The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1913-06-05
The Old Time Fiddler

description of the old time fiddler as
seen in a recent fiddler's contest at
Atlanta, Georgia, is written for the
Violin World by w. 7. Waters. &c.
600 people attended and greatly en-
joyed the old time harmonies as
rendered by crude but earnest per-
formers. Mr. Waters says:
The difference between a viollnist
and a fiddler IS that a violinist can
stand up when he plays, but a id-
dler's just got to SIT down so he can
pat his feet--or he can't play.
But fiddling music and violin music
are as unmistakablv distinct as are
black and white. Who. for instance.
could put the wrong classification up.
on Soldiers JOY" Polly Put the
Kettle on" or Leather Brooches"
or any of the older classics of fid-
ding?
There are those who contend that
fiddling music is the expression of
Americas pioneer spirit. Certainly
it is true that the tunes themselves
are as old as the DAYS of the hintlocks
and spinning wheels and frontier
cabin Publications. Nor is it less
true that there is a chord in the heart
of every American of old stock that
responds when the fiddler's note Is
sounded.
Men of high and low degree pat
ted time together / n the audiences
that attended the Old Fiddlers' Con-
vention. There was something about
it that Dissolved the barriers between
them and made them ''neighbors''
in the old sense of the word. The
very thin sheet of ice that lay upon
the atmosphere of the first night.
while the audience waited for the
fiddlers to begin, was melted at once
when the grand chorus swung into
the bars of Soldiers JOY" as an
opener. When John Carsan, from
Blue Ridge from among the noun,
tains of Fannin County, sided into
a chair at the front of the stage and
began to tease "S'wanee River
from his fiddle. the evening was as
informal as a barn dance. Some
neighbor of John Carson's S, from the
hills of Habersham County, LET out a
whoop of encouragement that set his
section OF the audience a-tltter and
drew a glare of disaprroval from the
police. The next whoop drew a re-
spouse. and the police watched one
another to see who would make the
first move to stop the interruption.
BY the the time the man from Hab-
ersham had collected breath for an
other whoop, the audience was with
him; and John Carson. of Blue Ridge
got an ovation that the auditorium
had not witnessed since Woodrow
Wilson, candidate for the Dem. pres
idental nomination, asked Georgia
for her electoral vote. The radical
difference between the fiddlers' aud
fence and Mr. Wilson'S was that the
former contained no dissenters.
STRENGTHENING was introduced
to many connoisseurs of fddling for
the very first time at the Atlanta
convention. So remote is this habi-
tat in the backwoods that only re-
Gently has it emerged to win the fa-
vor of the town dancers But the
fame that it attained at Atlanta
brought it prominently before the
rural South. and henceforth straw
beating will be the feature of every
fiddling performance. 1t is an ad-
junct of fiddling, performed by an
assistant who sits IN front of the fd-
dler. facing him. and with two long
straws beats time lightly on the vi.
brant strings of the instrument. The
effect is peculiar and pleasing.
Another feature of the Atlanta
convention that was an innovation to
many who thought they knew fd-
ding" was the falsetto grooming
accompaniment with which some OF
fiddlers picked the thread of their
air and carried it for three or -four
notes now and then as they played.
The convention was rich in human
interest. The old fiddlers themselve.
gathered from far and near, were /;
company of picturesque and uniqu,
characters. All were of that happy
go-lucky type that a fiddler is sup
posed to be-the kind OF man VIII,
can fiddle away his cares and worries
None Of them manifested any sigl
of prosperity, which i'll would hav'
befitted them. Fiddler Bob
Young. Of Walton County. with lon,
hair and dropping mustache and
-..il. kll--.l 49, -~--.