Western Swing Fiddling


What is Western Swing Fiddling?

Western swing fiddling is the jazzy, improvisational style which originated in the 1930s with Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies and Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. But the traditional breakdown style of fiddle playing that preceded those bands captured a bit of the jazzy feel. In fact, Texas breakdown fiddlers eventually became known for a "long bow" technique in which they played in one smooth, bluesy motion rather than the more typical, rhythmic style of tapping the bow against the strings.

The Depression spawned swing, as Americans attempted to dance away their woes. Such jazz violinists as Joe Venuti and Stuff Smith led the way. In Texas, which was becoming increasingly urbanized, the style was adapted by "hot" fiddlers. They played what was called "hokum," or jazz, in which the fiddler took off on solo flights that abandoned a song's melody in order to embellish it. Though this was a departure from the traditional music they heard growing up, these men still played within the context of an expanded string, or country, band format. Twin fiddles were popularized, with one man playing leads while the other added harmony. But the top swing fiddlers were soon working alone, so that their improvisational flights would not be restricted.

World War II ended the swing era. Today, Western swing is being revived by such Texas groups as Asleep at the Wheel and Red Stegall and the Coleman Country Cowboys.

Curriculum Guide

Resources

If you would like to learn more about Western Swing fiddle music, look for these books in your library:

Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing, Cary Ginell.
Country Music U. S. A., Bill C. Malone.
The Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing, Jean Ann Boyd.
Lone Star Swing: On the Trail of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Duncan McLean.

If you would like to hear more Western swing fiddle music, look for these CDs:

Texas Country Roots, produced by Texas Folklife Resources
Johnny Gimble & Texas Swing: Under The "X" In Texas, Tejas Records
Johnny Gimble: The Texas Collection, CMH 9027
Wanderers Swing: Texas Dance Hall Music, Krazy Kat CD 11

Activities for K - 3rd Grade Students

Alvin Crow's music represents one of many aspects of traditional Anglo-American culture, also known as Anglo-American folklife. By using folklife in the classroom, you can help your students develop an interest in and a positive attitude towards their own culture and heritage, as well as gain an appreciation and understanding of the other cultures surrounding them. Several Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements for kindergarten through third grade are fulfilled through these goals, including:

  • connecting experiences and ideas with those of others through speaking and listening;
  • comparing language and oral traditions (such as family stories) that reflect customs, regions and cultures;
  • connecting his/her own life experiences, languages, customs and culture to those of others;
  • comparing experiences of characters across cultures.

The participating artist's visit to your classroom is an opportunity to address the above educational goals. To this end, TFR has developed some activities which will help teach the concepts of culture and heritage by examining Anglo-American folklife.

Activity #1

This activity will familiarize the students with a fiddle and a bow by asking the students to build the instrument. In addition, the students can creatively decorate the instrument while learning to identify its parts. Ask students if they have ever seen a fiddle and a bow before and, if they have, where it was. Then ask students if they can describe other instruments which are used in folk music.

Have students cut out the parts of the fiddle and the bow from the fiddle worksheet provided. Using the vocabulary on the sheet, work with the students on identifying and putting together their own fiddle and bow.

To introduce the students to the artist, have the students present their handmade instruments to him while identifying the parts of the fiddle and the bow.

Suggested tools for the activity:

  • scissors, strings or yarn for the strings of the instrument, crayons, markers, glue, tag board, glitter, and paints.

Activity #2

This activity focuses on the idea of folk traditions. Traditions are things that people do over and over again, like celebrating birthdays or eating turkey on Thanksgiving. People in a family or a community pass on their traditions by showing and telling. Usually an older person teaches a younger person, but sometimes both people can be the same age. In both cases, traditions are very important because they give people pride in their families and communities, and they help all of us feel like we belong.

Ask students what games and songs they have learned from their friends and family. Have students present examples of these games and songs to the class. Explain to students the importance of these traditions and why they should continue to be pass them down.

Examples:

  • songs: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "Happy Birthday" or "Las Mañanitas;"
  • counting chants: "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" or "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum"
  • jump rope rhymes: "One, two, buckle your shoe."

Actvities for 4th - 6th Grade Students

By exploring the concepts of folklife in the classroom, you can help your students develop an interest in and a positive attitude towards their own cultural identity and heritage. In particular, family history is an important way to strengthen a student's understanding of their personal and cultural identity. Much of our identity is bound up in the traditions that have been passed down to us, either within the family or the community. Several Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements for fourth through sixth grade are fulfilled through studying family history and folklife, including:

  • connecting a student's own experiences, information, insights and ideas with those of others through speaking and listening;
  • comparing oral traditions across regions and cultures;
  • identifying how language use, such as labels and sayings, reflects regions and culture;
  • articulating and discussing themes and connections that cross cultures.

To this end, TFR has developed activities which consider the manner in which traditions are passed down in your studentís lives through their own families and communities.

Activity #1

A simple way of helping your students understand that family, community, and heritage are essential to finding and developing identity is through a family tree. A family tree will help link the students to their past, showing them that they are vital in their family's growth. To expand the family tree in terms of folklife, students should think of traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation within their own families. Have each student create a Family Tradition Tree, which tracks family members and traces traditions they practice. Examples of traditions include: holiday celebrations, cooking, sewing, stories, music, songs and games.

An example of a Family Tradition Tree:

  • Mary Lou Natto (my grandmother) -- needle point
  • Sherry Garey (my mother) -- learned needle point from her mom
  • Becky Garey (me) -- learned needle point from my grandmother and my mom
Activity #2

Like family, peers can teach each other many forms of folklife. In fact, students can pass on traditions to each other. For example, a jump-rope rhyme or a handclap game is considered folklore. Have your students think of different types of folklore which exist in the classroom or on the playground. Ask students from whom they originally learned it. Ask students to examine the social functions of clapping and jump-rope games. For example, do clapping and jump-rope games facilitate friendships between students?

Have students present examples of these games and songs to the class. Explain to students the importance of these traditions and why they should continue to pass them down. TFR has created a Folklife Scavenger Hunt worksheet which you may use for this activity.

Examples:

  • songs:
  • "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "Happy Birthday" or "Las Mañanitas
  • counting chants:
  • Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" or "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum;
  • jump rope rhymes:
  • "One, two, buckle your shoe."Like family, peers can teach each other many forms of folklife.

In fact, students can pass on traditions to each other. For example, a jump-rope rhyme or a handclap game is considered folklore.
Have your students think of different types of folklore which exist in the classroom or on the playground. Ask students from whom they originally learned it. Ask students to examine the social functions of clapping and jump-rope games. For example, do clapping and jump-rope games facilitate friendships between students? Have students present examples of these games and songs to the class. Explain to students the importance of these traditions and why they should continue to pass them down. TFR has created a Folklife Scavenger Hunt worksheet which you may use for this activity

To this end, TFR has developed activities which consider the manner in which traditions are passed down in your studentís lives through their own families and communities.
Activities for Junior High and High School StudentAlvin Crow's music represents one of many traditions associated with Anglo-American culture, also known as Anglo-American folklife. By exploring the concept of folklife in the classroom, you can help your students develop an interest in and a positive attitude towards cultural diversity. At this age level, students should also be improving their writing and communication skills. Several Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) requirements for junior high and high school students are fulfilled through these goals, including:

  • recognizing distinctive and shared characteristics of culture;
  • comparing his or her own experiences with those of others;
  • recognizing and discussing themes and connections that cross cultures.

The artist's visit to your classroom is an opportunity to address the above educational goals. To this end, TFR has developed an activity which will help teach the concepts of culture, folklife and tradition by asking students to form relationships with tradition holders.

Suggested Activity

A simple way of developing the writing and communication skills of your students while also familiarizing them with the traditions and folklife in their community is through a fieldwork exercise. "Fieldwork" is a process in which folklorists go into the community and research the traditions of a particular group or individual. TFR has created a worksheet which can be used for this exercise. This worksheet asks the students to select a member of his or her family or community who has learned a tradition and perhaps passed it on. Help the students select an interviewee using the information below in "Whom Should I Interview?".To develop writing skills, ask the students to write an essay about the interviewee and his or her tradition. Remind the students that Mr. Crow has also learned his tradition in a similar way. They may want to re-use their interview questions when he visits their classroom.

Whom Should I Interview?

This may seem like a difficult question, but it isn't as hard as it appears. Folklore is all around us. But how do we know it when we see it or hear it or feel it? When we listen to a story about our grandparents, we are hearing folklore. When we watch our younger brother or sister play hide-and-go-seek, we are seeing folklore. When we eat turkey on Thanksgiving, we are practicing folklore. What do all of these things have in common? All of these are examples of traditions which are learned from family or friends within a community. And they are all learned in a traditional manner, through word of mouth or by watching.

Most people have traditions that can be used as a focus for your interview. The main thing to have your studentes remember is that a tradition is something that is learned informally and is passed on from one person to the next. Most likely, someone in the students' family practices important traditions - even the student him or herself.

Some examples that would make good interview subjects include:

- holidays and ceremonies

Thanksgiving
Chinese New Year
Hanukkah
Juneteenth
Christmas
other family celebrations

- an art form or craft

quilting
whittling or carving
sewing
cooking (tamales, holiday cookies)

- occupations

woodcarvers and furniture makers
ranching and farming
cooking and baking

Activities for Applied Music Students

The artist's fiddling style is an example of a specific Texas tradition, also known as folklife. By using folklife in the classroom, you and your students may be able to develop important educational goals set for your class grade level. At this level, students should gain an understanding of and appreciation for different types of music and the cultures in which these musics thrive. Alvin Crow's visit to your classroom is an opportunity to engage in this type of musical exploration. TFR has developed some activities which will help teach about Western Swing fiddling.

Suggested Activity

Please have the students listen to a music sample of Western swing fiddle music played by the artist. Ask the students to listen to the rhythms and melodic leads in the music. How do these rhythms and melodic leads compare and contrast to other types of music? Ask students to think about improvisation and how it is also used in other kinds of jazz music. Assist the students in thinking about how western swing fiddling originated during the transformation of fiddling.

To begin the session with the artist, TFR suggests that the students share their thoughts about western swing fiddling and how it compares and contrasts with other forms of music. The goal of this exercise is to familiarize the students with western swing fiddling, to help sharpen their listening and to engage them in thinking about similarities and differences between music genres.