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File: macdonaldpaul-oh-slurs.mp3
Speakers
PM – Paul MacDonald
PM: Recently I was up to Richmond, the Richmond MacKinnon Festival [the Richmond Scottish Music & Dance Festival], and watched Jerry Holland play, of course. I've seen Jerry play many times, and I guess it's getting
File: mcpheedan-oh-dances_M.mp3
Speakers:
DM – Dan McPhee
HM – Hughie McPhee (Dan's brother)
DM There'd be dances during the summertime; there'd be dances in the schoolhouses. They'd be trying to raise some money to…
HM Repairs and paintin'
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: chappellella06-oh-wintertravel_M.mp3
Speakers:
EC – Ella Thomson Chappell
EC: And then I remember when I went to school, there's no snow plows then, and then we'd go through the field. They'd break a road with the horse and sleigh, and then they'd go and take branches off a
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
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: macdonaldjoe-oh-parishpicnics_M.mp3
Speakers:
JM – Joe MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
JM: They were pretty busy in the summer time. There wouldn't be too much - There wouldn't be house parties but there'd be outside things like picnics in the summertime
KP
File: macdonaldpaul-oh-doublestops_M.mp3
Speakers:
PM – Paul MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
PM: That's right. The most common one is…
Demonstrates Double Stop on G and B (strings 3 and 2, respectively)
PM There's G right there
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: cousinsjohn-oh-badinstrument_M.mp3
Speakers:
JC – John Cousins
JC: There was a belief in the community around here that if a man ever became a fiddler, a good fiddler – In order to be a good fiddler, you couldn't be any good for anything else. First of all it implied an addiction
File: hughesemmett-oh-houseparties_weddings_M.mp3
Speakers:
EH - Emmett Hughes
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP What were the old house parties like? Did they take place in your house quite often?
EH Yes, they'd go from house to house, usually the
File: cheveriecharles06-oh-singingstrings_M.mp3
Speakers:
CC – Fr. Charles Cheverie
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
CC: On PEI in the last 10, 15 years – Was John and Jan Clemmens around when you were here before?
KP: Yes, Singing Strings?
CC:
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: mackenziesheila06-oh-whymorewomanfiddling_M.mp3
Speakers:
SM –Sheila MacKenzie
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
SM: I guess it had a lot to do with – It was just a changing world. Women progressed in every area with equality. So they were doing more, and it was accepted more. And
File: mcquaidjenny-oh-musicinhome_M.mp3
Speakers:
JM — Jenny O'Hanley McQuaid
TW — Teresa MacPhee Wilson
JM In those times, I remember — JD MacAdam and Chester played the organ, and JD played the fiddle and Albina stepdanced, she was a real good step dancer: a woman, Albina
File: morrisonrita-oh--womanfiddling_M.mp3
Speakers:
RM – Rita Morrison
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
RM But they weren't encouraged as much maybe, were they?
KP I don't know! What do you think?
RM Well, it's like everything else now. There'
File: macdonaldjoe-oh-nellybanks.mp3
Speakers:
JM – Joe MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
JM: It was dry then, dry as could be. But there was a few years later then the rum started to come in. Capt. Dicks used to be up here with the Nellie J. Banks.
KP: I
File: myersfenner06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
FM – Fenner Myers
JD – Jim Dobson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Was there music in your house when you were growing up?
FM: Yeah
KP : What kind of music was there?
File: cranerobert06-oh-fiddlerspay_M.mp3
Speakers:
RC – Robert Crane
RC: I played with my Dad for a lot of weddings. Oh, the old fashioned weddings was great. One weddin' him and I played when I was only young. And he was rakin' hay with the old horse and rake, and I was kylin' hay in
File: mcpheehugh06-oh-familyorigins_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM – Hughie McPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
HM: I guess it started, probably started when Wolfe was in Quebec. In Wolfe's Army, they had a pipe regiment and my great, great uncle was a piper there with him. His nephew, Archie
File: macdonaldfrancis-oh-musicinfamily_M.mp3
Speakers:
FM – Francis MacDonald
FM My father's family, it was his mother that actually taught him how to play. And it was in her side of the family, the MacDonalds on her side of the family that were the musicians more so than my father'
File: macdougalljim06-oh-parishpicnics_M.mp3
Speakers:
JM – Jim MacDougall
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
JM: All the country schools used to have dances in the summertime to raise money for to support the schools. I played for quite a few of those.
KP: Who were
File: raffertyervin06-oh-wedding_M.mp3
Speakers:
ER – Ervan Rafferty
ER: Weddings, there was always music at weddings. And if you were lucky enough to get a violin player that wasn't too far away, he was in great demand, because there wasn't that many violin players like there are today
File: arsenaultrobert06-oh-professionalization_M.mp3
Speakers:
RA: Robert Arsenault
KP: Ken Perlman
RA: In terms of where's the music going .We were talking last time that traditional music was essentially through kitchen parties in the home, sometimes at the
File: chappellella06-oh-farmlife_M.mp3
Speakers:
EC – Ella Chappell
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
EC: We had no pump in the house; we had it outside and we had to pump the water and take it in. And then we had the old range stove and there was a big tank on the side which holded
File: chaissonkevin-oh-pnoruns.mp3
Speakers:
KC — Kevin Chaisson
KC It's always in the background with the fiddle. The fiddle is — Stands out, and the piano is always in the background. But the thing that I like to do is — I don't even know what you call it. It's kinda like maybe a chord
File: gauthierjohn06-oh-houseparties_fights_M.mp3
Speakers:
JG – John Gauthier
ID – Ivan Day
KP: Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Did they have house parties?
JG: Oh very much so, my earliest dances I played were house dances.
File: doironpeter-oh-housedances_M.mp3
Speakers:
PD – Peter Doiron
PD: There'd be house dances back then mostly. And if there were tea parties or picnics, they would have a stage outside where they would, I think,
charge so much to get on the stage. And they would dance
File: dockendorffharold06-oh-playingfordances_M.mp3
Speakers:
HD – Harold Dockendorff
KP: Did your parents play music at all?
HD: No. There was no music in the family, except my youngest brother he learned to play the Hawaiian guitar with the steel bar. And I
File: cheverieomar06-oh-neilcheverie_M.mp3
Speakers:
OC – Omar Cheverie
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
OC: Well, in his time everybody thought he was exceptional because he seemed to be a bit above the rest. He could cut and do things with the bow that most other fiddlers around
File: macleanclarence06-oh-learningtunes_M.mp3
Speakers:
CM – Clarence MacLean
KP: How did you go about learning tunes? Did you have them in your head?
CM: Yeah.
KP: Some fiddlers said they'd wake up in the middle of the night…