Editing Fiddle (section)

==Ensembles==
[[File:Musiciens pub Gus O'Connor-Doolin.JPG|thumbnail|left|Fiddlers participating in a session at a pub in Ireland]]
In performance, a solo fiddler, or one or two with a group of other instrumentalists, is the norm, though twin fiddling is represented in some North American, Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish styles. Following the folk revivals of the second half of the 20th century, it became common for less formal situations to find large groups of fiddlers playing together—see for example the Calgary Fiddlers, [[Music of Sweden|Swedish]] [[Spelmanslag]] folk-musician clubs, and the worldwide phenomenon of [[Irish traditional music session|Irish sessions]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thesession.org/sessions/index.php | title = The Session: Sessions | access-date = 28 August 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/arts/music/traditional-irish-music-in-new-york-city.html |title=Traditional Irish Music in New York City |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|first=Andy |last=Webster |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=6 February 2018}}</ref>

Orchestral violins, on the other hand, are commonly grouped in sections, or [[Orchestra#Organization|"chairs"]]. These contrasting traditions may be vestiges of historical performance settings: large concert halls where violins were played required more instruments, before electronic amplification, than did more intimate dance halls and houses that fiddlers played in.

The difference was likely compounded by the different sounds expected of violin music and fiddle music. Historically, the majority of fiddle music was dance music,<ref name="OKHistory"/> while violin music had either grown out of dance music or was something else entirely. Violin music came to value a smoothness that fiddling, with its dance-driven clear beat, did not always follow. In situations that required greater volume, a fiddler (as long as they kept the beat) could push their instrument harder than could a violinist.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} Various fiddle traditions have differing values.

===Scottish, with cello===
In the very late 20th century, a few artists successfully reconstructed the Scottish tradition of violin and "big fiddle", or cello. Notable recorded examples include Iain Fraser and Christine Hanson, Amelia Kaminski and Christine Hanson's Bonnie Lasses,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.willockandsaxgallery.com/kaminski.htm |title=Amelia Kaminski Productions |publisher=Willockandsaxgallery.com |access-date=2011-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112125429/http://www.willockandsaxgallery.com/kaminski.htm |archive-date=2011-11-12 }}</ref> [[Alasdair Fraser]] and [[Natalie Haas]]' Fire and Grace,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.culburnie.com/albums/AlasdairFraser/fire_and_grace.htm |title=Fire & Grace |publisher=Culburnie.com |access-date=2011-11-14 |archive-date=2011-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928193410/http://www.culburnie.com/albums/AlasdairFraser/fire_and_grace.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Tim Macdonald and Jeremy Ward's ''The Wilds''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timandjeremy.com/wilds |title=The Wilds |publisher=Tim Macdonald and Jeremy Ward |date=2017-11-15 |access-date=2018-08-24}}</ref>

===Balkan, with ''kontra''===
Hungarian, Slovenian, and Romanian fiddle players are often accompanied by a three-stringed variant of the [[viola]]—known as the ''[[kontra]]''—and by [[double bass]], with [[cimbalom]] and [[clarinet]] being less standard yet still common additions to a band.  In Hungary, a three-stringed viola variant with a flat bridge, called the ''[[kontra]]'' or ''háromhúros brácsa'' makes up part of a traditional rhythm section in Hungarian folk music.  The flat bridge lets the musician play three-string chords. A three-stringed double bass variant is also used.