The Flying Elbows

The Flying Elbows are a small musical group, with the lead a violinist (or fiddler, as I'm learning to call the instrument when its played this way) who play on Martha's Vineyard. 

We first heard them years ago when we went "up-Island" to a contra dance. And, watching them play, we understood why the name: those elbows do fly because they're playing 90 miles/hour and no brakes. 

The tunes reminiscent of Irish and Southern music, rich in harmonies and thrills (at least I'm thrilled with it). I tried to describe it so I could write about it; as far as I can tell, there's no way to emulate in words that old-timey music with dashing dancing prancing instruments (fiddle, banjo, guitar, etc.) except with the instruments themselves. The first fiddle often leads with a kind of tune and the others play harmonies. No, that's inadequate. I'll think of another way to describe it....

A violin/fiddle can play only one note at a time (unlike, say, a piano); however, the fiddler overcomes this apparent limitation by playing extremely fast, so the notes tend to blur and blend into a recognizable tune that depends on clumps of notes rather than individuals. 

One of the players said this: "It's not bluegrass music; this music came before bluegrass."

He closed with this classic: "Old timey music is better than it sounds!"

Sadly, my explanation, while having the virtue that it sounds simple and easy (like so many theories abounding today) is incorrect. A reader, Elizabeth, sent me a corrective email, which I quote here:

"I play fiddle and I wanted to let you know that a violin/fiddle can play more than one note at a time. The violin has 4 strings and there are 4 fingers on the fingerboard. The bow can play on more than one string at a time. The fiddler can play chords using 2, 3 or even 4 strings at a time. Old-time New England fiddlers and dance callers could have the bridge of their fiddle altered to make it straight across instead of arched. This would make it possible for the fiddler to play 4 strings at a time so their instrument would be loud, as they had no amplification way back then. You mention the rich harmonies. A fiddler can harmonize a tune by using 'double stops', meaning they can play at least 2 notes at a time."

Let this be a warning to us. If anyone, especially some of the political bloggers, produces a theory that sounds as if it could be correct, it probably is not. Reality is more complex and therefore more interesting...