"Richard Robinson" wrote in message
o.uk...
Jim Lesurf said:
In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article , Eiron
wrote:
Very odd you want 'respect' shown to fiddle players regardless, but
are happy to slag off every other trade. Are you a frustrated fiddle
player?

The OED says "Now only in familiar or contemptuous use".

It's what a pro musician friend of mine calls his. ;-)

By co-incidence I was at a (social) meeting yesterday where one of the
people was a viola/violin player and teacher we know and someone else was
a
Gaelic speaker from Harris. One of the questions he raised was wrt what
was
the 'difference' (if any) between a Violin and a Fiddle. This was in the
context of it being called a 'fiddle' in terms of Scots/Gaelic
folk/traditional music but a 'violin' for classical. Certainly not a
'contemptuous' term for the traditional players, etc. So 'familiar' may
cover it.

Snap !

The view was that there wasn't necessarily any specific inherent
difference
required between the instruments to which the terms were applied. But
there
could be in terms of the way it was played or perhaps 'set up'.

It's not my instrument, I'm a clarinettist, so I can't say for sure, but
some of the people I meet in 'traditional' contexts also play in
orchestras,
and I don't think I've ever heard any mention of needing separate
instruments. Given the cost of a good one, I'd be suprised.

One can buy a pretty good used low-bridge folk fiddle for
maybe UKP100. An Amati violin can costs three times as
much as a Bentley. Don't confuse the two:-)

Iain



--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://www.qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html