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SPOTLIGHT
ON THE ARTS - July 2005 by Deanna Mascle Fiddlin' Around In February Harrod received the Folk Heritage Award, which recognizes “outstanding effort to perpetuate and promote Kentucky’s unique artistic traditions,” for preserving the history of fiddle music in Kentucky. He has recorded fiddlers from around Kentucky playing and talking about their music. He makes his archives available to local groups and agencies to teach others about Kentucky fiddle music. This grand project began quite simply. As a fiddle player himself, Harrod was just interested in learning more about his music and its history. He began playing fiddle and traditional music when he was 19 or 20 and “just fell in love with it.” “I like the feelings and emotions and the way it looks,” he says. “A tune is a feeling. If you listen to enough tunes you hear it. “People say that all fiddle tunes sound alike, but I think classical violinists sound alike. Their bowing sounds a little stiff to me,” he continues. “Fiddling is individual, and a fiddler’s rendition, his possession of that tune, is unique.” Harrod learned, in part, by imitating the styles used by other fiddlers. Most old-time fiddlers, says Harrod, learned to play in this same manner - by watching other fiddlers play to see how they did it. When he and some like-minded friends began seeking out old-time fiddle players to learn their secrets, they found those traditions were fast disappearing. “Kentucky is known to people who follow traditional music for a very strong fiddle tradition with a lot of diversity. A whole lot of strands mixed and mingled here,” he says. “I hear old French, Scottish, and German sounds in our fiddle music and a mixture of all these ethnic streams became its own thing.” And that unique music moves him. “Music makes me want to dance and conjures up feelings and importance of history and geography. Good fiddlers are as fascinating to watch as to listen to, Kentucky fiddlers especially. I love the many local styles you can find.” Harrod has put copies of his documentations at Berea College in the Appalachian Sound Archive for others to see and hear. The pieces are now being copied for an archive at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead. The recordings feature more than 100 artists that Harrod has researched through the years. “I want to help anyone interested in it to play the old stuff—before Bluegrass. There are a lot of great players from Kentucky you can learn from.” Harrod doesn’t think enthusiasts can fully appreciate the music without a visual, which is why he has also videotaped as well as recorded performances. “People try to learn from tapes and records but you can’t learn unless you can see them. A lot of learning to play old-style is visual. There are bow licks that are not found in classical music. The way they play is almost as important as what they play.” Now Harrod teaches fiddle himself and passes along what he has learned from the masters. He offers lessons about tunes, techniques, and bowing styles, and nurtures his students’ passion for and pride in Kentucky’s musical heritage. While he works to preserve its past, Harrod is excited about the future of fiddling in Kentucky. Seeing young people play gives him hope, he says, for the musical future of Kentucky, as many of the old timer players have died. “More and more young people are playing this. It is encouraging to see music carry on and evolve. New musicians are taking the old music in new directions. The modern world is so homogenized and commercialized, people are looking for something—something that belongs to us and makes Kentucky.” For now, Harrod says, he will continue to teach fiddle and play himself. “I’m going to play as long as I can - until arthritis gets me. Once you’re bit by the fiddle bug there’s no going back.” Deanna Mascle is a
staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2005, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content is copyright 2005,
Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Kentucky’s history is rich with tradition that fills the senses, from the grace of our beautiful horses and flavor of our rich bourbon to the emotion of our soul-rending music. Preserving that musical tradition has been John Harrod’s driving ambition for the past 30 years. He has watched, recorded, videotaped, and interviewed countless musicians to preserve Kentucky’s traditional music and the history of Kentucky’s old fiddling styles.