As a certified leprechaun, I wholeheartedly endorse children learning to fiddle in an Irish fashion.
To be honest, it has been a tough hundred years or so. The heyday of Irish fiddle is past us and I’ve never been sadder in my life (which spans nearly six hundred years).
Three hundred years ago people were fiddling all over the place. I was a dancing machine. Some days I danced so much I didn’t even visit my pot of gold — and I love my pot of gold! Hardly a hour would go by when I wasn’t basking in the joyful sounds of a tiny violin.
Things couldn’t be more different today. I haven’t done a jig in three weeks. Three weeks! I tried hanging out near a children’s music school, but some concerned parents called the cops, so I had to hightail it. I don’t think it’s safe to go back there again.
I really hope people pick this app up and fiddle like crazy. I don’t think I can take another hundred years of fiddle-less days. It is depressing. Sometimes I don’t even get out of bed. I don’t even bother with rainbows anymore. I need something to lift my spirits and help me remember why I love dressing in all green and having my very own pot of gold.
Sincerely, Seamus O’Molloy
Irish Fiddler [ $1.99 App Store ]
Irish Fiddler is designed to enable Mairéad Hickey to coach children one on one as they learn to play Irish tunes on the fiddle. Although Irish Fiddler was initially developed with children in mind, it is an application that anybody with an interest in Irish fiddle playing, violin, céilí or celtic music will enjoy.
FEATURES
- Kerry Polka, Maggie in the Woods and Britches Full of Stitches.
- Each tune contains a listening lesson, tutorial, slow play through and bowing instruction and printed music.
- The application also includes a tutorial of how to transition from one tune to another so that the tunes can be played on a set or medley.
[ iTunes $1.99 Irish Fiddler ]
