Originally Posted By: Don Gaynor

...Mark had a very unorthodox method of holding his fiddle. When seated, he would pull the butt-end (Mods, that's not profanity. Holster them shootin' arns pawdna!) firmly into his gut then lay forward over it's length and play the snot out of it.


There is a history to that, Don.

Dates back to the first use of the violin over across the pond, actually.

There is also a fiddling tradition around the method, dates back before Bluegrass was even called Bluegrass.

My paternal grandfather played a fiddle that he made himself using woods found near his birthplace in Tennessee, with hand tools, to include his cherished and always very sharp old Case pocket knife.

He played by holding the fiddle with the end of the neck pointing downwards towards the floor and the bottom bout of the fiddle pressing into his chest area. The F holes faced outwards as he would bow across his and the fiddles front.

Actually made a better way for the fiddle to be heard in the barn dances and outdoor picnic venues those old guys played, since things like microphones, pickups and PA systems were not even yet a dream.

I've seen paintings from Europe, old paintings, that depict the minstrel bands and the fiddle being held way down below facing outwards rather than under the chin facing upwards.

Quote:
The word fiddle is also used for instruments of several hundred years ago which developed into the violin. These instruments varied a lot from one country to another and one time to another. They were of different shapes and sizes, and even had many different names. Often they were held against the chest instead of being tucked under the chin.


Source (emphasis added): http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddle


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