Bowing Down Home Oral History Transcripts

File: wilsonteresa06group-oh-womenfiddling_M.mp3

Speakers:

TW - Teresa MacPhee Wilson

AM - Anne McPhee

MM - Marie MacIntyre

TB - Tracy Warren Burke

MW - Mary MacPhee Warren

GM - Gloria MacPhee MacInnis

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

File: wilsonteresa06group-oh-womenfiddling_M.mp3

Speakers:

MW – Mary MacPhee Warren

TW – Teresa MacPhee Wilson

MW: When I got married in Montreal, Aunt Hilda she was coming to my wedding, but I didn't know she was going to bring the fiddle. Everybody who was at the wedding wre Italian

File: wilsonteresa-oh-womenfiddling_M.mp3

Speakers:

TW – Teresa MacPhee Wilson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TW No women fiddlers at all, then.

KP I was going to ask you about that.

TW My aunt Hilda played. She was the only woman that

File: macdonaldfaber-oh-abusingthegift_M.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Rev. FaberMacDonald

FM: Your question brings up another consideration in terms of the gift, you see. I can recall the many different fiddlers who came from the little community where I was brought up, which is just about 10

File: trainorcecil06-oh-churchpicnics_M.mp3

Speakers:

CT – Cecil Trainor

KP: Tell me about the church picnics

CT: There'd be a picnic at the church. They'd have bag races and they'd have bingos and they'd have wheel of fortune and they'd set out

File: jonesandrew-oh-steannechanges_M.mp3

Speakers:

AJ – Andrew Jones

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP That's a very nice version of that tune.

AJ Yeah? We used to play [it] the old way -- I mean when it was first written it was kind of a …

File: macdonaldpaul-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

PM – Paul MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

PM I played classical music for probably three years I guess it was, I quit when I was 12. I told my parents, "OK, no more classical violin. But I think I want to play fiddle

File: trainorcecil06-oh-cardplayingforhorses_M.mp3

Speakers:

CT – Cecil Trainor

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

CT: Then they used to have card playing for horses. Some fellow in the fall of the year would have an old horse that wouldn't be worth nothin', so he'd card play him. So I'

File: chaissonyoungpeter-oh-style_M.mp3

Speakers:

PC – "Young Peter" Chaisson

KC – Kevin Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KC We're all individuals, and I mean a teacher or whatever, they can only teach you so much. They can only show you so much, but you have to pick

File: macdonaldfaber-oh-theshadowside_M.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Rev Faver MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: What kind of stresses did this put on the lives of fiddlers, would you say?

FM: Well, for some it might have been quite heavy, simply because for

File: hornbyjim-oh-contests_M.mp3

Speakers:

JH – Jim Hornby

JH I can see that it's a fairly arbitrary result. Also, it's a small community and anybody's going to be a judge, they're not going to bring someone from Halifax to judge them. They're going to get some farmer

File: dayivan06-oh-jimmybearisto_M.mp3

Speaker:

ID – Ivan Day

JG – John Gauthier

KP – Speaker Ken Perlman

ID: I was in the insurance business at the last of it, and I used to get around, and I'd drop into Jimmy's for a few minutes.

KP: Into his shop

File: raffertyervin06-oh-basketsocials.mp3

Speakers:

ER – Ervan Rafferty

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

ER: They had basket socials back then, you know basket socials. They'd have sort of a get together. But it was mostly a card game if I remember right. The boys would be expected to

File: banksjimmy-oh-help,olderfids.mp3

Speakers:

JB – Jimmy Banks

KP – curator Ken Perlman

KP Would you find that the older fellows would take you aside and help you out?

JB Oh, if you asked them, yes, if you asked them for some information they'd tell you, you know,

File: gotellwilfred-oh-ducks_M.mp3

Speaker:

WG – Wilfred Gotell

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

WG Only one time I had resentment. I played down in Murray Harbor, a group of us; poor Fred [McCullough] was with us. There was four or us, no five of us, and we had to hire

File: baglolesidney-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

SB – Sid Baglole

KP – curator Ken Perlman

KP: What year were you born?

SB: 1912

KP: 1912n

SB: Yeah, I'm 80 years old. Just had a birthday, just gone by.

KP: Did you come from a musical family?

File: sonierervan-oh-houseparties_M.mp3

ES And then again, there was nothing till the fiddler arrived. And they used to hit them with the -- hit the strings with the knittin' needles. Remember them on the fiddle. Keep time with the knittin needles.

KP That's like fiddle sticks.

File: quinnmerlin-oh-stoppingwork_M.mp3

Speakers:

MQ – Merlin Quinn

MQ: Somebody might come in with a fiddle if they ever did. My father loved the fiddle. So if anybody ever came in that could play fiddle, it just stopped everything right off. That was the end of the work, we all went

File: biggarjackie06-oh-poweroutages_M.mp3

Speakers:

JB – Jackie Biggar

KP – Ken Perlman

Years ago the power used to go off, we didn't have a – A storm, a transformer would get hit by lightning and stuff. There's be a severe storm, the power would go

File: macdonaldjoe-oh-gettingstarted_learningtunes_M.mp3

Speakers:

JM – Joe MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

JM: Around here, there was good old fiddlers around here. There was Gregory MacEachern, a neighbor of ours. He's dead now long of it. He was a great old fiddler and

File: corbetttrudy06-oh-dancinginschools_M.mp3

Speakers:

TC – Trudy Corbett

FC – Fulton Corbett (husband of Trudy Corbett)

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

MS – Mary Pineau Smith

FC: But she started in school; I went to school with her. She started at school with a comb

File: arsenaultlouise06-oh-acadiansyncopation_M.mp3

Speakers

LA: Louise Arsenault

KP: Ken Perlman

LA: When you do the shuffle it's like two up bows in a row.

KP: Can you take your fiddle and illustrate that

LA: I sure can,

File: macdonaldhilda-oh-frolics+weddings_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hilda MacPhee MacDonald

HM: That was like the wedding that my brother Hughie and Ronnie Archie went to down to Kellys', down Fort Augustus. And it was Owen Kelly's wedding. Oh I guess it was a dandy. They go

File: pitredennis-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

DP –Dennis Pitre

DP: But my mother had two brothers that played. One played the accordion and one played the organ. But there was no fiddle playing.

KP: So how did you learn?

DP: Just because I loved it (laughs). Just

File: quinnmerlin-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speaker:

MQ – Merlin Quinn

MQ: It was the thing. It just simply seemed to me to be the thing to be able to do. It was so great! I could whistle and I could jig, and I could sing and so could my father, as I said, was a good

File: smithtony06-oh-dirtytrick_M.mp3

Speakers:

TS – Tony Smith

AG – Alfred Gallant

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TS: Him and this other guy played all night at this house party. They used to have big money years ago, black cents, they were big ones.

KP

File: chaissonkevin06-oh-valedictory_M.mp3

Speakers:

KC – Kevin Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: There are certain people like an Earl Scruggs or a Pete Seeger, somebody who starts something and you see what happened and hundreds or thousands of people get involved in

File: stewartarchie-oh-houseparty.mp3

Speakers

AS – Archie Stewart

AS: Back then in the Depression, we had no entertainment. There was no radios, there was no television, and that was the only entertainment we had. You know in the wintertime probably once a week

File: gotellwilfred-oh-halfwayhouse_M.mp3

Speakers:

WG – Wilfred Gotell

WG But in the old house there they used to have the parties over there, and they used to call it the halfway house - halfway from the village to my place, you know. A couple guys would get together

File: sonierervan-oh-badinstrument_M.mp3

Speakers:

ES – Ervan Sonier

ES: But I always got a kick - And this was a true story, I think – Getting back to the fiddle being the devil's instrument. I remember Guy Buolter, a terrific fiddler from up west. And they were going to get Guy.