I’ve Named my Fiddle!
January 23, 2024
One common practice I’ve seen amongst violin folks is to name their instruments. I suppose it’s something akin to naming a boat or such - giving something a name is meant to invoke a connection, and the closer you feel to something, the more time you’re likely to spend with it.
My fiddle will be turning 5 years old this year. I’m not exactly sure when it was made - aside from the fact that I ordered it in October of 2019, and the label inside notes it was crafted in 2019. While I have looked around at other fiddles over the years, I’ve never purchased another. It’s safe to say that this fiddle is likely to be my lifetime fiddle unless I happen to suddenly become amazing at playing (which I doubt).
So, I’ve been trying to think up a name for my fiddle because it feels like the proper thing to do. After a time, I’ve finally come up with one:
Turlough (pronounced tur-luck)
This is in honor of one of my favorite Irish musicians, Turlough O'Carolan. While I know he was a harper and not a fiddle player, much of his music can be played on fiddle – which is something I hope to work towards one day.
For being a blind(!) musician, he has a huge library of great original compositions – I admit, I’m not familiar with all of them. But the ones I do know, I tend to really like. So, it is in his honor I name my fiddle.
If he can play and compose music on a harp without sight, I should be able to learn to play fiddle in some form. Right?