What a week! Mardis Gras & Fat Tuesday hit a peak in popularity in the Chicagoland area this year in 2019. Maybe this cold, snow, and icy winter made everyone wish they were in warm and balmy New Orleans. Our musicians performed for multiple New Orleans themed events this past week, and they loved every minute of it!
In addition to performing, our musicians taught our audiences about the genre and accompanying instrumentation. Most questions centered around the fiddle. Since our fiddlers use electric fiddles, their instruments look different than typical acoustic fiddles. Many people asked what the instruments were and had no idea that our fiddlers were playing fiddles. Our fiddlers explained that electric fiddles might look different, but they essentially provide the same sound as an acoustic fiddle. They further explained that the fiddles must be amplified to match the volume of the electric guitar, keyboard, and all other electric instruments in our group.
They also were asked to explain the difference between a violin & a fiddle…
There are many commonly told jokes regarding this topic. However, in truth, know that a violin & a fiddle are the same instruments. The difference is not the instrument, but rather the musician performing on the instrument. Charlie Daniels will make a violin sound vastly different than a violinist from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing on the same instrument. Please remember this if you are ever asked the difference between a violin & a fiddle if you go on a game show. Now you’ll know this is a trick question!