Re: Grace notes (was "goyishe notes")

[Bob Cohen <zaelic...>]

Hi Elie
What finger is making which krekhts is a very interesting topic comsidering
that modern fiddlers don't have very many living examples to peek in on. I
learned my "Jewish" krekhts from Michael Alpert, who usually uses the
little finger to krekhts, and he got the technique from Leon Schwartz (who
had classical training, heck, he was a violin teacher). When I was on tour
with an older version of Budowitz I played sekund to Steve Greenman who
picked his technique (again, fouth finger) up from Alicia Svigals.

I, however, use a lot of different fingers to do the krekhts, and I don't
use it as much as most revival fiddlers do, although until you have heard
Steve Greenman play "Strangers in the Night" jewish style you ain't heard
nothin'! Jewish fiddlers I have heard in Romania did't use it much and
tended to ornament sparsely, and in Romanian style - trills and slides. A
recording I have of Avram Bughici playing around 1970, though, is as full
of krekhts as any of the old 78s (Pete R has a copy).

In local Romanian village styles the kind of "Krekhts-like" ornament can be
played with any finger, but most often the third, since they slide finger
positions often and use third position where a lot of us would use first
position. It is a matter of local style. If you have Transylvanian fiddle
recordings, you can compare the ornaments in the music of Maggyarszovat (in
the Mezoseg, lots of high, krekts-y ornaments done with the fourth finger)
with the music of Palatka (another Mezoseg village, but uses more slow,
tight trills and one-finger wah-wah) and these villages are ony about 20
kilometers apart. Maramures Gypsy fiddlers like Gheorghe and Ioannei Covaci
who actually played in Jewish bands don't remember any ornament like the
krekhts. I am heading down to Romanian Moldavia in May to check out another
83 year old Gypsy fiddler who played in a Jewish band. I always pop the
"krekhts test" on them, but have yet to find any Gypsy fiddler who use the
"Jewish krekhts" as an ornament. 

The closest I have heard to a Jewish krekhts is in Turkish Gypsy bands, the
kind that play on the streets of Istanbul (notably for fish restaurants!)at
 Kumkapi or in the Cicegi Pasaj in Galata. If you can get one of these
bands to stop playing "Hava Nagila" or fast dance tunes, you can hear
something very close to a Jewish krekhts. I have a theory that the violin
did not come to East Europe part and parcel with western classical violin
technique, but in the case of Jewish fiddlers - as well as Greek, Armenian,
and Balkan Gypsy fiddlers - the instrumental technique was picked up
through transmission via turkish light classical music at the time when the
western violin began to supplant the Turkish classical kemane and its
various local variants (lyra, gadulka, etc). This would agree with Zev
Feldman's view of Turkish influence on Klezmer. 

Incidentally, the CD you made with Pete Rushevsky has been on heavy
rotation at my house this winter. I think that a lot of revival musicians
overdo the ornamentation ("just add Miracle KrekhtsTM and presto: Klezmer
Fiddle!) and your sound really gets the musical antique dealer in me going. 

I don't know if Jeff Wollock is still on this list, but he da man to ask
about Belf's krekhts.
A Gite Vokh
Bob Cohen
(I do not sign my posts "Robert")

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