Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Check out our 2023 Group Christmas Project HERE
Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
(13 votes) 
Offline
Good morning,
My name is Anja and someone has drawn my attention on this forum a while ago, so I thought now that I have two weeks off why not introduce myself. I am halfway my 40's and I live in Belgium, Europe , where they throw you to death with classical players but fiddle teachers cannot be found unless you aim Irish or Scottish Therefore I started off three years ago for 1 year and a half with a classical teacher. The rest is self taught.
My good fiddle is a violin from China that was revisioned by my luthier. I love this instrument, it's loud and brilliant. I also have a black Stagg instrument - a VSO (made in Belgium) with a new wittner tailpiece on and new strings. I use a wooden Match One shoulder rest (the one with hook) and I love this one, I'm also very fond of my Codabow Joule, which I recently bought for a reltatively small price in Germany.
Instead of booking my favorite wooden cabin with sauna in the Ardennes, these two weeks off I am testing out two old violins, one of them is a French JTL violin.
Besides learning to play , I train my Belgian malinois named Ziva v/d Calvin's Hoeve. She loves dog frisbee, detection work (she searches for explosives), some recreational bitework, swimming and having long walks.
My dream is to one day take off for a road trip with dog and fiddle through central and eastern Europe.
If you are curious you can search for my YouTube channel Dogs & Bows.
Online
Welcome to the forum, @Anja It is great that you joined. There are plenty of fiddlers here and they are interested in fiddle music from all over.
It is interesting, all the activities you have. We hope to hear and more of your fiddle playing, endeavors, hurdles and how you are jumping the hurdles. You will find plenty of fiddle here, as well as other forms.
Let us know more about and what you decide about the two violins you are testing.
Your introduction was lovely, and we hope to see you here beyond your two weeks, 😁.
🐭
The Bumblebee Flies!
Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.
Regulars
Offline
hello @anja ! and welcome to the forum. Too bad you cannot do the cabin AND violin because that sounds like perfect time spent to me. Im a dog person for sure so... Dogs, fiddle, cabins... perfect!
Regulars
Offline
@Anja -
Welcome to the Fiddlerman Forum!
So, do you play any traditional Belgian Folk tunes?
I've been slowly exploring traditional fiddle music from all over Europe - actually, all over the World. I hope you will add to some of the threads started in the International Folk Music Styles Topic Section, or start your own - especially if you are going to be traveling!
I'm surprised you even have time to play the fiddle with Ziva to keep you busy!
I was very much into Obedience trials & Schutzhund dog training (when I was MUCH younger 😆) and raised Great Danes. It was before the time of Agility trials, which I would've loved, but now there are wonderful events like Barn Hunts becoming very popular for dog owners! I belonged to a Kynological Society back in the 1970's - they developed temperament tests for young dogs, to help determine if they might make good seeing-eye or other type of assistance dogs, but I fell out of touch with them after I joined the Military.
I'm really looking forward to you sharing some of your music - 3 years of playing is a GREAT milestone - congratulations!
- Emily
Offline
ELCBK said
So, do you play any traditional Belgian Folk tunes?
- Emily
I hope to be able to play 't Smidje (Laïs ) in future 
Offline
ABitRusty said
hello @anja ! and welcome to the forum. Too bad you cannot do the cabin AND violin because that sounds like perfect time spent to me. Im a dog person for sure so... Dogs, fiddle, cabins... perfect!
Can't have it all hehe, I live all by myself so budget wise I better be careful. But to own an old violin with a story speaks to my imagination!
I love that cabin btw, it has a private finnish sauna and is located at one of the most beautiful hiking spots of the Ardennes in Houffalize in a park a while away from the centre temidst of nature. Maybe in october or next year.
Today I'll test out an old violin which a guitarist bought from a violinist. He offered to record the sound of both his instrument and mine so I can compare. I won't take any decision today however, because tomorrow I first have to test an old JTL violin. Only after I heard this one I'll decide.
Most hope lies with the JTL violin, but I will give this one a try too.
Offline
I'm surprised you even have time to play the fiddle with Ziva to keep you busy! I was very much into Obedience trials & Schutzhund dog training (when I was MUCH younger 😆) and raised Great Danes. It was before the time of Agility trials, which I would've loved, but now there are wonderful events like Barn Hunts becoming very popular for dog owners! I belonged to a Kynological Society back in the 1970's - they developed temperament tests for young dogs, to help determine if they might make good seeing-eye or other type of assistance dogs, but I fell out of touch with them after I joined the Military.
Hey Emily, my dog is not yet that obedient, but performs many tricks. We sometimes stress out her trainer with it, who is a military and has trained the army's detection dogs and is thus more into serious work like mantrailing, obedience and detection and so on. I seek my inspiration in heelwork to music and dogdance and dog frisbee, so our ideas of what you can do with a dog like that differ lol, but I agree with her trainer that she needs some serious work too and that I should be more punctual on obedience.
I bought Ziva when she was 6 months old from an excellent young breeder, she was a come back and had been trained for ringsport. It shows when we do recreational bitework , she ignores the sound of the whip and just continues to hold on, she does not really need to be taught how to bite an hold, she knows this, so the accent is on the obedience part and keeping her under control while in high drift.She is a strong and excellent guarding dog and her working abilities are excellent, it shows when she wants to guard: you CAN reach her and call her back, what makes her imho a very good Belgian malinois.
I had one before her that was adopted from a shelter and after 1 year and 4 months of trying I had to decide to put her down because of her severe aggression towards anyone who was not me. A very sweet dog for me, but she had a short circuit in her brain whenever she saw people whenever there was contact with others . It was impossible to reach her at that moment and heaven knows I tried. She passed away in my arms at the end of October.
Regulars
Offline
@Anja -
I'm really sorry for your loss, having any animal put down is a very hard task. 😔
I am excited to hear you are trying some old violins - hope one of them speaks to your heart!
T Smidje Belgijka Piano, Violin, Viola - FREE play-along score at Musescore.com
I read this is a famous Belgian Harvest Dance?
Played by Lidia "Skjere" & Paweł "Raido" Ulatowscy - Lidia plays Violin and Viola!
Woo Hoo!
Thanks for sharing this tune - I LIKE IT!
You can do it!!! 🤗
- Emily
Offline
Welcome to the forum @Anja
Glad you found this forum. So how has your progress been since after the lessons?
So giving up your favorite cabin and sauna is a big deal. That shows how much love you have for the instrument. Looking forward to hearing about those instruments after you test them.
So your Belgian Shepard works with sniffing out explosives, or you train other dogs to do so? It seems like a very important job.
Feel free to share videos of your playing here on our site. You simply paste the address and it should embed automatically.
Hope you find time for your road trip in the near future.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Offline
Fiddlerman said
Welcome to the forum @AnjaGlad you found this forum. So how has your progress been since after the lessons?
So giving up your favorite cabin and sauna is a big deal. That shows how much love you have for the instrument. Looking forward to hearing about those instruments after you test them.
So your Belgian Shepard works with sniffing out explosives, or you train other dogs to do so? It seems like a very important job.
Feel free to share videos of your playing here on our site. You simply paste the address and it should embed automatically.
Hope you find time for your road trip in the near future.
Good morning Fiddlerman, I did not expect a welcome from you in person, very nice 
I don't train any other dogs, just one working line dog will be enough for me hehe.
As for my progress: I sound less struggling and I make good sound, but this was something my violin teacher already told me from the beginning on that I have a feeling for good intonation. What is more important to me now is rhythm and patterns and different ways of handling the bow I guess and speeding up things. I am not sure about my progress. What I can see is my face is less tensed and I make less faces while playing so I feel more comfortable now.
Here I am with my black VSO that got a new tail piece and is now actually a quite nice instrument to play. As you notice I am experimenting with bow hold here. I am playing together with a recording from a banjo player I met.
This is me on my decent fiddle. I need to look at the notes on my screen from time to time - otherwise the tune becomes something else :-p
Playing Coleman's march at a slow tempo with my codabow Joule:
Regulars
Offline
@anja your fiddle in colemans march sounds old timey. I dont crosstune much but i would have to guess youre in DDAD? And it sounds like a version Ive heard Peter Cooper playing with the Rattle on the Stovepipe band. that one is on the Old Virginia album. You sound alot like that one which I really like. I really like my Joule. its a tad heavy but I like playing with it. Especially on slower tunes.
Thanks for aharing your playing! if you look in the Party topic we from time to time will pick a theme and whoever wants to jump in and post playing shares along. You can start your own or take part in several weve had going over past year or so.
Regulars
Offline
Anja
Welcome to the forum, good luck on trying out the fiddles, hope one speaks to you,
I like both of the tunes especially the blackest crow
Thanks for posting.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
Offline
ABitRusty said
@anja your fiddle in colemans march sounds old timey. I dont crosstune much but i would have to guess youre in DDAD? And it sounds like a version Ive heard Peter Cooper playing with the Rattle on the Stovepipe band. that one is on the Old Virginia album. You sound alot like that one which I really like. I really like my Joule. its a tad heavy but I like playing with it. Especially on slower tunes.Thanks for aharing your playing! if you look in the Party topic we from time to time will pick a theme and whoever wants to jump in and post playing shares along. You can start your own or take part in several weve had going over past year or so.
Woooohoo old timey, that's how I want to sound ;-D
Offline
O yes forgot to mention, this is DDAE, I forgot to tune the E string down, calling it the Almost Dead Man's Tuning now :-p
Regulars
Offline
@Anja -
GREAT PLAYING, Anja!
Loved the Blackest Crow & Coleman's March!
Both of your fiddles sound wonderful!
Thank you for sharing them!
- Emily
Online
@Anja Great playing! Thank you very much!
🐭
The Bumblebee Flies!
Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.
Regulars
Offline
Very interesting!
In an earlier time I bred and trained springer spaniels, bird dogs. This breed was developed in Wales to find, flush and fetch game birds. Compared to the larger show-bred springers, the field dogs are smaller and quicker. They are also very intelligent, responsive to people, and enthusiastic about their work. It was an honor to be around such magnificent animals.
And yes, putting down an animal is a terrible, heart-breaking thing to have to do. It’s a shame that our animal friends do not live as long as we do.
Welcome to this forum Anja. This is a great place, with lots of interesting, knowledgeable and friendly people. I have learned a lot about fiddles and fiddling here.
Strabo
Regulars
Offline
Anja said
O yes forgot to mention, this is DDAE, I forgot to tune the E string down, calling it the Almost Dead Man's Tuning now :-p
haha...sounds like something id do. ..🙂😁.. i like your new tuning...gonna give it a try.
1 Guest(s)
Mouse
ELCBK
