Fiddling passed down in families

File: macleandanny-oh-goodfiddler_M.mp3

Speakers:

DM – Danny MacLean

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: what do you think makes a good fiddler? If you hear a fellow play, what about his music would stand out for you?

DM: What do you think makes him a good fiddler? Well, I think to start with a fellow that's gonna be a good fiddler – You gotta have the music in you.

KP: What do you mean by that?

DM: Well, there's people that's got music in them and people's got tin ears. You know, they don't know one note from another like from the sound. You know, you could play a tune for them, and they could come back and ask you to play the same tune again. They would never know that you played it, they wouldn't remember the sound. But to make a good fiddler, the music is knd of – You kind of inherit it I think. That's what I'd say. Because like families that got music in them, it seems to go right down through the centuries. Well, I don't know. A good fiddler should play his own way. He should never try to copy somebody else's.

KP: What do you mean by that?

DM: Well, I tell you – You'll hear this tune and you try and play it like this other feller, and it's ninety-nine times out of a hundred the other feller is just playing it his own way.

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