Midnight on the Water (fiddle lesson)

Midnight on the Water, written by Luke Thomasson in 1900, is one of the most popular Old time tunes in DDAD (Dead Man's) tuning. In this fiddle lesson I teach the basic melody both in standard tuning and GDAD, and look at the drones and ornamentation which can be used. I use on-screen sheet music.
Below are details of further fiddle resources from Chris Haigh
1. Patreon
2. Books
3. Subscription video courses
4. Website
5. Email to request pdf’s.
1. PATREON
This is a platform where anyone can help support creative artists and get closer access to their work. You can join me on Patreon at three levels, for £4, £10 or £40 per month.

At the lowest level you get access to all my pdf’s and tune collections, plus many exclusive tuition videos not available to the public.
At level 2 you can join also me once a month for a group Zoom chat, and can request a backing rack once a month.
Level 3 gives you all the above plus a free lesson once a month, and access to all my backing tracks.
You can find me on Patreon at
/ thefiddlechannel
2. BOOKS
I have seven fiddle tuition books published by Schott, all widely available from the publisher, from Amazon, and many other outlets. All come with audio tracks illustrating the tunes and exercises.
Exploring Jazz Violin
Beginning Jazz Violin
Discovering Rock Violin
Exploring Folk Fiddle
Exploring Klezmer Fiddle
Hungarian Fiddle Tunes
French Fiddle Tunes
Exploring Country and Bluegrass Fiddle (due out October 2021)
You can order from
bit.ly/31ZWmgm
3. VIDEO SUBSCRIPTION COURSES
I have three video subscription courses
MUSIC GURUS- Exploring Jazz Violin. Based on my Schott book
Parts 1 and 2 are each £26 for 26 lessons, covering the first and second halves of the book
Part 1; tinyurl.com/49tfk5ef
Part 2 tinyurl.com/23atebfc
-MUSIC GURUS Discovering Rock Violin. . Based on my Schott book
£35 for 46 lessons
tinyurl.com/2ua2kuxh
ACADEMY OF FOLK
Includes a folk fiddle primer course, with introductions to basic techniques and concepts plus an Irish Fiddle Course and Scottish fiddle course. A monthly sub of $9.99 gives access to all lessons
academyoffolk.com/
4. WEBSITE
My website is probably the most extensive and detailed summary of fiddle styles on the web, as evidenced by the range of top hits on Google for many fiddle styles.
www.fiddlingaround.co.uk
___________________________________________________________________________________
TO REQUEST PDF’S, or ask any questions, CONTACT ME AT
[e-mail]

[@pamfoster6621]

Thank you so much for this!!!!

[@RUNNOFT71]

Great lesson my friend, thank you for the inspiration!

[@TheFiddleChannel]

You're welcome!

[@michaelhutchens4243]

Such a beautiful song, you did it justice. (Thanks for the shout out) Love the Bluegrass songs

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Thanks Michael!

[@hrobert745]

Wow it’s quite different from the version I’m learning. More melodic. Very pretty. I look forward to trying the alternate tuning. I second the request for Bonaparte’s Retreat.

[@joeharris8574]

Really nice tune Chris thanks.

[@karenbohac1735]

This is really nice! I really enjoyed the dead man’s tuning! Often this played along with Bonaparte’s Retreat. Would you consider doing a lesson on Bonaparte’s Retreat in dead man’s tuning as well?

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Yes, that's a good idea. I'll put it on the list!

[@StrumHollow]

At first, I thought you called the tuning GDad. That's sometimes referred to as "leave it to Beaver" tuning :) I have an octave fiddle or chin cello and was wondering about putting the heavier G string on with standard strings for DDad tuning with less flopping.

[@marleneruppert1874]

Beautiful, but I'm confused.......after you play it through plain in the beginning, you then start to add drones and ornamentation. You said the first few bars you can add an open D drone, but I'm not sure how you are doing that and playing the melody on the D string. I must be missing something. Thank you for clearing this up, cuz I really like your version.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Hi Marlene.Sorry to mislead you. They were actually open A drones played over melody notes on the D string.

[@terset9912]

thanks for asking Marlene, glad Chris cleared this up as well.

[@snotpu]

Sometimes the G string is tuned down to D? I think Tyler Childers' version is in that tuning.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

Yes, I play both GDAD and standard tuning in this video.

[@snotpu]

@@TheFiddleChannel I got that. But what about DDAD? the D being an octave lower.

[@TheFiddleChannel]

@@snotpu Sorry, I meant DDAD!