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File: robinsonelmer-oh-wmharvey_M.mp3

Speakers:

ER – Elmer Robinson

JC – John Cousins

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

ER: I was 25 or 30 before I had my hands on the fiddle.

JC: You never played at all when you was a kid or anything?

ER: I'm just playin with it. I

File: doucettejoe-oh-frolics.mp3

Speakers –

JD: Joe Doucette

KP – curator Ken Perlman

JD: Tell you how they worked. Supposin' that you had a piece of wood to cut and you were alone. Well they'd make what they called a bee. He'd ask a bunch of men or they'd offer themselves.

File: chaissonkenny-oh-baptists_M.mp3

Speakers:

KC – Kenny Chaisson

LC – Lemmy Chaisson

LC If you go east of Souris, then there were – It would be the worst place you could ever play, because it took them all night to get up. And, they were great listeners, but they wouldn't

File: macintyrestewart-oh-origins.mp3

File

SM – Stewart MacIntyre

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

SM: The MacIntyres came to the Island, well around 1800. I haven't been able to find out exactly when – They came around 1800. My grandmother was a Stewart, she was indeed related to

File: chappellella06-oh-womensinsitute_M.mp3

Speakers:

EC – Ella Thomson Chappell

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

EC: There was the Women's Institute. Well you see, the men had to take them in the winter time.

KP: Tell me a little bit about the women's Institute

File: wilsonteresa-oh-lordmacd_M.mp3

Speakers:

TW – Teresa MacPhee Wilson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TW Back years ago they used to have fiddlers' contests

KP Yeah.

TW And you had to be able to play Lord MacDonald's Reel before you were

File: arsenaultlouise-oh-twists.wav

LA: So I mean, every fiddler is different, that's for sure, there's not one fiddler that plays the same as you. I would listen to Eddy Arsenault play and I would learn that tune, but I would play it a different way. And then all of a sudden I

File: raffertyervin06-oh-winterfarmwork_M.mp3

Speakers:

ER – Ervan Rafferty

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

ER: Well the people, they would haul marsh hay. They used to get the marsh hay 'cause it was great for milk cows, make them drink water, instead of the the salt cakes that they

File: stewartarchie-oh-playinglively.mp3

Speaker:

AS - Archie Stewart

AS: You get some kind of a message from your music through the people. I've seen this happen. I've seen at a dance hall where the people would be all sittin' around and nobody would be up dancin', and the thing'd

File: stewartarchie-oh-tiresomeattimes.mp3

Speakers:

AS – Archie Stewart

AS: If you played the first four nights of the week, and a good friend come along and said, "Look, I'm having a house party Friday night, will you come and play," Now what are you gonna say? (laughs). You can't

File Name: albertjoe06-oh-learningtunes.wav

Speaker: Joe Albert

You wake up sometimes in your sleep, and you whistle the tune that you heard before, and they tell you that the right thing to do when you wake up like that if you want to hear a tune is learn it before breakfast. Try and learn it before

File: princecountyfiddlers-edmathews_M.mp3

Speakers

EM – Ed Mathews

EM: You got my name: Ed Mathews. I was about 18 when I started I suppose. I picked up an old two dollar fiddle I bought from [inaudible]. It had a string on it: no case – just take it up into the barn up at the

Labelled: "Belmont (Lot 16)

File: gotellhugh-oh-twists_M.mp3

Speakers:

HG – Hugh Gotell

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

HG: My idea's whoever makes the tune sound the best - Hell with the note, play it that way. That's for all those people that put the music on paper, they're only

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 Name: albertjoe06-oh-houseparties_M.mp3

Speakers:

KP: curator Ken Perlman

JA: Joe Albert

IA: Ivan Albert

KP: Did they used to have a lot of house parties and such?

JA: We used to have them all when we were up west, Holy…

KP: What were

File: maccormackfrancis06-oh-familydiscovery.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Francis MacCormack

FM: They came home from the army one time, my three oldest brothers. They came home from the Army. Of course as you probably know, a little bit of moonshine was flowin' around; they got into that. My

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: wedgeclifford-oh-houseparties_M.mp3

Speakers:

CW – Clifford Wedge

CW: People would come over at night. There was no radio then. There was no television. There was nothing. Just people sitting down, they'd play the violin and sing songs. They'd just have an evening.

KP:

File: macdonaldward06-oh-ceilidhs_M.mp3

Speakers:

WM – Ward MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

WM: Back around that same time there was those two ceilidhs [at Monticello and Orwell] and the ceilidhs that they were holding at the BIS [Benevolent Irish Society] which were really

File: oconnorattwood06-oh-musichome_breakdowns_M.mp3

Speakers:

AO – Attwood O'Connor

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

AO: They used to come in, all the neighbors would come in there, it was a gathering place for all the young people in the community at that time. We used

File: macdonaldpaul-oh-irishrolls_M.mp3

Speakers:

PM – Paul MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: What are some of the others?

PM: One that's slowly moving its way into Scottish fiddle music which has been prevalent in Irish music is the roll. And that's

File: gotellwilfred-oh-television_M.mp3

Speakers:

WG – Wilfred Gotell

KP – Ken Perlman

WG [When] radio and television started -- came in the houses, that's when they really died down.

KP That was when?

WG 25, 30 years ago, they started to dwindle

File: mackenziesheila06-oh-womanfiddling_M.mp3

Speakers

SM – Sheila MacKenzie

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: Did you experience any sort of resistance yourself to your wanting to play?

SM: I definitely didn't meet any resistance, just because I think – Around

File: cheveriecharles06-oh-youngfiddlers_ceilidhs_M.mp3

Speakers:

CC - Fr. Charlie Cheverie

CC: These young people who are now coming along and producing their own CDs, we're finding that they are starting to go at an earlier age to perform in communities. And this is something, as far

File: macdonaldward06-oh-professionalopportunities_M.mp3

Speakers:

WM – Ward MacDonald

I think it's a combination of things: just the time right now, the time we're in right now. It's very easy to make a CD, any player that's trying to go anywhere has a website and they put a press kit

File: macdonaldpaul-oh-gracenotes_M.mp3

Speakers:

PM – Paul MacDonald

KP – Ken Perlman

Pm: Grace notes, which you've seen before is just an addition

Demonstrates Grace Notes

KP: So is it just a little cut or is it?

File: princecountyfiddlers-oh-womenfiddling_M.mp3

Speakers:

GB – Glenna Bowness

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: WE have noticed that women were under-represented in the ranks of. What was your sense growing up about women and fiddling?

GB: I think fiddle was

File Name: hallidayjimmy-oh-houseparties_M.mp3

Speakers:

JH-Jimmy Halliday

KP- Ken Perlman (curator)

JM-Jimmy Martin (accompanist)

KP When you used to play for the old house parties- how did you find out that they wanted you to play at a house party?

JH They'd ask

File: cousinsjohn-oh-dealingwithchange_M.mp3

Speakers:

JC – John Cousins

JC: As a folklorist, I've had to sort of ponder the uses of these traditions. and it seems to me that the fiddling tradition served a purpose. People love to continue to play the fiddle; it's a continuance of a