Developing the urge to play

File: macdonaldfrancis-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Francis MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP So how old were you when you began playing?

FM Oh, I suppose around between 9 and 10 years old, somewhere in that range.

KP Did you just decide it was time to learn?

FM No, I liked it. Ever since I could even remember hearing music I loved the sound of the violin. Whatever there was about it I don't know, but I remember waking up at night when I was a very small child and hearing the fiddle music. There'd be probably a fiddler or some musicians come in to my father's place. They'd have a session and I liked the music. We didn't have any electricity or any television; it was just an old radio, battery radio back when I started learning. It used to pick up one or two stations that had old-time music on it in the evenings.