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The recordings presented on this site were made by me or under my direction during three periods of time.

Most Island fiddlers already had a substantial stock of tunes committed to memory before they even took up the instru

On the appointed evening of a typical Island house dance, relations, neighbors, and friends would converge at the hos

Key

Since the mid-18th century, an extensive written tradition for fiddle tunes has co-existed with the aural one.

Don Messer dominated fiddle-music broadcasting on PEI from 1939 to 1958, when he moved to Halifax to establish the te

As Prince Edward Island modernized, Town Days took on many of the functions in community life that were once the real

When no fiddler was available, many Islanders were able to amuse themselves by singing fiddle-tunes, an activity know

[Still to Come : Graphic Illustrations showing Notation for Each Genre]

As frolics, church or school picnics, and other local benefit dances disappe

Local Fiddle Broadcasting

P.E.I.

The Island fiddle repertoire is made up of tunes from a variety of national and regional traditions.

Feet And Other Rhythm instruments

Instrumental accompaniment for fiddle music was fair

As recently as the 1990s, Islanders were still talking about the Great Contest of 1926.

Island fiddlers are as a rule very much aware of the issue of playing style, and most can clearly describe their own

Population and Immigration

Prince Edward Island is populated for the most part by the descendants of three

A Special Note to Prince Edward Islanders

One important style frequently encountered on PEI is based on the up-tempo, ensemble oriented, "no-frills" playi

Prince Edward Island has been home to a strong fiddling tradition for over two hundred years.

By 2006, it was clear that by and large the Fiddling Revival had been an overwhe

From the mid 1920s through the mid-1970s, fiddling contests on the district, town, and provincial levels were commonp

Islanders often cite the founding of the Prince Edward Island Fiddlers' Society

Most Island districts and towns were home to a steady stream of informal and impromptu musical episodes and gathering

In the old days, Island fiddlers as a class were victimized by pervasive negative stereotypes.

The traditional community-dance scene on PEI began to decline around the

Community dances featuring fiddling and square sets went year round in rural

In the old days, just about every community on PEI had its legendary players.

The Rollo Bay Scottish Fiddle Festival has been Prince Edward Island's premier fiddle festival – and perhaps its larg

Holding the Fiddle

To allow for less stressful bowing mechanics, many Island players

The Gift

Probably the most widespread notion about fiddling on Prince Edward Island is that t

Assigning fiddlers to stylistic groups can be a difficult task.

Fiddle Festivals began springing up on Prince Edward Island in the late 1970s and would become the major performance

This site is organized along several interlocking tracks.

In the old days on Prince Edward Island, fiddling was generally considered a man's calling.

It is difficult to determine what the Island repertoire might have been at any given point in the past.

When Cape Breton fiddling broadcasts and recordings first reached PEI in the late 1930s, they created a sensation amo

Fiddlers had a definite role in district life.

Commercial Dance Halls first appeared in Prince County in the mid-1930s and had spread throughout the Island by the 1

Most youngsters who became successful fiddlers – such as Francis MacDonald,

Traditional music does not grow up in a vacuum.  It develops within a particular social organization and s

In the old days fiddlers rarely strung tunes together in performance.

From the late 19th century until just after World War II, the pump organ, or harmonium was the Island's most popular

Towards the end of the commercial dance-hall era, c

It’s impossible to get a clear picture of traditional fiddling on Prince Edward Island without also having at least s

There’s quite a bit of 5-string banjo accompaniment on this website, all played by me .

English F