RSS
Home
Fiddlin' around with longevity
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Photo by Wam1975 dreamstime.com
Her fingers flew over the fiddle neck as she cranked out the classic "Arkansas Traveler". She rocked and bowed and played with controlled yet intense energy, eyes closed, bowing arm strong, and when she bowed out the crowd yowled for more. Her grin broke like heat lightning across the dark stage, and only her white hair and slightly thick middle gave clues that her age was somewhere near seventy. At the Old Fiddler's Convention held in Galax, Virginia--just 120 miles southwest of Roanoke--over the last week, one of the keys to longevity was laid at the feet of the young: play music. The sparkling dexterity of old hands was on display as hundreds of players over sixty cajoled fiddle tunes, dobro creations, mandolin solos, and guitar melodies from sometimes exquisitely crafted and exorbitantly expensive, sometimes rough hewn and straight from the basement instruments. Side by side with the wise and wizened were the young who were humbled by the years of musical experience, the depth of skill revealed, and, perhaps most significantly, the modesty of even the most accomplished musicians. These old guys and gals are the rock stars of the American old time and bluegrass music circle that hugs up against even far away Japan and Australia. Many young performers walked out of Felts' Park feeling that they had touched musical magic because, as most people know, a young fiddler's a good fiddler but an old 'un's most likely great. If the joy and skill and sociability of the aged players at Galax tells the world anything it's this: music--the playing, the singing, or the just fiddlin' around--provides a true worldwide web for cross-generational yack.
Related Articles:
Comments
.jpg)
