The Lilting Fisherman Set
At the controls three and half stories above the ground, an operator in an all-weather jacket and a baseball cap maneuvers the Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy (CRAB) slowly down the gently sloping sand and into the waves at the Robert Moses State Park. The vehicle is a giant tripod on wheels. A transmitter above the operator’s platform sends readings into space, where satellites assist in calculating the vehicle’s elevation. The results comprise a beach survey that gives researchers a picture of the ways erosion caused by storms is changing the shoreline.
Seeing the CRAB ambling up and down the beach, wading in and out of the water, cables hanging and swinging from the operations platform a bit like tentacles, evoked visions of alien invasions I’ve seen on the covers of novels and in science-fiction movies. It was so weird and surprising to see, it took me a couple minutes of staring at the huge lumbering machine before I thought to start shooting video.
Click here for more information about the CRAB.
I played three jigs on the fiddle for the video’s soundtrack: The Lilting Fisherman, The Maid on the Green, and The Rambling Pitchfork. I played at a slower, more loping tempo than I usually do when playing jigs like these. I found that made it harder for me to maintain regular spacing between the notes, and to hold onto the tone I was striving to produce. The shortcomings in my playing magnify my admiration for brilliant fiddle players such as Martin Hayes who can play tunes on the slower side, drawing out the notes, making them sound fluid and pure, while maintaining the vigor of the tunes’ rhythms. I continue to work for improvement.
