Fiddling style developed to make people dance

File: bergeronhelene-oh-kitchenparties.mp3

Speakers:

HB – Helene Arsenault Bergeron

HB: Yes, I'm very partial to my father's fiddling. It's the reason that I started dancing in the first place. Because it's the most danceable fiddling that I know of. The kitchen parties that we had at my grandfather's and at our house, everybody was always jumping up to dance because the fiddling, the music, was so lively. So I think that that style of fiddling was developed to make people dance, so it's not something you just want to sit and listen to, it's something you want to jump up and dance to. Back then people dropped in a lot more than they do now. People would just waltz in, neighbors would just drop in unannounced.