All over the land, from Duke s ballroom to shepherd s fields, the power of the fiddler s up driven bow made the success of the gathering. Bowed string instruments have been called fiddles in Northern Europe since at least the 12th century. The word in Old English had various spellings from fithele to fiddlel. In Gaelic it s fidhle, and in Yiddish, fidl. As for 'violin,' it is a 16 th century adaptation of the Italian word violino .
Classical music is a composer s medium.
Fiddling is a performer s medium. Great fiddling demands spontaneous inventiveness on the part of the player, bringing alive exciting variations of tunes. Where classical music might focus on tonal purity, fiddling technique projects the beat. Since fiddle music is dance music, fiddlers set a high value on rhythmic drive. Fiddle tunes are often referred to by the meters in which they're written, which in turn are associated with particular dances.