Originally Posted by
foldedpath
Here's the thing... mandolin is still an "outsider" instrument in Irish and Scottish traditional music. It's a newcomer, although I can date a solid reference to a "famous" Irish mandolin player in Ireland back to the 1930's at least. I don't know if he played tremolo or not, but in modern amateur sessions and recordings, it's still something of an outsider instrument. Count the number of prominent Irish mandolin players vs. fiddlers, fluters, or pipers in either local sessions or famous recordings and you'll see what I mean. We're a small handful in this music, and we're still trying to fit in.
Maybe it doesn't matter if you only play this music at home by yourself. But I think if you want to join an Irish/Scottish session where the occasional slow tune or air is played, you might want to avoid a "foreign" technique like tremolo that could grate on the ears of the other players. Whatever you think personally of the appropriateness of tremolo for the music.
Bookmarks