File: doucettejoe-oh-bowing,findingnotes.mp3
Speakers:
JD – Joe Doucette
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: When you were six years old and just taking up the fiddle, did your father show you anything on the fiddle?
JD: NO, anymore than he told me that to start [with] playing the slow piece.
KP: Did he show you how to hold the bow?
JD: NO. I watched him. He didn't have to tell me; I watched him.
KP: And did he show you what to do with your left hand?
JD: He told that, what he did tell me was that most of the music wasn't the fingers. It was the bow. The way you handled the bow for the tunes. Some fiddlers have a better bow--a better arm--than others. some you just see them go straight and it's the same routine all the time. But a good violin player, a good fiddle player, he's got a - It's in his arm.
KP: What about his arm?
JD: I'm a long ways from being that, but a real good violin player you watch his hand on the bow and the tune, the rhythm, the tune, there's were it's from. It's not the fingers.
KP: So what is it in his arm that...is it loose?
JD: It's loose. It has to be loose, you see.
KP: What did, how did you learn your tunes?
JD: Like I said. It took a long while, see. Once you get a few notes, then get them in the head, see. Then you know where to place the fingers for them notes. Then start until you pick up the next one. You might put your fingers in half a dozen places or more before you get the right note that you wanted.
KP: so you would hear. You would have it up here [points to head] first?
JD: First. Yes you have to have it in the head first.
KP: How would you get it in your head?
JD: By hearing somebody playin it or whistlin or – It's the same as learning a song. You have to get the air of it. Once you have the air of it, then try to place the fingers where they should go. And remember where the place was, see. That's why it takes a long while. But when it comes natural then, once you have the hang of it [snaps fingers], it's no problem.
KP: Where did you hear the tunes? Was is just your father?
JD: My father. Oh, there was more violin players around. THere was organ players, too. There wasn't that many, but there was, you know.
KP: Who were the other players beside your father?
