Foreword

• Main Author: Olson, Ted
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2015
• Subjects: fiddlers; Prince Edward Island; Canada; Appalachian Studies; Music
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/1179; https://www.amzn.com/1621900975

Book Summary: Canada's Prince Edward Island is home to one of the oldest and most vibrant fiddling traditions in North America. First established by Scottish immigrants in the late eighteenth century, it incorporated the influence of a later wave of Irish immigrants as well as the unique rhythmic sensibilities of the Acadian French, the Island's first European inhabitants. In "Couldn't Have a Wedding without the Fiddler," renowned musician and folklorist Ken Perlman combines oral history, ethnography, and musical insight to present a captivating portrait of Prince Edward Island fiddling and its longstanding importance to community life. The book draws heavily on interviews conducted with 150 fiddlers and other Islanders, whose memories colorfully brings to life a time not so very long ago when virtually any occasion - wedding, harvest, house warming, holiday, or the need to raise money for local institutions such as schools and church - was sufficient excuse to hold a dance. And in those days, you simply couldn't have a dance without the fiddler!Perlman explores how fiddling skills and traditions were learned and passed down through the generations and how individual fiddlers honed their distinctive playing styles. He also examines the Island's history and material culture, fiddlers' values and attitudes, the role of radio and recordings, the fiddler's repertoire, fiddling contests, and the ebb and flow of the fiddling tradition, including efforts over the last few decades to keep the music alive in the face of modernization and the passing of old-timers. Rounding out the book is a rich array of photographs, musical examples, dance diagrams, and a discography. The inaugural volume in the Charles K. Wolfe American Music Series, Couldn't Have a Wedding without the Fiddler is, in the words of series editor Ted Olson, "clearly among the more significant studies of a local North American music tradition to be published in recent years."