Okay, so I’ve been wanting to learn some new tunes on the fiddle lately, and I really dig that Celtic sound. I figured the best way to get into it would be to find some good sheet music and start practicing. I mean, who doesn’t love a good jig or reel, right?
First things first, I needed to find some sheet music. I started by just hitting up the usual spots online, you know, just Googling around for “Celtic fiddle sheet music”. Found a bunch of sites that had some free stuff. Scored a few nice pieces from a site called Breizh Partitions – they seemed to have a good chunk of Celtic stuff. Then I checked out a site for Canadian Celtic fiddlers, they had a few more tunes that I could download for free.
But, I also wanted to see if I could find a good book of tunes. You know, something I could just sit down with and flip through. I found a book called “20 Favorite Celtic Tunes” by this Carrie Stuckert person. It had versions for beginners and more advanced players, so that sounded pretty good. I figured I could start with the easier versions and work my way up. So I got that one.
- Found some free stuff online on some websites.
- Grabbed a book called “20 Favorite Celtic Tunes”.
- Downloaded some sheets from another site called Musescore.
With all this sheet music in hand, I started practicing. I started with some of the simpler tunes from the Carrie Stuckert book. Some of them were pretty easy to pick up, others were a little trickier. But I kept at it, practicing a little bit each day.
One of the tunes I really liked was called “Riverdance”. It’s a pretty famous one, and it’s got a really cool, driving rhythm. I found a version of it on one of the websites I downloaded. I had a bit of trouble with some of the faster parts, but I just slowed it down and practiced those sections over and over again until I got them down. That’s a good trick that always works for me.
Keep Practicing and Make Some Progress
After a few weeks of practicing, I could play a handful of tunes pretty well. I wouldn’t say I’m a master or anything, but I’m definitely getting better. I can even play along with some recordings now, which is pretty fun. And I can do it! I can play “Riverdance”! I mean, it’s not perfect, but it’s recognizable! My cat seems to like it, anyway. Or at least, she doesn’t run away when I start playing it anymore.
I’m going to keep practicing and learning new tunes. Maybe someday I’ll even be good enough to play with other musicians. That would be awesome. But for now, I’m just enjoying the process of learning and getting better at playing the fiddle. This whole Celtic music thing is pretty addictive, I gotta say. Now I just gotta work on my jig. Wish me luck! And keep fiddling, folks!
