It hadn't, I think. It was just a simple tune to get you into the notes. So I learned tunes that way, and then after that I started learning by ear from Michael Coleman's records and Paddy Killoren and Hugh Gillespie. There were long distances between musicians. The transport was only by bicycle or by walking.
Sessions are new, over the last seven or eight years they are coming in more and more.
At that stage, there weren't too many musicians around. I started playing fiddle while a young teen in about 1974 or so. I feel fortunate that I was able to experience the tailend of an era of fiddle playing and old-time dancing which, as of this writing, is fading fast. Many of the great players I knew and learned from as a young man have either passed on or become too feeble to play. Likewise, the emphasis of younger players on learning rote renditions of contest tunes from books, CDs and fiddle camps could result in the ultimate decimation of Missouri's once richly diverse fiddle tradition.