Learn a Country Dance Fiddle Tune from Western Canada
This transcription of a Frankie Rodgers tune comes by way of fiddle champ Calvin Vollrath
Calvin Vollrath is on a roll. His recent induction into the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame augments a long line of credits and awards. With more than 50 recordings and 400 compositions to his name, Vollrath composed “Fiddle Nation” to showcase Canada’s regional styles in a single medley at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Nevertheless, Vollrath still considers himself a country boy from northern Alberta.
Evidently, for Vollrath, being a simple country boy means mastering old-time dance styles from the Alberta plains, a repertoire ranging from waltzes and polkas to two-steps and swinging Texas-derived fox-trots. Vollrath is also one of the foremost exponents of the indigenous Métis style, among the most complex traditional fiddle music on the continent, derived from similar roots as other North American fiddle styles, but laden with odd measures and offbeat accents after centuries of development in isolation.
Vollrath himself is in a perpetual state of musical evolution, known for incorporating double-stops and innovative harmonies into Canadian old-time fiddle tunes. Winner of the 1985 Grand North American Old Tyme Fiddle Championship, Vollrath competed in his first contest at age 13 when there were only two youngsters on the stage. Now, as an instructor at music camps across Canada, including at his own camp, Vollrath is helping to rekindle a new generation of players.
This article, "Learn a Country Dance Fiddle Tune from Western Canada," is part of the Strings Archive, which you can access with a paid site subscription.
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