Father Faber strongly emphasized the
necessity to end the damage and hard feelings
caused by fiddle contests by banning fiddle
competitions on P.E.I. and avoiding the jealousy and
disunity that competitions create. In our vocations as
an Ordained Priest and a Registered Nurse
respectively, Father Faber and I knew that it was
critical for our new group to develop trust, respect,
cohesiveness, comradeship, esprit-de-corps and
have fun in order to share our individual God-given
talents and let go of the competitive ways of the past.
Somewhere years ago, I read a similar remark about fiddle contests in Cape Breton - but have come across no such reference since. Does anyone out there know anything about early fiddle contests in Cape Breton, and when and why they came to an end (assuming they did)?
I've heard two reasons for Cape Breton fiddle contests disappearing after brief appearances in the 20th century (1940's?).
ReplyDeleteFirst, Cape Bretoners recognized that fiddling is idiosyncratic, with each fiddler having a personal style and interpretation. As in most contests in the arts, the results depend on who is judging on a particular day. I might think Dan Joe MacInnes's "Caledonia's Wail..." medley is the ace and deuce of Cape Breton fiddling while someone else might think Angus Chisholm's "Bird's Nest" medley can't be topped.
The second reason is essentially that stated by Father Faber for PEI, that contests lead to jealousy and bitterness. I heard of two Cape Breton families who stopped speaking after the star fiddler for one was "beaten" in a contest by the star fiddler for the other. I can't remember my source for this though, whether a scholar of Cape Breton fiddling or a drunk in a Sydney bar (who might be better informed).
Fiddle contests, whether in Cape Breton or elsewhere, tend over time to narrow styles so that they fit judging criteria often removed from the aesthetics of traditional fiddling. I've heard a great many wonderful dance fiddlers who I could enjoy for hours but who'd never win a contest. I've also heard contest winners who bored me after ten minutes. Of course, there are wonderful fiddlers, such as Calvin Volrath, who are contest winners too. Still, the more raw and unusual local styles tend to disappear where contests prevail. Although fiddle contests go back at least to the 19th century, fiddling was never about formal competition.
Ranald Thurgood
In the interview with Ashley MacIsaac's parents in Cape Breton's Magazine (linked in 'Articles'), they talk about this:
Delete[Angus]: .... I remember a gentleman from New Brunswick that plays violin. He made a comment over in Prince Edward Island in a tuning room at a concert over there that, "You people from Cape Breton are all too scared of competition," he says. I told him, "Well, we're really not very interested in competition in Cape Breton. Because that develops something else, a little competition is not really in the minds of most Cape Breton fiddlers. What is really there is the love for their music, the love of playing together, and enjoy what they're doing." This competition thing is just, well.... Ashley did go and compete. Actually, he went the next competition. And he went up and he took first place in the open class.
Carmelita: In Sackville. At the Old-Time Fiddling. And Lisa took first place two years ago.
Angus: But it's not something that you really dwell on. There's not a lot of interest.
Carmelita: And I find now, myself, when we used to go to the competitions with the kids, there's so many little kids out there and they want to win so bad that-- you know, those tiny, wee, little ones. And they come out on stage, and they're heartbroken because they didn't--you know. And I know myself--well, it was me, actually, that wanted them to go. Angus probably would never want them to go to a competition, but I thought it'd be great. "Let's go," and it's a weekend out. They enjoyed it. But still, I would never, ever, ever force anyone to put their child into competition. No. I think it's hard on them. I really do. No matter how good of a fiddler they are, I think it is hard on them. I was a nervous wreck in the--well, I was so nerved up and worked up that I couldn't wait for it to get over. Probably worse than they were.
(Do you have any role in encouraging certain tunes that Ashley and Lisa play? )
Angus: Not really. I like to see them play all different types of music. I remember a good friend in Judique here, Buddy MacMaster, had been asked, "Who is the best fiddler in Cape Breton?" He wouldn't answer because Buddy was too much of a gentleman to make a statement like that. He would never say that one fiddler was better than the other. And they kept probing him and prob? ing him and finally he says, "Well," he says, "there are a lot of great fiddlers left in the woodwork that I never heard." He was a clever.... And then the gentleman kept after him and after him and after him, and then he said, "Well, you know, it's hard to judge fiddling," he says. "One person might be good at waltzes, and somebody else better at jigs and reels, and somebody else on strathspeys. So," he said, "you just don't say one is better than the other." But he would never have it said in the first place that he said one was better than the other.
(That was me).
ReplyDeletejt
Re: "Fiddle contests, whether in Cape Breton or elsewhere, tend over time to narrow styles so that they fit judging criteria often removed from the aesthetics of traditional fiddling." Here's a pertinent excerpt from a post from Fiddle-l:
ReplyDeleteThu, 27 Sep 2007 15:18:12 -0700
. . . .
The "national contest style" did originate with Texas contest players in the 1950's and 1960's. In the mid 1960's, back when gas was cheap, those hot Texas and Oklahoma contest fiddlers started coming up to Weiser and other contests outside their home area. They often dominated those contests, since they were great fiddlers, polished their technique, played with great drive and imagination, and the style in which they played had been developed specifically to impress contest judges (Benny Thomasson often talked about how after he didn't do particularly well in his first contest, he went home and worked out elaborate variations on his tunes to do better next time). So all over the country, the hotshot kid fiddlers who were ambitious to win contests wanted to learn those tunes in that style, and fiddle teachers did their best to fill the demand. As the style was taken up by more and more fiddlers who did not come from Texas or hang out a lot with Texas style fiddlers, after a couple of generations the style changed. It lost the connection with the older styles of fiddling in the South and Southwest. It was more shaped by the demands of the contest itself rather than by parties and jam sessions, so became less "gutsy" and more technical and polished sounding.
. . . .
Vivian Williams
Voyager Recordings
www.VoyagerRecords.com
jt
In a "A Talk with Allister MacGillivary" in Ronald Caplan's Talking Cape Breton Music (Breton Books, 2006, pp. 83-108), Allister MacGillivary, while discussing fiddle contests in Cape Breton, said, "in the '20's and 30's and even later than that–– there were huge competitions held... more in the urban areas", but attracting rural fiddlers. "There were very few of the old generation of players who I knew, who weren't in a contest at some point or other, and lots who've been in many" (p. 102). MacGillivary didn't say why the contests ended, but discussed issues previously mentioned -- individual stylistic approaches and "jealousy and bitterness" (Margaret Ross MacKinnon, above) -- plus the idea that a fiddler might not be at his best on a given day. His words imply that what Carmelita MacIsaac says above about children is also relevant to adults: "they want to win so bad that-- you know, those tiny, wee, little ones. And they come out on stage, and they're heartbroken because they didn't--you know." (The MacGillivary interview was done for Cape Breton's Magazine circa 1981; over the decades, much has changed regarding young people and fiddling.)
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1970's, I saw the Cape Breton fiddler, Lee Cremo, competing at the Shelburne (Ontario) Canadian Open Contest where, if memory serves, he placed in the top three -- he never won the championship at Shelburne. When I talked with him before he competed, he was relaxed and was friendly. Perhaps he was one of those fortunate few who experience little tension at contests. Cremo, a Mi'kMaq fiddler, while a fine player of Scottish tunes, was far more versatile stylistically than most Cape Breton fiddlers, and competed in numerous contests. The notes to his 1995 tape, "The Champion Returns" (Cremo Productions LC9501), state that he was "Maritime Canada Champion six times, Canadian Champion at the Alberta Tar Sands Competition, and 'Best Bow Arm' at the World Fiddle Championship in Nashville Tennessee." Lee was an outstanding, lively fiddler. However, I fear that fiddling championships are somewhat like professional wrestling championships in that there may be more than one "Canadian Champion" at any time. Not to take away from Cremo's talent and skill, but The Alberta Tar Sands Contest is a new one to me. I suppose I could start a contest and call the winner the "Canadian Champion".
Ranald Thurgood
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