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That Old-Time Music!: Fiddlin' and Dancin' on Prince Edward Island
| Article
# : |
10797 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1993 |
4,589 Words |
| Author
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Ken Perlman
Ken Perlman is a folk musician and ethnomusicologist best
known for his recordings and many books on banjo and guitar
instrumental styles. His most recent album, Devil in the
Kitchen, has just been released by Miramac Recordings. Perlan
was born in New York City and lives near Boston but wishes he
grew up on Prince Edward Island (PEI) when they were holding
all those parties. He is currently at work on a book on PEI's
fiddling culture and plans a major collectin of PEI tunes. |
I am at an event called the Monticello Tea Party. There is a crowd of maybe a couple of hundred local people--North Siders; they range in age from babies to octogenarians. They are out to celebrate the coming of summer to Kings County, Prince Edward Island.
The "stage" is a makeshift, plywood-covered platform jerry-built onto one end of what used to be the local one-room schoolhouse. We have seen a number of local performers get up on this stage and offer a brief sampling of their talents. There have been a couple of fiddlers, two or three country and western singers, and the Kings County Harmonica Chorus.
Three people now get on stage. One sits down at one of those portable electric keyboards you see everywhere these days, another carries a fiddle and bow to the back of the stage and begins tuning up. The third--a handsome, stately woman in her early thirties whose knee-length skirt reveals remarkably well-developed calves--stands at stage center and waits expectantly. The fiddler is a cherubic-faced man in his late forties wearing a baseball cap. He places his instrument--with its face held almost at the vertical--straight into his collarbone. He holds his bow with the natural, easy grip of a man who has been playing almost as long as he can remember.
The fiddler begins to play, his right foot beating out a strong tattoo on the stage floor, the tone of his fiddle--crisp, clean, and lively--ringing out across the grounds. He starts with an abrupt, complex-rhythmed, moderate-tempo piece called a strathspey, and the woman begins to step dance. I note that her arms are virtually motionless and her shoulders quite level while her legs and feet carry out intricate combinations of steps in close time with the subtle rhythms of the tune. Her skill is impressive, as is that of the fiddler, who segues all at once into a much faster, smoother-rhythmed kind of piece called a reel. The dancer's feet shift into overdrive as she adjusts to the new tempo, and she matches precisely the reel's faster rhythms with ever-new combinations of steps. The fiddler's expression all this time has been serious and full of concentration, but suddenly his countenance grows serene and the intensity of his playing increases. Meanwhile, the dancer is wearing a broad grin as she redoubles her efforts. They are having fun!
She is drawing energy from the fiddle as he is drawing energy from the dance. The effect is riveting. Such was my introduction to the old-time fiddle culture of Prince Edward Island (PEI).
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