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Spring 2000ARTICLES
COLUMNS
TUNES
ARTICLE EXCERPTS
Jean Carignan: A Folk Violinist, Introduction by Paul MacDonald; interviewby Michael Cass-BeggsThroughout the world of Celtic-based fiddle music there are many similarities between fiddlers of one background or another. Although fiddlers may speak or play with different accents, there is a common thread related to fiddling that exists throughout all the styles. We call it fiddle technique. Cross-tunings, octave doubling (with two fiddlers), fingering techniques, grace notes, and various bowing techniques are common to all fiddle traditions. This is also true to some extent of the repertoires, as we know of so many traditional tunes that exist in one form or another within the various traditions. It is really the "accent" that makes the traditions different. It's just like speaking a language. Although "folk" and "classical" music crossovers are nothing new, in our generation there emerged a select group of fiddlers that went a step further with their fiddling technique. They borrowed complex violin techniques from the playing of the great classical violin masters and incorporated this influence in their traditional playing. These fiddlers elevated their status as fiddlers to violinists and eventually even won the praise of some of the classical masters they admired so much. Three of these fiddlers are Winston Fitzgerald, Sean McGuire and Jean Carignan. They all at an early age developed a strong love for classical violin music. Violinists Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler were common heroes to these distinct and individual players. All three often said that if they could have had proper training, then they too could have been among the great violinists of the world. Cape Breton fiddler Winston Fitzgerald was shy about his classical abilities and incorporated little, if any, classical technique into his "traditional" playing. He reserved his classical technique for his renderings of Irish songs and slow airs, performed for small select audiences at private house sessions. Irish fiddler Sean McGuire is definitely not shy about his abilities and prefers to call himself a "folk violinist." This is a good way to describe his style. His renditions of traditional Irish tunes are filled with rich arpeggios and 16th note runs, fancy bowing and intricate high position variations. "The Mason's Apron," his showpiece to this day, is a fine example of his outstanding abilities. Jean Carignan was the ultimate "folk violinist." He incorporated the classical violin technique seamlessly into his renditions of French Canadian, Irish or Scottish music. He walked the fine line between violin and fiddle music and succeeded in retaining the best of both worlds within the limits of a single fiddle tune. For the most part, Jean stayed away from the higher positions, in an effort to retain the folk quality of the tune. But he was fearless in his use of complex and staccato bowing; intricate pizzicato; flawless 16th note runs and dramatic variations in dynamics. All of these techniques he learned as a determined young man, and throughout his long career as a fiddler these techniques remained the central elements of his style. "Ti-Jean" Carignan was born in 1916 at Lévis, Québec. His father learned from an Indian fiddler, and he played at house parties and dances throughout the Eastern Townships. Jean quickly learned his father's regional style but through early 78RPM recordings he came under the influence of Joseph Allard, Michael Coleman, James Morrison, J. Scott Skinner and eventually Jascha Heifetz. In spite of his father's strong skepticism, Jean strived to learn their techniques and styles. Before the age of fifteen, Jean had already achieved his goals and as we know, this humble taxi driver went on to become one of the greatest folk fiddlers of the 20th century. Proud of his ability to interpret classical repertoire and technique, Jean also took great pride in his ability to fiddle in three languages: "Irish, Scottish and French Canadian." For Jean it was just different accents. The Québécois political movement of the '60s and '70s coincided with the revival of folk traditions throughout the province. Jean was highly criticized for his repertoire and style throughout these days of political turmoil, but he defended his right to play whatever kind of music he chose. He insisted that most French Canadian music came from Ireland and Scotland anyway. Jean lost some close friends over this issue, those who chose to only play French Canadian music, and this must have been difficult for him. But he defended his repertoire through to the end of his life, ultimately developing a style that rose far above any of these regional or political boundaries. In essence he created his own musical language and he spoke it with great fluency. He could rap with anybody! During the early '70s, at the peak of his career, Jean Carignan recorded a three album series for the Philo label. These albums were very well recorded at a studio in Vermont called Earth Audio Techniques. Jean carefully prepared for these albums, choosing a select repertoire for each one. For his first album in this series, entitled Jean Carignan (Philo 2001), Jean selected a mixture of Québécois, Cape Breton, Irish and Scottish tunes. Hommage à Joseph Allard (Philo 2012) remains one of the greatest tributes to Jean's first hero of the fiddle. Coleman, Morrison, & Skinner (Philo 2018) is a tribute to his Scottish and Irish fiddle heroes. All three of these albums are of exceptional quality and feature excellent piano accompaniment by Gilles Losier. This year Rounder Records will reissue this series of albums on CD with accompanying booklets that will contain extended bilingual biographies and notes related to the music. The following is a transcription of an English radio interview and performance recorded in 1971, two years prior to the recording of the first album of the Philo series. This interview is part of a series entitled "Folk Music In Canada" and this is program Number 5. Jean is interviewed by Michael Cass-Beggs, and for the musical selections he is accompanied by Philippe Bruneau, first on accordion and then on piano! This is a rare recording of these two great Québécois musicians playing together. The interview and performance provide important insight into the stubbornness and determination that gave French Canada one of the great "folk violinists" of the world. [Michael Cass-Beggs:] Ti-Jean, I've heard stories about people who have apparently sold their soul to the devil, just so they could get the synchronization between playing the fiddle and tapping the feet. What is the background to this? Well, in the beginning here, when they used to sell violins in this country, they started to tap their feet so they could have the rhythm for the one who was dancing. I remember when my father was playing, if he wouldn't tap his feet, they wouldn't want him. If you decided to be a fiddler in this country, without tapping your feet, you couldn't get anywhere. So if you could have a rhythm... The rhythm would help the player also. Oh, I would say 65 percent. I think if you play without the feet, well, it's a shame. You want me to show you the difference? [Jean plays a reel without and with tapping his feet. The québécois foot-tapping technique is very percussive, with tapping of both feet back and forth using the heel and the toe.] It makes quite a difference. Yeah, which one do you like the best? The second one [with tapping], I think! [Laughter] Tap just with your feet alone, just for a second. [Jean taps.] That certainly gives a good feeling for wanting to dance. To tell you frankly, I know some of the greatest fiddlers of all time, like [Michael] Coleman, he never did use it. And would you know, in New York City in 1930, they didn't want him to playthey liked to hear him play, but he didn't have that lift. But he was the best. In Ireland, when this thing started, you know they had the flute. They used to use one flute like that and one fiddler. Because that pipe has got a background like a piano's got. So he could vamp. Yeah. Well, Ti-Jean, as part of this program we're doing, we're lucky to have Philippe Bruneau, with not exactly a flute, but give me a short example of what you can do together. Well, this little accordion is I would say about twelve inches high, and the [master of it] was John Kimmel. I think he was from Ireland, but he was German, and he came to this country in 1921. Now, there are only I would say, one or two [players] remaining in this world today, and Philippe is one of them. It's a very complicated thing to play, because it's only got twelve keys; it's like a mouth organ. It's hard to transpose from G to D and A. Close one hole and open two, and when you play fast like that, it becomes hard. It becomes extraordinary. So we'll give you an example, one of Kimmel's medleys. [Jean and Philippe play "Salamanca" and "The Merry Blacksmith."] Well, you'd have to have lead feet not to respond to that! One of the things that comes across is not only the individual technique of both of you as players, but also the enormous coordination between the both of you. Well, you see, we've been playing together for many years. AndI had learned tunes from Kimmel and Coleman, and Philippe knows them, because they were the top. You see in Ireland today, they're still talking about Kimmel. He made Ireland revive from the beginning of the century, like Coleman, too. You can go anywhere in Ireland and play this you can't get out of the bar! [Laughter] It's like Kimmel and Coleman, they were great men, and I don't think we should try to destroy that. It's just like the great composers Beethoven it's impossible to just go and put a note here and there. It doesn't matter if you feel like it you've got to stay away from it. Because Kimmel, there's enough work in that, there's enough fingering and bowing we don't need any more. Your father was a fiddler before you. How did you get to be the fiddler you are now? Well, exactly, I don't know. I used to hear tunes from him, but my father was a different player. He would never attack something like we just played it. He couldn't. His technique was not good enough. He knew the music, but he was not fast enough to do it. But for dancing, ah ah, that was a different thing. My father could stand in the corner for four or five hours he had the strength to do it. I used to get tired, but he wouldn't! Well, you picked up tunes. Did you learn from music or just by ear? By ear. Always by ear. You started at the hoary age of four, I believe. And you made your debut playing on the streets. Ah, yeah, I did that. I figured at the end, I was getting arrested too
often in the street! [As a young boy, Jean was frequently "arrested"
for playing music in the street instead of being in school] [Laughter] Well,
you know it's fun, you pick up something. When I first heard the first recording
from Coleman, I went to my father, I said, "Listen to this." And
he said to me, "Who's playing that?" And I said, "I don't
know" I couldn't read! And he said, "No, don't touch
that, it's too hard." I don't know, I think I did it because I was
stubborn. I said to my father, "Well, don't be too sure. I will try."
[Paul MacDonald is a guitar accompanist, a recording engineer, and a writer based in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He is currently at work on a reissue series of Jean Carignan's recordings for Rounder Records.]
The Dickel Brothersby Michael SimmonsThe Dickel Brothers are an old-time string band from Portland, Oregon, whose influences include the Monroe Brothers, Clarence Ashley, Charlie Poole and Uncle Dave Macon. So how did they wind up on eMpTy Records, a small Seattle label that specializes in punk rock? Meghan Smith, one of the owners of eMpTy, explains that it all happened when her partner Blake Wright went to Portland to attend a record release party for one of their bands. "Blake saw the Dickels during happy hour in this little bar called Berbati's Pan. He said the place was full of bike messengers, who are a big part of the audience for our records, and they were really getting into the music. He thought if they liked it we might be able to sell some of their records. He basically signed them on the spot." Wright's intuition proved correct. The Dickel Brothers' first CD, entitled Volume 1, was released in 1999 and has sold well enough to send them back to the studio to record Volume 2. eMpTy hopes to have it out in mid-2000. The Dickel Brothers are Matt on guitar, Clancy on fiddle, Michael on washboard and mandolin, Marcus on banjo, and Brian on bass. They prefer to keep the names on their birth certificates to themselves. As Matt explains, "We are like family. We all have the same musical taste and we all like to do the same things. We're in our mid-twenties and playing this old-time string band music really sets us apart from most people our age." Matt says that all of the members grew up listening to rock but were drawn to old-time music by its energy, passion and truthful sound. He recalls the first time he heard a recording of old-time music. "I was working at a café in San Francisco where Kelly Joe Phelps was playing. He told me I had to listen to Charlie Poole. I got a record and I was immediately hooked. Then I got a Grayson and Whitter LP. After that I started buying all of the County, Rounder and Arhoolie LPs I could find." The Dickel Brothers name had been around since 1996, when Matt and his friend Joel formed a duo. "We both played guitar and sang folk stuff as well as songs by The Delmore Brothers and the Carter Family," Matt remembers. "After a while, Joel left to do other stuff and I played as a solo until I met Clancy. He had a rough style of fiddling that appealed to me." Matt and Clancy gigged around Portland and learned more songs. They were playing at a record store when they met Michael, who became the third Dickel brother. Michael explained how he joined the band. "I was playing washboard with a ragtime jazz band and a country group called the Tennesseans when I met Clancy and Matt. They were doing an in-store appearance at my record store a couple of years ago and I sat in on a few numbers. They had just got a weekly gig playing at Berbati's Pan during happy hour. I started playing with them on a regular basis on washboard. After a few months I began to learnthe mandolin. Now I play more mandolin than washboard." Michael knew a little bit about the music when he joined the group. "I was familiar with old-time music from two local bands called Crackerbox and Pigiron but I didn't know that much about the original stuff. I started listening to Matt's Charlie Poole records and really got into it. I also like the Skillet Lickers and Arthur Smith." Michael also sings with an a cappella group called The Amalgamated Everlasting Union Chorus Local 824. They sing workers', protest, and union songs by songwriters like Pete Seeger, Utah Phillips, Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs. In December of 1999 they went to the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle. Michael says, "We printed up songbooks and sang in the streets. With all of the stuff going on up there, it was really exciting." It was not long after starting the weekly Berbati's gig that Blake Wright heard them and wanted to record them. At the time the Dickels were still a trio. But as Matt explains, "The band just sort of grew into a five-piece. When we got the job at Berbati's, people would just come and sit in and some of them stayed. That's how we got Marcus on banjo and Brian the bass player. He was the only member of the band with previous experience in old-time music. He played with another local group called Pigiron." The Dickels still invite people to sit in on Friday nights. Matt says there are quite a few semi-regular Dickel Brothers and even a couple of Dickel Sisters. The Dickels' first record on eMpTy was a limited edition three song 7" vinyl record. Meghan Smith says that 45s are still a popular format among small label punk bands. The almost extinct format also appealed to the Dickels' old-time sensibilities. They even went to the trouble of having the type on the sleeve set by hand. Matt even toyed with the idea of releasing a 78 but rejected the idea as too impractical, even for them. A few months later, they released their first full-length recording on CD and LP. The Dickels realize that their music has to come out on CD to sell, but as a gift to the old vinyl junkies they included extra tracks on the album that are not on the compact disc. Marcus, the banjo player, based the cover art on the distinctive look of the early County records. The Dickels sing classic old-time songs like "New River Train," "Goodbye Liza Jane," and "Molly Put The Kettle On." ... eMpTy Records, P.O. Box 12034, Seattle, WA 98102; (206) 706-9088; Fax: (206) 706-9084; E-mail: empty@eskimo.com The Dickel Brothers, 2510 SE Clinton, Portland, OR 97202 [Michael Simmons, Fiddler Magazine's Review Editor, is a guitar player and writer living in Mountain View, California.]
Bob Childs: The Art and Individuality of Violin Makingby Bruce MolskyBob Childs' success as a violin maker comes in part from his talents as a musician, fine artist, and woodworker, but also from his years of devotion to the musical community. A few years back, some eighteen players of Bob's instruments came together and formed the group "Childsplay." In 1997 I was asked to produce their second CD, "The Great Waltz" (released in 1999 and reviewed in the Summer '99 issue of Fiddler Magazine). During the making of that recording I got to hear and to play eighteen or twenty Bob Childs violins. Every one is a unique expression of Bob's well-honed creativity and craft, and they are prized by classical and traditional players alike. Did your musical interest begin by playing, or by making instruments? Well, I was living in Maine, and working as a furniture builder. I went back to get my violin fixed. I took it to Ivy Mann, from Orrington, Maine, and when he gave me my violin back, he just said to me, "Well, when are you coming back?" I said, "What do you mean?" "Well, when are you coming back?" and he pointed to the violin wood he'd laid out and I said, "What do you mean, are you going to teach me?" and he said, "That's the idea." So it had never crossed my mind to be a violin maker. So you went from rough carpentry to more and more finished work and finally into instrument building? Yeah, it's been this refined progression. I worked with him for a couple of years and it was a really good experience because it really got me excited about instrument making. After that I ended up going and studying with two people: Anton Smith, who used to teach at the school in Salt Lake City, and who's now the head of restoration at Shar in Michigan; and then I went to Philadelphia and worked with Michael Weller, who used to be the head of Moennig's shop in Philadelphia. And you apprenticed with these people? Yes, and that's actually how I got into selling violins to fiddlers, because in Philadelphia, we worked with the Philadelphia Orchestra, so I got to see all these really great instruments. But at the same time I was playing fiddle, and eventually the first person I sold a violin to was a fiddler, and that's how it got going. You said earlier that you have a philosophy about how violin making has evolved with respect to fiddling versus classical styles of playing. Would you explain that? Well, for one thing I'm of the philosophy that there's really no difference between a fiddle and a violin, that it has much more to do with the way you approach the instrument and your music. I think there's been a lot of classism historically between how people thought about fiddle music and people who make fiddles versus people who play classical music or sell violins to classical musicians. When you think about it people like Sam Zygmuntowicz, Armin Barnett, or Rodney Miller, Jon Cooper, Chris Germain there are all these great fiddlers who are also great violin makers. Okay, so you're saying that the instrument is primarily the same, aside from setup, and it's just a matter of the musician. If somebody comes to you and wants to commission an instrument, what's the criteria that tells you just how to build it? I try to get a sense of what they hear and what musical sounds they want to send out to the world. And of course, that's the hardest thing, to describe! You know, who do they listen to, whose playing are they inspired by? Do they like darker violins or do they like a real soprano voice? Do they like a sound that's more inviting, that pulls the listener in? That kind of thing. Having made something like 130 violins right now, I think I have a good sense of what sound I'm going to end up with by the wood that I start with, as well as the different models that I use. How important is the role of the finish on a fiddle? It's definitely very important. I mean, I wouldn't say it's the "secret of Stradivarius," because what I think makes Stradivarius great violins are a combination of everything that goes into the violin, including the person himself. But the varnish is very important. For instance, the varnish is usually spirit or an alcohol based or oil varnish. For the last ten years I've been primarily using an oil varnish. You can get different degrees of hardness from the varnish, and of course the hardness as well as the thickness of the varnish is going to impact the sound, as well as the durability. And of course the look of it, the aesthetics. Is there anything particularly unique about your finish? Well, I've always been drawn to antiqued violins I think that probably came from working in the shop in Philadelphia and seeing lots of old Italian violins. The other part of it is, I went to The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and I was painting. I was very interested in color. I think that antiqued violins are just more interesting, and I think they're more appealing to the eye. A beautiful new violin that's not antiqued can be gorgeous, but I think for me, personally speaking, I'm drawn to antiquing because you can play around with the color more. Is there any advice that you would give to somebody who is looking to buy a good instrument? Well, obviously it's a very personal thing, but I think there's a real advantage to trying out a lot of instruments, because I think that whole process helps you really define what kind of sound you have in your head. In violin making today there's a real movement to have these really loud, trumpet-like sounds that I think tend to not be quite as beautiful, and if you're going to be a soloist that's one way to go, but I'm personally drawn to a warmer kind of sound. I like to think that every note on the violin is "round," and you know the better violins have a real full body in the note they go all the way from the bass to the soprano voice in each note. And you can easily get a violin that is too oriented toward the soprano voice in the notes. [Bob Childs works in his shop at 120 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; Phone: (617) 354-1673; Email: RChilds618@aol.com] [Bruce Molsky performs on fiddle, guitar and banjo with his old-time string band Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown, as well as solo and with his wife Audrey. He teaches at various music camps and also offers independent group workshops around the country. For more information, contact him at bruce.molsky@attglobal.net or (703) 276-9899.] For full versions of these articles, please visit Fiddler Magazine store to order back issues. |
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