A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often called the violin. Fiddle refers to violins used to play folk music. Galway fiddling is slower than Sligo or Donegal traditions, with a heavier emphasis on ornamentation. Additionally, tunes are occasionally played in Eb or Bb to match the tonality of flat pipes. Compared to classical violin, Irish fiddler tend to make little use of vibrato except for slow airs, and even then it is used relatively sparingly. Like the rest of Irish traditional music tradition, melodies are embellished through forms of ornamentation, such as rolls, trebles, and cuts. Irish Folk music fiddling styles include: Donegal fiddling from the northwest in Ulster, which features mazurkas and a Scottish-influenced repertoire including Strathspey and Highland Fling dances. Fiddlers tend to play fast and make heavy use of staccato bowing and may from time to time play the bass, meaning a second fiddler may play a melody an octave below where a first fiddler is playing it. Sligo fiddling from northern Connacht, which like Donegal fiddling tends to be fast, but with a bouncier feel to the bowing. Clare fiddling from northern Munster, which tends to be played near the slower Galway tempo yet with a greater emphasis on the melody itself rather than ornamentation. Sliabh Luachra fiddling from the southwest in Munster, characterized by a unique repertoire of polkas and slides, as well as the use of double stops and drones as well as playing the melody in two octaves as in Donegal.
