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File: morrisseyjohnny-oh-learningtunes_M.mp3
Speakers
JM – Johnny Morrissey
JM The way I'd picked up tunes, I'd go to a dance, I'd hear a tune that I liked. And I'd take particular notice to that tune. And then when I'd go home I'd go to bed and the tune would be still floating
File - sonierervan-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
ES – Ervan Sonier
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
ES Two pieces of stick, and I used to – I'd take them and go through the motions of tuning the fiddle and all. They used to get a great kick I remember. They'd be back watching me
File: macdonaldpaul-oh-slowgrace_M.mp3
Speakers:
PM – Paul MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
PM: The other type which is considered a grace note in fiddle music but I think in guitar music it's most often referred to as a hammer-on…
KP: Like a slow grace
banksreg06-oh-changesfidmusic_M.mp3
Speakers:
RB – Reg Banks
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
RB: There's an awful lot of the old-time tunes you don't hear the younger people playing at all. They play more waltzes and more songs and this kind of thing, but the real old tunes you don't
File: mackenziesheila06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
SM – Sheila MacKenzie
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
SM: I started step-dancing probably – I know I was 5, and that sort of came – Again the music was always on the radio or a record would be on and I would try to dance. Then I
File: wedgeclifford-oh-songorigins_M.mp3
File:
Speaker:
CW – Clifford Wedge
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
CW: My Dad and so many other people would go to the woods in the wintertime. And they'd always bring songs home.
KP: From the wood!
File: cheveriecharles-oh-rolewithfidsociety_M.mp3
Speakers:
CC - Fr. Charlie Cheverie
CC: Getting back to our friend Joe Chaisson. Joe died in 1981 in Rollo Bay. I went to the funeral, and the pastor at the time knowing my relationship to the Chaisson family asked me if I wanted to
File: farrellleo06-oh-liquor_M.mp3
Speakers:
LF – Leo Farrell
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
LF: There was lots of liquor on the Island, but no bars like there is today.
KP: I understand there was prohibition for a long time.
LF
File: hughesemmett06-oh-weddings_M.mp3
Speakers:
EH – Emmett Hughes
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
EH: Back then all the weddings were at home, and it was a big deal. The weddin' part was an odd time in the house too, but most of the time it was in the church. But then
File: mcpheehugh-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers
HM – Hughie McPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP How old were you before you started playing a lot?
HM Oh I must've been 25 or so. Like I said before, there was nobody to play for dances and they
File: leardwarren92-oh-flourmill_M.mp3
Speakers:
WL – Warren Leard
KP: 1925. And I was told you own a mill, a flour mill.
WL: Yes, I have the only mill left on Prince Edward Island. That's a custom flour mill. We do grinding for the farmers, and I'm the third generation. My
File: chaissonkevin-oh-joepetechaisson_M.mp3
Speakers:
KC – Kevin Chaisson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Why was it that your family in particular took it upon itself to, almost single-handedly…
KC: Well, I wouldn't say that, just the thing is, I wish you
arsenaultrobert06-oh-livingfrommusic_M.mp3
Speakers
RA- Robert Arsenault
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
RA: There's an attachment to traditional music with PEI and when you get visitors from the States or wherever. They come to PEI and they want to listen to PEI music.
webstercarlandjackie-oh-jackwebster_M.mp3
Speakers:
CW – Carl Webster
JW – Jackie Webster
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
CW: When people would come to the house. When people'd come in. Dad would always play the fiddle for them, day and night. If someone come along in the
File: mcpheedan-oh-origins_M.mp3
Speakers
DM – Dan McPhee
DM There was, I don't know how many shiploads of McPhees came from the Hebrides and settled here. They bought a Lot which was 20,000 acres, and that extended from this shore here to south shore just east of Souris. And there was
File: swensonamy06-oh-donaghschoolprogram_m.mp3
Speakers:
AS – Amy Swenson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
AS: The Donagh School is a new school, it's only six years old. The Donagh school parents wanted – They fundraised for a playground; they got the playground in and they wanted to
File: swensonamy06-oh-gettingestablished_M.mp3
Speakers:
AS – Amy Swenson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: So you moved here in
AS: 1998.
KP: So how did you get established, teaching?
AS: I put notices up at the malls,
File: trainorcecil06-oh-churchpicnics_M.mp3
Speakers:
CT – Cecil Trainor
KP: Tell me about the church picnics
CT: There'd be a picnic at the church. They'd have bag races and they'd have bingos and they'd have wheel of fortune and they'd set out
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
File: macdougallherb06-oh-firstfiddleandbow_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM - Herb MacDougall
HM: My Dad [George MacDougall] used to play for dances, before I was born. I found the violin up in the attic; my parents would say I was an inquisitive type and tinkering all the time at something
File: smithmary06-oh-musichome_M.mp3
Speakers:
MS – Mary Smith
MS: I was born in a lighthouse in North Rustico. My Dad [George Pineau] was a lighthouse keeper and he was a fisherman. And he was a lighthouse keeper for 34 years.
KP: You say he played the fiddle
File: doironpeter-oh-pcfiddlers_M.mp3
Speakers:
PD - Peter Doiron
KP Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Were you in on the Prince County Fiddlers right from the beginning?
PD Prince County, yes. We had out little meeting in a barber shop here when we first decided to join
File: arsenaultrobert-oh-familyencouragement_M.mp3
Speakers:
RA – Robert Arsenault
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
RA: The type of encouragement there is now from parents -- to give their kids everything and to become super-achievers is a nonexistent thing in Acadian
File: arsenaultlouise-oh-gettingstarted_M.wav
Speakers-
LA: Louise Arsenault
KP: Curator Ken Perlman
LA: I was brought up in Mt. Carmel and my parents live in Mt. Carmel. I started playing the violin when I was 7 years old and my father also plays the violin and my
File: raffertyervin06-oh-changesafterwar_M.mp3
Speakers:
ER – Ervan Rafferty
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP - When did the house parties and square dances such begin to decline in this area?
ER: I guess probably after the war, maybe shortly after
File: trainorcecil06-oh-cardplayingforhorses_M.mp3
Speakers:
CT – Cecil Trainor
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
CT: Then they used to have card playing for horses. Some fellow in the fall of the year would have an old horse that wouldn't be worth nothin', so he'd card play him. So I'
File: mcquaidjenny-oh-onermschools_M.mp3
Speakers
JM — Jenny O'Hanley McQuaid
KP — Curator Ken Perlman
KP: So in a way, the old school in Monticello and perhaps in other parts of the Island was a community building as well
File: chappellella06-oh-districtschools_M.mp3
Speakers:
EC – Ella Thomson Chappell
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Tell me about the schools that you went to.
EC: Well the way it was they had to put the fire on in the morning. So somebody had to go early and
File: chaissonjj06-oh-learning_composingtunes_M.mp3
Speakers:
JC – JJ Chaisson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Do you have a strategy for when you compose?
JC: A couple of different ways. I've woken up before with a tune just in my head, and you play it, you
File: brucestanley-oh-jigging_M.mp3
Speakers:
B – Stanley Bruce
AO –Attwood O'Connor
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
My oldest daughter [says] "Dad, you're forever whistling a tune or singing something . Why?" You don't even know you're doing it.
File: macinnisbillysenior06-oh-charlottetowndances_M.mp3
Speakers:
BM – Billy MacInnis Sr
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
BM: Oh, when I was a kid there was dances just about every night of the week.
KP: Where were these dances, what kind of places?
File: macpheegeorge-oh-oldjimcarter_M.mp3
Speakers:
GM – George MacPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP You were telling us before a story about a fellow with one arm who used to come over to your house.
GM Oh, yeah. That was the old feller that lived over at my
File: hughesemmett06-oh-agriculturalpractices_M.mp3
Speakers:
EH – Emmett Hughes
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
EH: At that time there was as much trade as there was using money. The farmers mostly always went to Clarke [Clarke's General Store in Mount Stewart] in the Spring of the
File: chaissonjj06-oh-familyguidance_M.mp3
Speakers:
JC – JJ Chaisson
KP: Curator Ken Perlman
JC: All of our aunts and uncles and cousins always encouraged each other. But at the end of the day it's what we wanted to do. We had lots of suggestions B I took lots of
File: mcquaidjenny-oh-consolidation_M.mp3
Speakers
JM — Jenny O'Hanley McQuaid
KP — Curator Ken Perlman
KP: When did they go from the old district schools — And I guess every community is actually a school district — Is that the way it works out?
File: macleandanny-oh-partieshome_M.mp3
Speakers:
DM – Danny MacLean
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: When you were a kid, or a "young fellow" as they say up here, did you have parties in the house just among yourselves where you were playing music at night?
DM:
File: rossfamilyband06-oh-bandhistory_M.mp3
Speakers:
JR – Jonathan Ross
JR: This was when Danielle was first learning the fiddle, so she gradually worked her way into this dance show on the fiddle, more than just dancing. And I was already in the show as a side act with piano stuff,
File: webstercarlandjackie06-oh-jackwebster_M.mp3
Speakers
JW – Jackie Webster
CW – Carl Webster
MQ – Merlin Quinn
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: One of you mentioned that that Jack Webster only played with three fingers.
JW: He got this finger
File: pitredennis06-oh-firstfiddle_M.mp3
Speakers:
DP – Dennis Pitre
DP: The first fiddle I bought, I was 12 years old. And it took me two years to pick up bottles in the road trying to get enough money. It was nineteen dollars and ninety five cents for the fiddle. That'
File: biggarjackie06-oh-unclesparties_M.mp3
Speakers
JB: Jackie Biggar
JB: We'd used to go out to my uncle's place there; he'd have three or four parties a the summer, George milligan, we'd go there and play probably from 9 o'clock to 2 or 3 in the morning. They used
File: biggarjackie06-oh-twists_M.mp3
Speakers
JB- Jackie Biggar
KP – Ken Perlman
JB: And You know you're doing a good job when people start playing your tune the way you play it, cause that tells you that people want to listen to your playing. If you play a tune and you put
File: jayroland-oh-hadtoplay_M.mp3
Speakers
RJ - Roland Jay
AM - Angus McPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP Did you find that if someone could play the fiddle they were pretty much obligated to play at these events?
AM Yeah, I suppose so
File: mcpheehugh06-oh-togannyandfairy_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM – Hughie McPhee
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: You told me a story about your ancestor Toganny McPhee.
HM: Oh yeah. What Toganny meant I don't know, it would be Gaelic for something, probably some kind
File: macdonaldhilda-oh-breakdowns_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM – Hilda MacPhee MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
GM – George MacPhee (Hilda's nephew)
HM: I forgot all those old tunes: not all of them, but I forgot a lot of them.
KP: Uh-huh.
HM: Can't play
File: chaissonyoungpeter-oh-style_M.mp3
Speakers:
PC – "Young Peter" Chaisson
KC – Kevin Chaisson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KC We're all individuals, and I mean a teacher or whatever, they can only teach you so much. They can only show you so much, but you have to pick
File: macdonaldhilda-oh-womensrole_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM – Hilda MacPhee MacDonald
GM – George MacPhee (Hilda's nephew)
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: And how old were you when you started playing for dances yourself?
HM: Oh, I never played at very many dances.
File: lowejudy06-oh-robertweeks_M.mp3
Speakers:
JL – Judy Lowe
JL: My grandfather was Bob Weeks, and Bob was quite a good fiddler back in them times. He lived in Winsloe and he had a big family. He played around at dances in the community and other places. He was a cheese
File: dockendorffharold06-oh-escapingdance_M.mp3
Speakers:
HD: Harold Dockendorff
HD: One night my brother and I were playing at a school dance. It got pretty wild. So it was time to go home and it was after one o'clock. I had to go outside, pretend I had to go outside
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: pitredennis06-oh-familyreaction_M.mp3
Speakers:
DP – Dennis Pitre
VD – Vincent Doucette
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Did you get encouraged in your house?
DP: No, there was no music – Well, on my mother's side side, but she didn't play anything
File: baglolesidney-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
SB – Sid Baglole
KP – curator Ken Perlman
KP: What year were you born?
SB: 1912
KP: 1912n
SB: Yeah, I'm 80 years old. Just had a birthday, just gone by.
KP: Did you come from a musical family?
Name of File: arsenaulteddy-oh-glasgow_M.mp3
Speakers:
EA-Eddy Arsenault
KP-Curator Ken Perlman
You just told us a story before about about coming to Glasgow on V-E day. Will you tell us that story?
EA That was about the biggest square dance I've ever played for ... They
File: gauthierjohn06-oh-batteryradios_M.mp3
Speakers:
JG – John Gauthier
ID – Ivan Day
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
mid-late 30s).
6:50
JG: That would be around the mid 30s. Until that time we didn't have a radio. And of course with
File: macdonaldpaul-oh- heartvstechnique_M.mp3
Speakers:
PM – Paul MacDonald
PM: The funny thing about traditional fiddle music on Prince Edward Island is that you can go listen to a fiddler and his technique is, he's got hardly any technique at all, but he's so full of music and
File: arsenaultedwardp06-oh-musichome.wav
Speakers
EPA: Edward P Arsenault
ML: Marie Arsenault Livingstone
KP: Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Your parents, did they fish or were they farmers?
EPA: They farmed, pretty well.
KP
File - farrellleo06-oh-fiddlerpay_M.mp3
Speaker:
LF – Leo Farrell
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
LF: Farmed all my life except a few years. I farmed up through the 1940s. You know, I was pretty lucky. You're not in a hurry are you?
KP: No.
File: macdonaldhilda-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3
Speakers:
HM – Hilda MacPhee MacDonald
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
GM – George MacPhee (Hilda's nephew)
HM: I guess I was six; as soon as I could hold the fiddle I started to learn.
KP: (to George MacPhee) This was your
File: cheveriecharles-oh-donmesser_M.mp3
Speakers:
CC – Fr. Charles Cheverie
CC Then in 1939 or 1940, Don Messer came. Don Messer was a big, big name in fiddling. But Don Messer was a fiddler who came from New Bruns-wick, he had some classical training himself, was able to
File: johnstoneroy06-oh-futureofmusic_M.mp3
Speakers:
RJ – Roy Johnstone
RJ: In terms of where the music's going, I think there's gonna be a strong continuation of playing the tunes that are part of the repertoire here. And the players are gonna get better and better
File: chaissontimothy06-oh-fiddlingtoday_M.mp3
Speakers:
TC – Timothy Chaisson
TC: Fifteen years ago they didn't really know if we were even going to pursue fiddle music at all, and I think they were really worried because at the time they didn't know if it was going to keep going..