File: mellishreg06-oh-dancenotallowed_gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
RM – Reg Mellish
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Was there music in your house?
RM: No.
KP: Was there music in your community?
RM: Not much, not at that time, no.
KP: So when did you take up the fiddle?
RM: Oh, it'd be back in the 30s, I guess.
KP: So you would have been about 20 years old?
RM: Yeah, roughly that I guess.
KP: Why did you want to start playing?
RM: I don't know, I just took a notion for it.
KP: Did you hear other people playing the fiddle?
RM: Not that much, no.
KP: Were there dances in your community?
RM: No. I never went to dances.
KP: Why was that?
RM: Just – My family didn't do that. We were busy farmers, we had to do a lot of work – Night time we were tired. We always went to church, Sundays.
KP: So how did you learn to play?
RM: Well, just listenin' to the radio and different things like that. I'd play mostly by the words, not by the notes. If I know the words of a piece I can play it.
KP: I see. Is that how you get the rhythm?
RM: Yeah, that's right.
KP: How do you get the notes?
RM: Just by ear.
KP So you get the words and then you think of the melody?
RM: Yeah, that's right.
