Bowing Down Home Oral History Transcripts

File: dauschmidtkathryn06-oh-future_M.mp3

Speaker:

KD – Kathryn Dau Schmidt

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KD: Two of my grandfathers and a great-grandfather were fiddlers [in Iowa and Wisconsin]. I never knew any of them. Well, I knew one of my grandfathers, but I never

File: stewartarchie-oh-3mostimportant.mp3

Speakers:

AS – Archie Stewart

AS I heard an old fellow saying one time, the three most important people in the district‑‑the minister was first, the schoolteacher was next, and the fiddler was next! (laughter). That was the three most

File: doucettepat06-oh-williethibodeau_M.mp3

Speakers:

PD – Pat Doucette

PD: There was as fiddler player up west, Willie Thibodeau. He'd play the fiddle, he'd make you cry. He was a fisherman. You must have heard tell of the mermaid. Remember the ship was going through? To me Willie

File: o'connorjimmy-oh-davebeck_M.mp3

Speakers:

JO – Jimmy O'Connor

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

JO Dave Beck, he was about the best when I was younger: around our place, anyway.

KP Did you try to play like him?

JO Yeah, in a way. He was good.

KP Did you ever

File: chaissonyoungpeter-oh-weddingreeldemo_M.mp3

Speakers:

PC – "Young Peter" Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

PC: That's the first tune that used to be played at a wedding, fifty, sixty years ago around here. And they always hired the fiddler before they got the date of the

File: oconnorattwood-oh-musichome_M.mp3

Speakers:

AO - Attwood O'Connor

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: Would you have music sessions in the house?

AO: Oh Yes.

KP: Can you tell us a little bit about them.

AO: My father's house there when we were kids, that

File: wilsonteresa-oh-fiddlingsanta_M.mp3

Speakers:

TW – Teresa MacPhee Wilson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TW: My father was Santa Claus one time, the first time I ever remember seeing Santa Claus. I had no idea who this chap was that come in. There was no radios then, you know,

File: bernardalvin-oh-everycommunity.mp3

Speakears:

AB - Alvin Bernard

ES – Edwin Simmons

KP – curator Ken Perlman

ES: Well, every community seemed to have one or two people - if something went on in the community, they were the ones who were

File: cheverieomar06-oh-capebretonradio_fitzgerald_M.mp3

Speakers:

OC – Omar Cheverie

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

OC: I can remember the first radio that we had in our neighborhood. Our next door neighbor had a radio.

KP: Was that one of those big battery radios

File: macinnislargus-oh-breakdowns_M.mp3

Speakers:

LM – Largus MacInnis

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

.LM An odd time the old folks would get up and they'd dance what they called a "breakdown."

KP And what was that like?

LM It was all

File: dauschmidtkathryn-oh-rollobayschool_M.mp3

Speaker:

KD – Kathryn Dau Schmidt

KD: Some of those kids that are doing so beautifully now just started right then. They were 5 and 6 years old, some were 7. So they had a little start but they pretty much started with me

File: swensonamy06-oh-fiddlersgrandkids_M.mp3

Speaker: Amy Swenson

AS: I would say at least half of the students I teach have fiddlers in their family background, somewhere. And it's often their grandparents or great grandparents. And the fiddling skipped their parents' generation. But the

File: hubleylibby-oh-stepdancingchanges_M.mp3

Speakers:

LH – Libby Hubley

LH: Now, I wasn't the first step dancing teacher. There were others before me but not for very long, I wouldn't say. I think that change came because when I came to step dancing I also brought with it

File: mcdonaldleonard-oh-chordsonfiddle_M.mp3

Speakers:

LM – Leonard McDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

LM Well like I mean every area had its own – I have my own distinct style of playing. I learned to play the fiddle pretty much by myself, and I'll tell you I play a lot of

arsenaultrobert06-oh-acadiansyncopation_M.wav

Speakers:

RA – Robert Arsenault

KP – Ken Perlman

RA: What the basic pattern is, it's what I call the rock and roll rhythm. A rocking rhythm needs two beats to rock. You need two beats to rock. Like it's a dance rhythm. So you need