What a smashing girl Nicola is. No snobbery here , A total understanding her between two super musicians what each is about. Mair power to your elbows both of you. A delight to see.
Two really very nice, very talented people. Really enjoy both of them. Aly Bain playing traditional Scottish music, and Nicola playing classic music, but also Scottish traditional music like her 7th CD "Homecoming A Scottish Fantasy."
She's indeed a terrific violinist, but lacks Aly and others fiddlers' "spark". Trad music is not something you learn from a score, you've really to live It.
Classical vs. Trad. Violinists try to get the more loud and "cutting" sound, fiddlers try to get more sweet. Besides, playing far from the bridge makes double stops a lot easier :)
When you are playing quietly, and thus with lower bow pressure, you place your bow in the “lane” by the fingerboard where the strings have less tension in order to avoid a whistling noise. When you want to project louder, as Nicola was demonstrating when playing the Strad, the only place the strings can take the pressure of a harder bow stroke without an awful crunching noise is in the bow “lane” by the bridge where the strings are at higher tension. It’s not just a classical thing-it’s for any style of violin music.
The thumb positions for Aly and Nicola are totally different. Nicola has the classically taught position and Aly has a lot of the thumb above the fingerboard?
Scottish fiddlers rarely go beyond 3rd position. Plus, Aly has huge hands. Mine are not that big, and although I'm a fiddler my left hand approach is closer to Nicola's: Otherwise, I couldn't reach some notes :)
@@NormanMackay By Charles Grant, a pupil of the great William Marshall, Aly recorded It several times, and is a very nice tune: Full of expression and surprisingly easy to play. Cheers.
