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1. It's a good luck thing.
2. Back in the old day's a fiddler might hang his fiddle up outside on the porch when he/she was not fiddling. Mud daubers or wasps found the inside of the fiddle an ideal home by flying into the "F" holes. The fiddler would put a rattle snakes rattler inside his/her fiddle so when the wasp got inside it's wings would vibrate the rattle, thus, scaring the varmint off.
Alan Jabbour, retired field researcher for the Smithsonian (and the guy who collected many of those great recordings!) has a rattler's tail in his fiddle. He says it is to lend "a rhythm section" to his playing. Now, I don't know when he is doing a dance that anyone can hear it (although, he does amplify, now...) but when he plays live or on some of his recordings you CAN hear the swishing of the dried tail inside his instrument!
STRINGcerely,
Jan Farrar-Royce, President CT ASTA
A violin sings. A fiddle dances.
The player makes it music!
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I read that some believe it "sweetens" the sound of their instrument. And recently someone told me that mice like to enlarge the f holes in a violin, if the violin is left lying on a table at night. But if a mouse jumps onto the violin and hears the rattle inside, it will get scared and go away. Anyway, it's a charming tradition that some continue to follow. Submitted by: Scott Pendleton sp@isystant.com |
Submitted by: Bev Conrad. |