Just wondering if anyone is bringing their fiddle to Esopus and if so, could you recommend a relatively simple piece for me to work on between now and then? I'm a beginning fiddler but I think I could nail down a jig or something between now and then. With a bit of "on site" tutoring, I could probably play with a seisún...albeit, very quietly and very much as a back-up musician. I'm also bringing the bodhrán in case my fiddling is too annoying. Then again, my bodhrán playing might not be much better!!!

"bodhrán - the Irish contribution to precussion. An instrument which everybody want to play but nobody wants to hear."
-Barry Foy

just kidding...i'm not an experienced fiddler myself, but I think i'm going to bring it in addition to my pipes just for the heck of it...

The Rights of Man
Saddle the Pony
Sí Beg Sí Mór

are my favorites for fiddle

bodhrán--an instrument best played with a fork (or open pen-knife).

I have Sí Beg Sí Mór somewhere around here...I'll dig it out and see if I can get it under a reasonable amount of control.

I'll have to search a bit for the others.

thanks!

ah, it's great...in the key i have, the main figure of the melody is a nice pattern walking down the A and E strings

and I can throw around all the instrument jokes I want...I'm an uilleann piper - we spend half our lives tuning our instrument and the other half playing out of tune...

We'll need to grab an hour or three working through some pieces! I'm really looking forward to it! Of course, the added challenge of doing it as gaeilge will throw in a new twist!

Throw around all the musical instrument jokes you want...I assure you, I'll live up to just about every one of them!