Search Content

File: dauschmidtkathryn06-oh-peerpressureupdate_M.mp3

Speakers:

KD – Kathryn Dau Schmidt

KD: I get the feeling there's not as much peer pressure because there's been enough young people playing that it's not looked at quite as weird as it was, in most places.

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]

File: toolestephen-oh-dancesolddays_M.mp3

Speakers:

ST – Stephen Toole

ST: There was a lot of dances, see. The way the dances are today, they're all Saturday night dances, or maybe Thursday night, or maybe Friday night. They have their special night at some halls. Well, years ago

File: arsenaultpeter06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers-

PA: Peter Arsenault

KP: Curator Ken Perlman

KP: Tell me how you came to take up the instrument.

PA: One night we were on a thing called Sea Sail, we were in in New York City. Well Dad [Eddy

File: toolestephen-oh-lawnparties_M.mp3

Speakers:

ST – Stephen Toole

KP – Curator Ken perlman

ST: And then there was another type of thing on the island here, was Lawn Parties in the summertime. Now, my father and my brother done a lot of playing at lawn parties. There'd be a

File: bernardalvin-oh-everycommunity.mp3

Speakears:

AB - Alvin Bernard

ES – Edwin Simmons

KP – curator Ken Perlman

ES: Well, every community seemed to have one or two people - if something went on in the community, they were the ones who were

File: chaissonkevin06-oh-valedictory_M.mp3

Speakers:

KC – Kevin Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: There are certain people like an Earl Scruggs or a Pete Seeger, somebody who starts something and you see what happened and hundreds or thousands of people get involved in

File: bergeronhelene-oh-kitchenparties.mp3

Speakers:

HB – Helene Arsenault Bergeron

HB: Yes, I'm very partial to my father's fiddling. It's the reason that I started dancing in the first place. Because it's the most danceable fiddling that I know of. The kitchen parties

File: smithreuben-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

RS – Reuben Smith

RS: My father used to take the fiddle out in the evening after supper and there usually wasn't too much back then to do, only the music and that. And he'd play and I used to watch him, and I decided that I wanted

File: macintyrestewart-oh-radio_M.mp3

Speakers:

LM – Stewart MacIntyre

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

LM: Learned the tunes – My father knew every tune, Scotch or Irish tune, that ever existed, because he used to listen to this Stephen Campbell, and he played them out of a book, you

File: cheverieomar06-oh-valedictory_M.mp3

Speakers:

OC – Omar Cheverie

RC – Randy Cheverie

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

OC: And the most enjoyment I got out of playin' the fiddle was for some of my dear friends that liked the way I played and appreciated that, and I could

File: mcpheehugh06-oh-forerunners_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hughie McPhee

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: Were people talking about forerunners in your time?

HM: Oh yeah there were lots of forerunners.

KP: Can you tell me about what forerunners

File: wedgeclifford-oh-jigging_M.mp3

Speakers:

CW – Clifford Wedge

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

CW: When we were younger, we used to do a lot of jigging; just as kids, fooling around. not at the dances.

KP: When? Was it a game?

CW: Maybe going along the road (

File: macdougalljim06-oh-lovesfiddlemusic_M.mp3

Speakers:

JM – Jim MacDougall

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

JM But I always loved it: fiddle music. If you don't like it you'll never be able to play it.

KP: What do you like about fiddle music?

File: macdonaldfaber-oh-thegift_M.mp3

Speakers:

FM – Rev Faber MacDonald

FM: I used to talk about the social nature of the gift. See, the gifts, God's gifts, are given to us not for ourselves. No! They're entrusted to us for everybody. And the human person, when he engages himself

File: macpheegeorge-oh-weddings_M.mp3

Speakers:

GM – George MacPhee

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

GM They had a certain tune they used to play for the old wedding dance. They used to tune the fiddle up in high bass, and Dad used to play it all the time. But it's kind of a tricky

File: maccormackfrancis06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

FC - Francis MacCormack

FM: I was the youngest of eleven, there was eight boys and three girls, and we all played the fiddle. And if I hadn't learned to play the fiddle my father would have shot me (laughs). When I was too

File: smithtony06-oh-pauljones_M.mp3

Speakers:

TS – Tony Smith

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP: So the played that for the Paul Jones dances?

TS: Yeah

Mrs. Smith: You're swinging, eh.

TS: And you change your partner, and

banksreg06-oh-changesqdances_M.mp3

Speakers:

RB – Reg Banks

KP – Ken Perlman

RB: Oh there's a lot of changes in the dances. I can hardly explain the dances today. They get up on the floor today, and they're dancin' around and they'd just be scufflin' around. Now, years ago

File: macdonaldallan06-oh-gettingstarted_M.mp3

Speakers:

AM – Allan MacDonald

KP You said you started at 15? How did you get started on the fiddle?

AM Oh I don't know. I was playing guitar and playing guitar, and just one day I said, "I think I could play the

File: cousinsjohn-oh-thegift_M.mp3

Speakers:

JC – John Cousins

JC: To become a fiddler, to become a good fiddler the term everyone used ad nauseum was "It was a gift." It was a gift; you were given this gift. And people said it sincerely. Only a few people were given this gift, but

File: macdougalljim06-oh-weddings_M.mp3

Speakers:

JM – Jim MacDougall

JM: There was always what they'd called a wedding shower. I can remember my oldest sister when she got married, we had borrowed this dancing booth they had for the parish for their picnics and we had it set up in our

File: albertjoe06-oh-musichome_lent_frolics_M.wav

Speakers

KP: curator Ken Perlman

JA: Joe Albert

IA: Ivan Albert

IA: Me and Joe's brothers but we got 12 brothers between us, between the two of us 10 others and we got 12 sisters. And we got 18 livin', and pretty much all

File: bernardalvin-oh-jimmybearisto.mp3

Speakers:

AB – Alvin Bernard

ES – Edwin Simmons

KP – curator Ken Perlman

AB:He used to cut hair there in Kensington and he played the fiddle. And every time you'd go in there, ther'd be a fiddler in there playin eh;

File: macinnisbillysenior06-oh-donmesser_M.mp3

Speakers:

BM – Billy MacInnis, Sr

KP – Curator Ken PerlmanDid you ever meet Don Messer?

KP: Did you ever meet Don Messer?

BM: Yes I met Don Messer when he lived on Belmont St. in Charlottetown. I'd be about 7 or

File: macinnislargus-oh-quadrillecalls_M.mp3

Speakers:

LM – Largus MacInnis

KP – Ken Perlman

LM Quadrilles, you started in by salutin' your partner and then you go eight hands 'round. And then the two head couples would go right and left. And the ladies would change [chain]

File: hughesemmett-oh-doublestops_M.mp3

Speakers

EH – Emmett Hughes

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP I think I heard you use a lot of double strings in your playing, is that true? You try to hit two strings?

EH Yes, and a lot of times you

File: corbetttrudy06-oh-dancinginschools_M.mp3

Speakers:

TC – Trudy Corbett

FC – Fulton Corbett (husband of Trudy Corbett)

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

MS – Mary Pineau Smith

FC: But she started in school; I went to school with her. She started at school with a comb

File: mcpheehugh06-oh-contests_M.mp3

Speakers:

HM – Hughie McPhee

HM: The last one I was at – The three judges talkin', and one says to the other "The first fellow that plays a tune on the flats gets first prize." But nobody played anything on the flats (laughs). I knew this, I played

File: stewartarchie-oh-playingforset_M.mp3

Speakers:

AS – Archie Stewart

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

AS There was a certain beat of music for each section [figure] of that set. Like when you started first, you wanted a fairly slow beat, because it was a slow back and forth.

File: chaissontimothy06-oh-familyinfluences_M.mp3

Speakers:

TC – Timothy Chaisson

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

TC: I learned a lot from Peter, he actually mentored me quite a bit: using the fourth fingers for example. He doesn't usually play open strings for fiddle I guess; his

File: jonesandrew-oh-fatherpermission_M.mp3

Speakers:

AJ – Andrew Jones

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

KP Did you learn tunes from your father at all?

AJ No, I don't think so. I don't think I learned anything from him at all. He wouldn't leave me take the fiddle. I'd sneak

File: macdonaldjoe-oh-gettingstarted_learningtunes_M.mp3

Speakers:

JM – Joe MacDonald

KP – Curator Ken Perlman

JM: Around here, there was good old fiddlers around here. There was Gregory MacEachern, a neighbor of ours. He's dead now long of it. He was a great old fiddler and

File: hornbyjim-oh-fiddlersociety_M.mp3

Speakers:

JH – Jim Hornby

JH Yeah. I was around just when they started. At that time they sort of gathered a lot of people who were players and had been for years, and hadn't in some cases been very active, and sort of got them

File: biggarjackie06-oh-contests_M.mp3

Speakers:

JB – Jackie Biggar

KP – curator Ken perlman

JB: Cape Breton's got Buddy MacMaster, we had Elmer Robinson. They tell me Elmer Robinson and Bill Harvey - Bill Harvey played the fiddle too up in this area. They went to