We found an interesting article on the subject of "correctness" in traditional music. It is actually from the sleeve notes of a Cape Breton CD, MacKinnon's Brook. We're trying to get the CD from the USA, but meanwhile, you can enjoy reading the article!!
Here's the sleeve notes LINK - CLICK HERE. The article was uploaded by Kate Dunlay, one of the authors.
Full details:-
Rounder 7040. Traditional Fiddle Music of Cape Breton series, Vol.4: MacKinnon's Brook, notes by Kate Dunlay and Mark Wilson; tune identifications by Paul Cranford.
Earlier this year, I blogged about Otis A. Tomas and The Fiddletree - his book documenting the making of a quartet of instruments from an old Cape Breton maple tree. (I did a Storify page about it, too - it really caught my interest, as you can tell.)
You might guess that when a colleague told me about a quartet of instruments made from an Edinburgh sycamore out of Sir Conan Doyle's childhood garden (aptly named the 'Sherlock Quartet'), I simply had to know more. Otis might be in Cape Breton, but Steve Burnett is, comparatively speaking, in our own back garden!
There was a 'Concert for Trees' in Edinburgh's Usher Hall last year to celebrate the United Nations International Year of Forests - read more here. (This is a posting on the Sherlock Holmes Society of London website.)
Of course, what you'll really want to know is, who made these instruments. The luthier is Steve Burnett of Edinburgh. He makes his instruments along the traditional lines, and using the traditional methods of the old masters. Here's his website:-
http://www.burnettviolins.co.uk/
At the bottom of his homepage, you'll find an MP3 recording of Burnett talking about the Sherlock project. Worth a look!
Postscript. I have just learned of an interesting BBC news item about choosing the best wood for a Stradivarius. Read on! (BBC News 14 April 2013).
If a branch of your family left Scotland in the Clearances - did they emigrate to Cape Breton? Or more recently?
Celtic Colours
5-13 October 2012
Chestico Place is Port Hood's heritage Centre. They're hosting the Celtic Colours 2012 festival, October 5-13. Find out more about your Celtic cousins and their heritage, here.
Read Susan Zettell's blog. Then borrow the book from the Whittaker Library!
"In a world where speed means everything -- drive-throughs, twitter and tweets, and highspeed everything, and time is money -- Otis Tomas, a friend and neighbour, violin maker, composer and musician, decided to embark on a project that ended up taking 16 years to complete. In his travels through the woods near his home on the Meadow Road, he found an ancient sugar maple and that's where Otis's story begins. He writes: "I am a violin maker, and so of course it wasn't long before my thoughts turned to possibilities held deep within this tree, and of the voices that might come forth were I to turn my hand to the transformation and domestication of this giant of the forest." And turn his hand he did.
On Saturday, Otis launched his book The Fiddletree ..." Read more ...
Postscript. Talking to a colleague, I've just heard about a similar initiative in our own Scotland. A string quartet of instruments has been built with the sycamore from Sherlock Holmes' author Sir Conan Doyle's childhood garden in Edinburgh. There was a concert last year. Will I blog about it? You bet I will! Watch this space...
Post-postscript. I have just learned of an interesting BBC news item about choosing the best wood for a Stradivarius. Read on! (BBC News 14 April 2013).
