> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 23:15:48 -0400
> Subject: [scots-l] Re: Origins of Appalachian fiddling
> From: Keith W Dunn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >Teanga wrote:
> >| Keith Dunn wrote:
> >|
> >| >Unless I'm wrong.......bluegrass music is heavily influenced by
> Scottish
> >| music.
> >| > Mostly out of the Appalachian Mtns. I know there are a lot of
> Scottish
> >| Sir names >among the folks living in the Blue Ridge Mtns. ( which is
> the most
> >| southerly range >of the Appalachians.)
> >
> >You're not wrong at all (except that the Great Smokies are somewhat
> >more southern than the Blue Ridge, a west-southwestern extension
> >really). Scottish and Irish names are extremely common all along the
> >Blue Ridge and the other mountains further west.
>
> Actually the Blue Ridge Mtns. extend down into N. Ga. I've lived in the
> foothills and fished for trout in the lower reaches of the Blue Ridge
> Mtns.most of my life and I'm just 20 mi. N. of Atlanta. The Appalachain
> Trail begins @ Springer Mtn. in N. Ga.
> There are lots of McCords, McDonalds, McGlaghlins and other Scottish
> descendants in my neck of the woods. Also,there are lots of "old-time"
> musicians throughout N .Ga. and the Scottish influence is heard
> throughout the old-time and bluegrass music they play. Many of the
> ornaments used in the Scottish fiddling are heard in what's referred to
> locally as "Mountain Music"or "Appalachain Music". The Scots Gaelic is
> surely gone from this region but there are remnants and bits of their
> language still heard, if you pay attention.
>
I know this is a sensitive area in America so I say the following
with some trepidation, and will try to avoid any lengthy
correspondence on the matter. On another list, the claims and
counter-claims for Scots demographics in the States displayed that if
nothing else, there was a great deal of confusion on the matter.
I undertook to carry out an analysis myself, using the white page
facility on the web. Searches on this facility return the number of
listed phone users with the designated name on a State basis. I used
several of the more common Scottish and Irish(actually the debate was
on Celtic demography, rather than just Scottish) names and several
States in the SE quarter of the US , the NE Quarter of the US and the
West/Mid West half of the US. This enabled very quick collection of
lots of data. The occurance per million for each State was
calculated for each name using the State population, so that varying
State populations were normalised out.
The results were that the average occurance of these Celtic surnames
in each of the three areas was almost exactly the same. This result
seemed to upset almost everybody.
FWIW my own name showed up most in New England.
Now I wish to make it clear that I undertook this purely out of
curiosity as to which 'claim for the most Scots' etc was correct
and not for any other reason. IMV culture has no genetic basis and
it's transmission mechanism is very complex. True, if there is a
physical movement into an area of two groups of people, one of which
is much larger than the other, then the initial influence of the
culture carried by the larger group will be greater, but there is no
certainty that it will predominate at all. There are many reasons why
this may be the case, e.g. some cultures are simply 'stronger' than
others, i.e. more cohesive, held with greater conviction, suits the
new environment better, etc.
So the demographic excercise, beyond attempting to establish the
real demographics versus the various claims, is almost
irrelevant, IMHO. Any cultural implications being only of a potential
nature.
> >Just about any old-time Appalachian fiddler will instantly agree with
> >the Scottish origins of their music. Those with any historical
> >knowledge will start bending your ear with the history of various
> >tunes, and the forms they take in Scotland, Ireland and Appalachia.
> >The southern Scottish population hasn't kept close ties to the old
> >country, however, so the music has diverged a lot more than the music
> >of Irish immigrants has.
>
> I think you've stated this better than I have.
>
>
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>
regards
chic
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