The Coast String Fiddlers, one of the Sunshine Coast’s longest-running youth music groups, last week performed on the most historic stage in Western Canada.
The nine-member ensemble traveled to Calgary for the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Summit, which culminated in a blockbuster matinee performance at the city’s downtown Grand theatre. The Grand opened in 1912 as the largest stage in Canada at the time (suffragette Nellie McClung held rallies there; Fred Astaire danced under its cutting-edge electrical lighting), making it the oldest extant theatre in the west.
The summit drew over 120 fiddlers from communities across B.C., Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories. For current members of the Coast String Fiddlers (itself founded over 30 years ago by Michelle Bruce) it was the farthest they have yet travelled for a collaborative gig.
“It’s this hugely powerful thing, akin to playing in a full-size orchestra,” explained Simon Gidora, who was installed as the group’s fiddle instructor last September. Gidora is a violinist, singer, pianist, and conductor who received his professional training in Quebec and Ontario after a childhood spent playing with the Sunshine Coast’s erstwhile Bad to the Bow ensemble.
“At the summit, because you get exposed to each fiddle group that has its own instructor with their own unique take and repertoire of music, you’ll hear some fiddle tunes you’ve never heard before,” added Gidora. “Through exposure to other styles, other communities, and a chance to connect with like-minded individuals, then to perform big complex arrangements with huge groups, it’s greater than the sum of its parts.”
In addition to violin players, the teen- and preteen-aged Coast String Fiddlers include instrumentalists who specialize in piano, guitar and cello. “It was nice to learn the songs playing with everybody,” said keyboard player Eloise White, “until then I’d worked on the [assigned] songs alone, in my piano lessons.”
“It was fun meeting other fiddle players and getting all together,” enthused Ally Sato, the group’s youngest player. Cellist Alina agreed: “I feel like there’s no much fiddling groups on the Sunshine Coast and we need more players. Most of us are all the same age, and once we all graduate there will be nobody left for the Coast String Fiddlers.”
During the three-day summit, participants prepare a selection of tunes for performance. Advanced players, officially dubbed “hardcore fiddlers,” learned a half-dozen numbers in time for the sold-out public performance, ranging from Rasputin (popularized by German disco stars Bony M. but introduced to a new generation through the video game Just Dance) to Old Reinlender from Sønndala, a traditional Norwegian tune arranged by the Danish String Quartet.
“This year, we mostly learned the songs at home rather than there [in Calgary],” said hardcore fiddler Gene Sato, who like several members of the ensemble participated in previous annual summits convened in Nanaimo and Vancouver. “We got a lot more instruction on choreography and other stuff rather than playing the fiddle tunes themselves.”
“Being more advanced this year, you got to have more fun,” added Sebastian Young-Laidlaw. “Instead of just learning the pieces, you can focus on movement.”
Choreography instruction included tips on amplifying musical technique with physical gestures. “It’s often natural, but with big shows like this sometimes jumps or other expressions are added in,” said Grace Marshall. “And I felt more comfortable onstage this round,” noted fiddle summit veteran Jinny Marshall, “communicating and interacting with other people onstage.”
In addition to performances and workshop-based instruction, participants also performed for passers-by at a Calgary shopping mall. “I learned some things about what other guitar players do,” said first-time participant Janosch Thomson (who only began formal lessons last September). “The summit was half about playing music, and half about being in the group. Music is more fun when you’re playing with other people.”
The summit caps a busy month for the Coast String Fiddlers. One week earlier, the group performed in Davis Bay alongside four-time B.C. fiddle champion Mike Sanyshyn. In March, the group hosted a mini-summit in Gibsons, collaborating with Vancouver’s Open Door Fiddlers and the qathet Fiddlers from Powell River.
“It’s fun to play in a group, even if you don’t know the songs,” said fiddler Lucia Thomson. “Honestly, other than reading music, I’ve learned more in the group than in my private lessons.”
