Performer profiling as a method of examining the transmission of Scottish traditional music

This paper presents work on profiling the playing styles of individual performers of Shetland fiddle music as a first step towards modelling the transmission of fiddle music throughout Scotland. The Shetland Isles, an archipelago situated 100 miles north of the Scottish mainland, consist of over 100 islands spread over approximately 551 square miles (Figure 1). Being equidistant from Scotland and Norway, the Isles are home to an autonomous heritage rich in social customs which, due to geographic isolation and the relatively low level of infrastructure, are further marked by a high degree of regional variation. As such, the Islands’ fiddle tradition (s) represent an extremely interesting case study for modelling the transmission and evolution of Scottish fiddle music, encompassing local, regional, and national perspectives in different capacities. This work represents a small scale investigation of computational music analysis and machine learning techniques suitable for modelling fiddle performance style. We examine a core set of fiddle performers from across Shetland with the aim of identifying distinguishing characteristics and developing models which can help study the transmission of this musical tradition.