| Anne's Fiddle Page |
| Although I've always been interested in fiddles, I never thought I'd be writing about them. Bob Hallett of Great Big Sea and Cape Breton's Natalie MacMaster are the driving forces behind my picking up a fiddle at the advanced age of 48. In 1997, on our 25th Anniversary trip to Cape Breton, I was introduced to the music of Newfoundland's Great Big Sea. A very kind salesperson shoved their cassette in my hand when I asked who was singing the song on the radio. The rest is history. With the purchase of PLAY, I embarked on a journey into Eastern Canadian music that I hope never ends. |
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| After seeing Natalie perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, I wrote her a letter of thanks for the music. I expressed the desire to learn to play the fiddle but alluded to my age as making that unlikely. Well, her mother was answering her emails and wrote back asking me why I thought I couldn't learn to play the fiddle at age 48? One email led to another and I got a cheap fiddle on eBay. My nephew taught me the basic scales and I was off on my own with my teach-yourself-fiddle books. |
| Bob Hallett of Great Big Sea played with such fervor I could not help but pay attention when his fiddle appeared. Even though he plays so many different instruments, the one I enjoyed the most was the fiddle. He started playing relatively late, at age 21 but could capture my full attention when he played! ANd Great Big Sea introduced me to other groups and fiddlers, such as the Barra MacNeils and Natalie MacMaster. |
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| A year of teaching myself left a lot to be desired and I enrolled at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's Cape Breton for a week the next two summers to learn Cape Breton fiddling. My instructors were top-notch and I couldn't have asked for better. Plus I discovered even more fiddlers to listen to - Carl MacKenzie (uncle of the Barras), Ian MacDougall, Wendy MacIsaac (of Beolach), Sandy MacIntyre, Ed Rogers and Kimberly Fraser. All of them wonderful instructors! I also got to hear some master fiddlers - Buddy MacMaster, Troy MacGillvary, the Barras. The weeks of instruction whetted my appetite for more Cape Breton music and I am sure I will go back again and again to learn the music. And in the interim, I even got to visit Natalie's Mom, Minnie, at her home in Port Hastings, Cape Breton and play for her. I had brought my fiddle , but left it out in the car. When she asked me to play, I offered to go get it, but Minnie handed me a fiddle and bow - "Here, this is the one Natalie plays when she's home." I played Natalie MacMaster's fiddle! |
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| Buddy MacMasterer |
| Carl MacKenzie |
| Ian MacDougall |
| Wendy MacIssac |
| I putter around at home with my GBS CDs and Cape Breton fiddle sheet music. Someday I hope to be good enough to play with the Cape Breton Fiddlers onstage at the Fiddle Festival at the Gaelic College in August. In the meantime, I have figured out several GBS tunes and taught a little group the beginning to I'm A Rover at the GBS Hamilton FanJam in 2004. I guess that's given me the confidence to think I really do know a lot at this point. I don't think anyone can ever stop learning fiddle stuff. There's just so much out there. I hope you can use some of the tunes that are on the next page. I have written the name of the string (GDAE) and the finger positions. You'll have to figure out the sharps, flats, and time signatures. I'm not a music major. I've tried to play in the same key as the CDs. |
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| Natalie signs my fiddle |
| Bob Hallet fiddles Feller from Fortune |