Québecois are of Breton heritage, hence the Breton language in small communities, the bagpipes, the fiddle etc. and the food :D the food.

[gidgetsdigitalgadget]

@akropiss, this music makes it's way around the world many times over. Check out: "Atlantic Bridge Green Man Concert". It's a duo in a little Irish pub in France. You don't get much more international than that.

[GeoffBowers]

Inspiring! What a wonderful sensitive and expressive touch she has. In another three lifetimes of constant practice we might just come near to this. "Way to go" Natalie - you have a firm fan in this humble fiddler.

Geoff. :O)

[Laura2cool]

she's my favorite shes gonna perform in concert on march 14,2009

[iraqidolphin]

She ain't playing till she breaks a few strings lol

[7rasengan7]

she's my second cousin

[TheRaginTiger]

Good for you....... I've taught her how to play the fiddle since she was a little girl.

[amyclaire12345]

I just love her!!! I have here hole CD on my Ipod.I play fiddle to!!! Only i'm not as fast........oh well.

:)

[albobay1]

wow what a mosh crazy crowd she sure looks proud to play 4 them lol.

[kibblets777]

shes a beasssssssssssst!!! wooooooooo!!!!

[nestorrfortuna]

Tullochgorum must mean "how to get carpal tunnel in 3:10 "

[xxitskaitlinn]

shes my cousinnn . (:

[pcameron6]

ha cool shes like my second cousin

[albobay1]

third cousin here lol.

[7rasengan7]

second cousin

[nonakate]

I love it!

[pentecostalgal]

Just saw her in Calgary Tuesday night with the Calgary Orchestra. It was amazing.

[SqueezyMcFeelpants]

Just got home from her Concert in Medicine Hat.

All I can say is WOW.

[barbkaus]

I've seen Natalie at least four times in concert. Amazing for sure!!

[hersheybar1966]

She is just so amzingly talented. What a fiddler and musician.. Gotta dance when she plays

[mongorich]

aww, that's easy!

ha, just kidding. virtuoso violin plaing by a beautiful woman. what could be better.

[madchives]

oh, thanks for the post. natalie does so great with this, (as her own), i think

[samhaindk]

Lovely!!

[erikatube808]

the passion...jaysus..!!!

[tardinaut]

Good stuff. Thanks.

[lemugull]

Brilliant! My favourite fiddle tune ever!!! And one of my favourite artists ;)