The Fiddling Cellist

About this piece

The Fiddling Cellist is Renata Bratt's Mel Bay method for cellists who want to join fiddle jam sessions. It presents eighteen fiddle tunes, with chord symbols, in the three styles most often heard at jams: Celtic, Old Time and Bluegrass. Mel Bay says each tune is 'arranged for two or three cellos and accompanied by short studies that teach idiomatic bass lines and backup harmony as well as improvisational soloing over the chord changes.' The book first came out around 2005 with a CD. The current 80-page edition (2015) comes with online audio of every example, accompanied by guitar. Bratt, a California cellist and fiddle-camp teacher, recorded several of these tunes herself on her album Great Big Taters, including the title track, Cripple Creek and Saint Anne's Reel. The book is listed among the pieces for ASTACAP Cello Level 3.

Technical overview

Eighteen tunes, each a melody with duet or trio cello parts: Big Sciota, Bill Cheatham, Cherokee Shuffle, Cripple Creek, Down in the Willow Garden, Elzic's Farewell, Fire on the Mountain, Fisher's Hornpipe, Great Big Taters, Liberty, Rubber Dolly, Saint Anne's Reel, Shebeg Shemor, Star of the County Down, Tam Lin, The Eighth of January, The Girl That Broke My Heart and The Road to Lisdoonvarna. Several tunes have variations, alternate versions ('an octave higher', 'with grace notes', 'with open strings') or accompaniment parts. Alongside the tunes are studies in bass-line and arpeggio backup, syncopated 'Charleston' accent patterns over chord changes, double-stop 'chop' accompaniments, and improvising with pentatonic scales.

Technical focus

• Double Stops
• 2 Note Slurs
• Rhythm
• Theory
• Ensemble Skills