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Well I recorded it for the St Paddy's Day party but I guess I'll add it here too since it's the Swallowtail Jig. One of the first times playing my Ming Jiang Zhu. One take, so here it is mistakes and all (including failed attempt at harmonic) 
Blogging my beginner journey and progress...Diary of a Fumbling New Violinist: http://learningviolin.ca/
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Great job, both of you.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Good job. The Ming sounds great too, really good projection and nice tone.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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Yay, good job! Love the cute little hat too.
Opportunity is often missed because it wears suspenders and looks like hard work.
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@Shell Great job!! That is one beautiful violin!!
Violinist start date - May 2013
Fiddler start date - May 2014
FIDDLE- Gift from a dear friend. A 1930-40 german copy, of a french copy of a Stradivarius. BOW - $50 carbon fiber. Strings - Dominants with E Pirastro Gold string.
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I looked back on some past fiddle parties, and I had a lot of fun watching and hearing these old Swallowtail Jig performances.
Here is the background on this party. Some months into my learning I heard STJ and liked it a lot, and I started promoting the tune, regularly putting it in front of people and discussing it on the chat. Meanwhile I learned to play it (at about one-third speed, ha ha) and I found out who could play it and who wanted to learn it, and I kept a list. I played it for the 2013 St. Patrick's Day Party. That party was called by KindaScratchy, who, unless I am wrong, originated the concept of the fiddlerman.com virtual party. So that was the granddaddy of all FM parties. When I thought we had enough interest to make a go of STJ, I suggested to KS that we throw a party, and I got her to start the thread and be the MC/hostess. She started things off with a nice invitation and an admirable performance. Meanwhile I PM'ed and chatted up the half-dozen-or-so members on my list, asking them to make recordings and post them.
Here is a summary of the participation up to 09/15/14.
V denotes video, and A denotes audio. All performances are Swallowtail Jig only, acoustic violin alone, unless noted otherwise. Rerun means the recording was not made specifically for this party. Please PM me regarding any errors or omissions.
V 06/11/13 @KindaScratchy, with self-made acoustic guitar backing track
V 06/12/13 @Picklefish, probable rerun, recording lost as of 09/15/14
V 06/15/13 @Barry, rerun
V 06/16/13 @anonkid
A 06/16/13 @OldCrow, with self-made ukelele backing track
V 06/27/13 @StoneDog
V 06/29/13 @Feathers
V 07/03/13 @Steve
A 07/14/13 @RosinedUp, rerun from St. Pat's Day Party
A 07/21/13 @ratvn, with borrowed backing track
V 07/27/13 @Barry, rerun with borrowed backing track
V 10/15/13 @solomon456
V 10/26/13 @Frost, preceded by Road to Lisdoonvarna
V 11/04/13 @Georganne, recording lost as of 09/15/14
V 03/08/14 @Mad_Wed, duet with accordionist Natashka
V 03/09/14 @Shell
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16 recordings (3 or 4 reruns)
15 players
2 self-performed accompaniments
1 duet
Median date of submission: 22 to 33 days after start
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Thanks again to everybody for great participation and fine playing. Anyone who wants can still add a recording.
================================================
Reference:
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ummm, yeah, I was playing swallowtail LONG before you come along 
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
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There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
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Thanks for the recap, @RosinedUp ! It was fun to reminisce and impressive to see the stats.
I guess I'm guilty of starting the party idea on this site, though I must confess that I borrowed the concept from another fiddle site where they host monthly "festivals" in which everyone works on one or two designated tunes.
It was also informative to look back at my STJ video and think about what's changed since then. I believe that I can play it faster, I've added some ornamentation and I no longer need the sheet music. (Might have to try making another vid for comparison.)
I scrolled back and watched everyone else's videos again, too. It's always interesting to see different interpretations of the same tune. I enjoyed them all over again.
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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I actually tried to get a swallowtail "party" (we didnt call them parties then ) started years back but nobody was willing back then to try it
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
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@KindaScratchy Thanks and you're welcome.
KindaScratchy said
I enjoyed them all over again.
Me too. The most I've smiled in a week maybe. And I thought I might as well catalog them as I went through them.
It might be fun to have another STJ thread, say a couple years from now, if we're still fiddling then, to see how we've improved.
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@Barry Oh man.. I remember all those times you tried to get us going with songs.. I was so new and couldn't read music. I was like a lost lamb.
It was a great party Diane! I love all the submissions. I am grateful that you started the "parties" threads. I am glad that I finally can participate in them. Forever grateful.
I never joined the Swallow Tail party.. I did post a swallowtail somewhere for critique... but never good enough to perform for the party. I do know it by heart and I work on it each week.
I know when I heard Feathers Violin.. I was smitten like a kitten with her Soloist violin and her fast fingers.
Good Times Good Times.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Yes, finally, here we go. It's a "kind of Swallowtail Jig" with a bit of dramatic interpretation ( OK - in reality that's just "messing about" - and a bit of spiccato practice at the start and end....). Again, no vid until connection gets fixed - no matter - although I would have like comment on my spiccato bowing. This also counts (for me) as one of my "35 day practice goals" ( to work a tune all the way through, and to add "reasonable" impov and interpretation ).
@KindaScratchy - thanks for the party ! Sorry it has taken me so long to get here !
Oh - for the technically minded - the audio was post processed in Audacity and I added a 0.2 second delay, with a 0.2 second decay-time...
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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Wow Bill. I love your Interpretation. Kept me on the edge of my seat... Thanks for sharing.
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very nice Bill. very nice indeed.
"I find your lack of Fiddle, disturbing" - Darth Vader
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Ahhh, well, in spite of the obvious "blemishes", thank you @Ripton - glad it "worked" for you!!!! Sit back now, and don't fall of that chair ! and @Tyberius - yep - cool - glad it worked for you as well, thank you both ! It is far from perfect, and I'm slowly getting there....
I rarely manage to play a tune "as it should be played" - my head says "play it as it is written", but my heart just wants to do something different with it and usually wins....
What I would like to do with this piece is
(1) Tidy up my faster playing and tempo variances (some of which are absolutely intentional of course),
(2) get my overall idea "better formed" rather than something just off-the-cuff - which this was (oh the main part was rehearsed - the fill-in bits and spiccato were unplanned and just happened 'cos I was using it on another tune and felt it would "work/add" to the ambiance...)
(3) Play it on the EV with external FX box and finally
(4) stick the output through my old 100W Marshall amp and play to the cows and sheep in the fields beside us ! (Oh - I meant "to a small audience in our local village hall" - get them out of their seats and standing, stamping, clapping in time... Oh don't misunderstand me - not for any sort of self-aggrandizement - just to see the pleasure it gives to others. I get all the pleasure I need simply from playing - easy huh? )
Thanks folks - I'm getting endless pleasure from this darned instrument - and at times I hope to be able to bring some kind of pleasure in the sense "of ahhh WOW - THAT was different" to other listeners !!!!! Cool
The "wow factor" is great - I get that from time to time listening to others - I want to be able to do that and "wow" myself (i.e come away from the piece with NO self criticism - doubt if that will ever happen though... )
^5s at the STJ Variations !!!!! LOL Bring them on ! Let the party continue !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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Bill, it sounded great. Very nice. Folk music is not supposed to be exactly the same every time it's played, regardless of who's playing it. That's one of the great things about the genre.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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Bill!! I enjoyed your version... it was totally recognizable and some very nice bowing also. Nice Job.
I hope to post a Swallow Tail Jig here soon. I have been playing it more lately. I just have to be able to keep my tempo.. I end up zoooooooming at the end.. and of course it is not a good type of zooming.
I'd love for this party to continue.
Woo Hoo.
Again Bill... it tickles me to death that you play with so much zest, heart and soul.
Bravo!
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Thank you @Uzi - what you say is absolutely true - let alone the fact that every single performance, even from the same artist who has played the same darned tune 1000 times or more - you cannot stop them - they just HAVE to do something, even marginally and more telling - probably INTENTIONALLY - different
I get a bit worried though about allowing this "freedom of choice" only to a specific genre ( no, I know that's not what you wrote or implied - it just comes to my mind )
Not many would care to hear my fiddle version of the main themes to Dvorak's New World Symphony or Tannhauser or Radetzky March etc ....... no, not many - and it seems "terrible" to do such things with true classics - but - man - the tunes are "asking to be performed differently" ( in a different, non orchestral, non-operatic etc environment of course) - they just demand to be played differently.... LOLOLOL (my apologies to Dvorak, Wagner and Strauss !!!! Sorry dudes ! )
It is just all so good - as I said it somewhere else - music is all.....
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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