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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…
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
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,