Once Nigel Gatherer (that's me) wrote: > ...the Blackford Fiddlers. In a village near me in Perthshire one man > decided to start teaching fiddle as a community activity, making it > part of everyday life. They're inclusive, and there is no barrier to > anybody wanting to have a go at learning. As a result, there are > 40-50 fiddlers in that small village, and they like to play at any > opportunity. The over-16s have two regular sessions in local pubs, > and the impression you get is that they simply love the music.
The one thing which concerns me is the repertoire. The instigator is English, and he has been teaching a majority of irish tunes. It always strikes me as sad that here in Perthshire, historically a very strong centre of Scottish fiddle music (home of the Gows and many, many other giants of Scots fiddling) a basically Irish repertoire is learned. The good news is that the youngsters are enthused by the likes of Catriona MacDonald, The Wrigley Sisters, etc: there are role models in Scottish music, and the young people are finding them. -- Nigel Gatherer, Crieff, Scotland [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.argonet.co.uk/users/gatherer/ Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
