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............................................................................................................................. January 31, 2005: Upcoming St Patrick's Day Performance Frank
will be appearing as a Guest Artist with the premier Celtic group, ............................................................................................................................. September
2004: "Wherever
there are great fiddlers, you will find Frank Ferrel. Truely one of
America’s top fiddlers, here you have him with his long time friends
and fellow musicians, Peter Barnes, John McGann, and Joe Derrane. He
offers a vibrant, deeply pleasurable, and thoroughly convincing musical
essay on Yankee fiddling, its range, roots and aesthetics. It is also
music for contra dancing, which remains the beating heart of the New
England style." To order, visit www.greatmeadowmusic.com ............................................................................................................................. A lot of people have asked about lessons so I thought it was about time to accommodate. I’ve given numerous workshops and classes at festivals and camps over the years, so I’m thinking now’s the time to put all that experience to the test. I’ve spent the summer building a studio out behind the barn, and it’s all set up for lessons and music making in general. To schedule lessons email me, and I’ll get back to you with available times. I’m open to teaching anyone from beginners to advanced students.
His daughter, Sheila, threw a great party for him in August, and we had a chance to play some tunes and honor Joe. ............................................................................................................................. A
Fiddler’s Heaven: The Music of Cape Breton Live From Centrum’s
From the CD cover: ”The majestic and regal music of Cape Breton is featured on Centrum's latest compilation from its 25-year archive of recordings from Centrum's Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. Recorded live, the energy and beauty of the performances must be heard to be believed. Featuring: Jerry Holland, Hugh Allan 'Buddy' MacMaster, Carl MacKenzie, Barbara MacDonald Magone, Joe Cormier, Edmund Boudreau, Dave MacIsaac, Gordon Cote, Willie Kennedy, Fr. Angus Morris, Brenda Stubbert, and many more." The CD can be ordered online at: Centrum :: BACK TO TOP :: ............................................................................................................................. Frank Ferrel: A
Wicked Good Fiddler
Over the years, Frank has won numerous fiddling competitions and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, including two tours as guest artist with the internationally acclaimed Celtic ensemble, The Boys of the Lough. In 1978, Frank helped to establish the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and served as the Director of that festival until 1986. During the 1980's he was a frequent performer on the nationally popular radio series, "A Prairie Home Companion," and is included on their compilation recording 'PHC Tourists.' Frank currently lives in Boston where he can be found playing regularly for country dances and at local music sessions throughout New England. His music draws from the rich Celtic immigrant traditions found in North America, reflecting his own Irish heritage, and especially those traditions found in New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces. Frank has made numerous recordings; his 1991 recording "Yankee Dreams" was selected by the Library of Congress as one of 25 recordings included in their, "Select List of American Folk Music on Record." It was also nominated for a NAIRD award for best traditional folk instrumental. :: BACK TO TOP :: ............................................................................................................................. CelticMusic.com
Interview: Playing With A Pianist "If you figure that you are in a dance hall, and there is only yourself and a piano player-that is a LOT of music coming out of two instruments"! DB
= Dan Beimborn, the interviewer DB: You play often with a Piano- that’s a Cape Breton Influence, isn’t it? FF: Well, I don’t know. I ‘ve always had piano players at my side. You might say its a Canadian influence- it’s very common in New England. I’ve always be thought of or known for a northern style of playing. I’ve just been listening to some field recordings from Price Edward Island from Rounder, and some of these older players have a pump organ player with them which is something I’d heard about from a lot of Old timers- "Oh yeah, all we had was an old tenor banjo and a pump organ". It’s a great, real classic sound. The piano is a percussion instrument, it’s a bass instrument, it’s sometimes a melody instrument. If you go to some of these town halls (grange halls, dance halls) up around Maine and Western Massachusets, ther’s always an old upright sitting in the corner of the stage that looks like it’s been there forever, and if you played something on it it would fall apart! But they always sound pretty good, and I learned to play in those kind of halls. There’s always some older woman who’s been playing forever who automatically knows every chord change! [laughs] My default instrumentation has always been Guitar and piano. I like that a lot- I have played with other instruments, but it seems to me - The sound we got on Yankee Dreams or Moxie, for instance, a good guitar, something a little more trebly like John’s mandolin [Ed- John McGann].. the piano, the bass- that’s a great dance band. If you can get a dance band on the stage that has a stand-up bass, a guitar player, a good piano player, or even something more percussive like a tenor banjo or a button accordian, that’s sort of a northern or European influnce.. DB: When you say "northern", you’re talking about North America and not Dongeal in Ireland, right? FF: Northern meaning North America. A lot of people in Ireland like the piano players, but pianos were hard to find in Ireland. DB: The instrument is sometimes maligned in session circles, but it does certainly contribute the lift to that dance sound- it makes your feet get moving. FF: If you figure that you are in a dace hall, and there is only yourself and a piano player- that is a LOT of music coming out of two instruments. I’ve heard a lot of dance bands that have a lot of treble instruments- a hammered dulcimer, a concertina, a mandolin, a guitar and a fiddle- It just doesn’t cut. I’ll expose my profane side here- it doesn’t give the music any "butt" if you know what I mean. There’s nothing under there to pump it. Boy- a good strong left hand on a piano or a bass player- I love that. DB: Most of the current Irish "supergroups" use a guitar or a bouzouki- FF: Oh sure- and I love sitting down and playing concertina or fiddle tunes with a really good guitar player or bouzouki player.. There’s a really good player in England that I play with a lot who plays a mandola.. You know, a long-necked instrument, like a cittern almost... DB: Oh sure- I know all about those FF: Just having him play along with fiddle tunes is brilliant, you know? DB: Who are you talking about? FF: This guy is named Chris Algar [Ed- spelling?]. Different ones, of course- if you can get Donal Lunny or Paul Brady around, any of those people would be brilliant. And that sound is wonderful and I love that. I am doing a concert here in Boston in February at Passim’s [Ed- spelling?], a classic old Harvard Square coffee house with John McGann- just guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. John is one of my assassins of choice. [laughs] I’m open to all kinds of music- I just have found that the piano gives you a lot of scope. DB: Does it affect the way you approach the melody to have a piano accompanist instead of a guitar or bouzouki? Do you punch things in different places? Does it bring out a different style? FF: I think that it reinforces whatever melody you are driving. I like to set up a melody that is memorable for some reason- it has a hook. If you were doing song writing for some reason, it would have a hook.. and it would be something that people would go home from the dance humming. If the piano can fill in the spaces- Peter Barnes, in my opinion, is the brilliant pianist for that. He fills in the spaces melodically AND rhythmically, so there are times when (I’m talking about DANCE music now) we are playing for a dance, and we will have played the tune through 10 times just because we really like it. We’re just going on. As I play each time through, I do subtle little variances. Peter picks up on that, and when he senses that I’m really rocking- just in to it, in another place, but still connected to the music, sometimes he’ll just all of a sudden be playing right on the beat, right hand treble chords- "ting, ting, ting, ting" and the melody is just ROARING by. Then as we come to the last couple bars of the "B" part, there’s some sort of crescendo or building on the piano, or some descending chord run, and we’re back full "boom-chuck" kind of based stuff. That kind of compliment- once you find someone who can do that and knows your music, its a very sensual approach to playing music. You go off to another place. One just compliments the other, especially if Peter leans over and says "play that such-and-such that you wrote" or something- what he is saying is "I like that, and I’m going to play it in a great way" :: BACK TO TOP :: ............................................................................................................................. CelticMusic.com
Interview: Playing For Dancers in A
"Sassy" Style "What I have always done, or found myself doing, is playing for dancers. So, when I play or write a tune, I am thinking of dancers" DB
= Dan Beimborn, the interviewer DB: There’s a sort of almost "ballsy" sound to some of the music on the record, I don’t know quite how to describe it. A personal favorite of mine is the John McGann/Peter Barnes/Compliments to the Boys of the Lough set [Ed- Yankee Dreams track 11], they really drive, and I think I can hear what you are describing there. FF: I would categorize fiddlers as.. heh- I did this once EARLY early on in my career, and it came out on like the first line in an article in the local paper, and I was just about scalped for it. What I said then was that in my opinion, when I was going to contests.. most of the fiddlers (I’m not saying ALL of them) were middle-aged to retirement aged men, and this fiddle was an extension of their ego. They got competitive, really IN to the competition. What came out in the paper was "Ferrel says fiddlers have big egos". [laughs] That’s one style. The egotistical approach- "look at me, listen to me, I learned this great tune and I can double shuffle bow, I can play the Orange Blossom Special standing on my head".. Then there are "art" players, who prefer, for whatever reason, to present themselves in a more sensitive way. Maybe someone like Kevin Burke. A lot of Irish musicians have chosen this path, I think. I think Martin Hayes - and incidentally, I have heard him play so ballsy for a dance that it would scare you- but what you hear in concerts is a very moody, sensitive approach to the playing. There’s the Jazz style, many others. What I have always done, or found myself doing, is playing for dancers. So, when I play or write a tune, I am thinking of dancers, I am thinking of what figures.. "this would be a good balance and swing tune", "this would be a good walking tune". On Yankee dreams, I play "The Maple Leaf 2-step". That is a CLASSIC New England, small town, rural, grange hall contra dance. You hum it all night long, its a walking sort of style. I start it slow and memorable- I have recordings of old players playing that from the 40’s. In New England, if you find an old dance, it’s a lot of older people, and they dance close to the floor. They’re walking, not stomping or kicking, not clogging- just sort of gliding along. Those jigs you referred to- [Ed- John McGann/Peter Barnes/Compliments to the Boys of the Lough- 3 originals composed by Frank on track 11 of "Yankee Dreams"] those are for a good, involved figure. Starting with the minor key, its almost like the same tune played minor and major. I have found that the dynamics of dance is that once you get people into the figure (I listen to the caller- while the band is figuring out what to play, I’m watching the caller, what he is telling them to do, what the pattern is that starts to be music) and then I say "ok- let’s play this". There is some sort of complex maybe hay for 4, or some kind of form that gets them back to the beginning of the dance- so I want something that will emphasize that part. Maybe something with some straight, fast beats to emphasize the balance and swing. Once you get them going, and they’re into the music (maybe the caller stops calling and jumps in to join them himself), then you shift into high gear- from minor into major. I’ll guarantee you that almost every time that happens, you’ll hear someone in the crowd "whoop!". There’s a psychological change there that happens. My wife says that when Peter and I play together that we are "squirrely". [laughs] We take too many chances- "sassy" music. I CAN play sensitive stuff if I want, but it doesn’t go anywhere in the dance hall. Maybe I’m limiting myself for that reason. Last night, we were at a little session at Molloy’s pub here in Brookline villiage, and there were only 4 of us. We played all the tunes. There’s a fellow who was posting to Irtrad about Susan Zimelis who just passed on a couple of days ago. We all knew her and loved her. At that moment, someone just started playing "The Resting Chair". It was unspoken- it was for her. We all played it - it was a moving experience. It was not a moment to play "balls out" dance music! To me, the biggest thrill is when you are driving three to four hundred dancers in a hall, with two or three musicians. You’re playing off them- they aren’t dancing to YOU. This old fiddler from North Dakota was talking to me once- I asked him how he played waltzes- he said "I just pick out the best dancers on the floor, and I play to them". One time as sort of a variant on that, he said "I just pick out the most beautiful woman who can dance, and I make love to her with the fiddle". This guy was in his 70s! I was kind of shocked, but that’s what it is- you connect with them. When I make tunes, when I play tunes for dancing, I don’t have a book with all the sets figured out- its all very much spur of the moment. I look around, I see who’s dancing, I listen to the call..Maybe it’s a chestnut and you should play "Hull’s Victory" for the dance. I’ve played with a lot of bands (you know, sitting in with them) who have their book of sets. They say "play page 5". I say- "I hate to say this, but that’s not going to work for that dance. You should play ‘Hull’s Victory’.. "Oh, we don’t play that".."well, that’s the tune that you’re SUPPOSED to play for that dance".. it’s a very traditional approach. Do you know that dance? DB: I don’t, no. FF: You should look at it- the tune is in F, so a lot of groups don’t play it because they don’t like to wander off with those open resonant keys. DB: You need to put that capo on the fiddle! FF: [laughs] yeah- But.. F is the people’s key. It has a phrase in it (if you look it up, you might write it up on your page or whatever) that’s [hums]..That’s the point where there is a balance and swing. The dancers are going "rump, ba-rump, ba-rump ba-rump ba-rump" with their feet, and I’ve had bands where I say "come on- let’s just PLAY this". I’ll pull out Cole’s 1001 Fiddle Tunes and say "here- page whatever. Play it". And they play it, and they’re amazed at what a great tune that is for dancing. And then someone says "ok, let’s play Batchelders" or "We’re going to go to this", and the dance falls apart. The dancers all of the sudden aren’t stomping when they do that, they are just sort of *sigh*, walking through it. So then you say "well- let’s go back to Hull’s Victory, and it’s like you’ve given them a shot of adrenaline". So, I try to find tunes that- I’ll ramble on here [laughs] DB: [laughs] Go Ahead! FF: I try to find tunes that drive dances. Um..I’ve got this mock-up, the printers proof of Music for the Feet [Ed- Frank’s upcoming book of dance tunes for the fiddle], and what I said on this is "They have a saying in Cape Breton- when the hall is packed and the music has everyone on the floor moving as one to the strains of the fiddle, you are likely to hear someone comment ‘boy, they’re really driving her tonight’” and that’s what I try to do. It’s the bottom line", as I wrote, "being able to physically move people with your music. It’s simply music for the feet", which is the soul of dance or driving music. So that’s what I try to do- just drive. If I have a fault that I feel personally, it’s that I’m not subtle enough. [laughs]. DB: I wouldn’t call it a fault- it’s a style FF: I admire the old Cape Breton fiddlers who just sit there and bareley move, and make you want to scream. They drive SO hard. They have an old D'Armand pickup glued to the front of the fiddle, or stuck on with a rubber band, you know. An old Peavey amp, and the piano is out of tune, and they start in on "King George", or one of those classic old tunes, and it GROWLS. I mean, you just want to RUN AROUND. There’s a guy named Raymond Ellis, he’s a retired heavy equipment operator. Oof- when he gets going on sets of old A Mabou reels and stuff, it will scare you. That kind of guts you don’t find a lot in dance playing. DB: The experience around here, and maybe outside of the East Coast really.. we play occasionally for dancers, but it is mostly an Irish Ceilidh. FF: Right DB: And it is more the exception than the rule. I suppose that it has a big effect on you. If playing for a dance is your primary playing, you’re actually playing a little out of context in a session then? FF: Yeah. Here’s what I would say to you and your visitors to the page (if this is where this is going): on the 28th of March (maybe the 29th), there’s a big weekend up in Yarmouth Maine just north of Portland. It’s called DEFFA- the Down East Friends of Folk Association . It’s "We’ve had it up to here with cold weather and snow, we’re going to dance our brains out". It starts on Friday night, and goes non stop (pretty much) until Sunday night. They will have probably 10 or so of the best dance bands (contra dance) bands around Maine, New Hampshire, Eastern New England. Down East. Peter Barnes, myself, and Joe Derrane (the Irish accordian player), are the featured band for Friday night. I guarantee you- we have made a pact: We are going to drive them right out the door! We’re not holding back. I’m bringing extra strings, and we’re going to break the piano! People have said "gee- can you do contra dancing to Irish music"? [laughs]
It’s scary what happens. I’m not saying that I’m such a great player, but what happens you get 2 others around like Joe and Peter. For me, it just knocks me up a notch or ten! I told someone after the dance [Ed- Frank is referring to when they played together for a similar dance in '95] who said "wow- I’ve never had this experience in my life" for me it was like just reaching out and grabbing a freight train as it raced by. It was just HARDBALL all the way. What Joe did, he pulled out a lot of the sets and the tunes that he used to play down on Dudley Street in the dance halls. Now there’s a scene where you’d have 7-800 dancers PER HALL, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! For a two block long area! You’d have the Dudley Street Opera House, Winslow Hall, The Rose Croix, the Hibernia Hall, the Intercolonial- and they were all packed! You had to have a band driving them in every hall, and that’s where Joe learned his licks. And so, he said "you know, I’ve never really played for these contra dances, but this sure brings back a lot of memories"! You’re in an old hall someplace with 400 dancers, and it’s pretty cool. If people wanted to make an excursion to really experience contra dancing- where it come from- it’s a different beast out here. If you go up and hear Old Grey Goose, The MooseTones, Scrod Pudding, Whirrled Peas, and all these little groups that you never hear of much outside of Northern Maine, Central Maine, Western or Southern New Hampshire.. you know.. everytime I go I say "well, who are these people, I’ve never heard of these people" and you hear them, and by God they’re good! They’re playing for the dancing that’s been done in that community for 200 years. There’s a certain Yankee kind of reticence about the way the callers call. Some of them are sort of uppity and call in a happy, outgoing mood.. others have picked up on the old Ralph Page/Ted Senella sort of style- "swing ‘em......promenade..... they don’t call, they prompt. As soon as they figure out that the dance is learned, they go get a partner, and finish the dance! You don’t have a lot of "patter" calling, although, in some places there are the singing calls that are still done- "On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and those kind of things. But it’s a real scene, and they’ll pack these little halls and really bounce the floor. I think that that would be an experince for anyone who really wants to see what it’s like. DB: Well, it is a much more interactive kind of music, isn’t it? FF: Oh yes, it is! DB: The basic idea is that if this is the first time you’ve heard the tune, your intention is to hear it and dance to it several more times FF: Right.. I have couple of people who come to me and take lessons and I say to them "go ahead and learn these tunes, but the first thing you do before you come back is go to one of the dances and dance". Often they’ll say that they’d rather play- "I’m not really a dancer", and I say that you can’t be a player unless you are a dancer. This is my old curmudgeon voice here- if you don’t know how to dance, how can you play for it? If you don’t know what the feeling is that makes you want to dance, you can’t make the feeling happen. DB: hmm..yeah. FF: The other thing that I’ll go out on a limb and say here is that a good part of the repertoire in New England country dancing (because we do the old Qualdrille sets as well as contra sets) are jigs. I was just appalled when I went out to the west coast last year and played (Peter Barnes & I were the featured group for a Friday night festival dance) and I kept asking what they wanted for the next set.. "well, just play some fast reels. Have you got some good reels? Some Irish-type reels would be..." I said "How about some jigs"? And basically what the caller who was their featured caller (the best one in the area!) said was "Well, we don’t use jigs- you can’t dance to them". I thought they were joking! I said "what do you mean you can’t dance to them"? Finally, sort of as a joke, they said "ok, play some jigs". Well, the dancers LOVED it. The caller just didn’t know how to pace their calling to a jig tempo, and sat there the whole time with their hands on their hips sort of going "dointity doint de doint, dointity doint de doint" making fun of the whole thing! I called them back, and they said "What do you want to do this next year for the festival"?, I said I’d love to bring a group out from New England and do a workshop on dance music and include all these dance forms- how to use jigs and everything. They never called me back! A lot of people just think jigs are some sort of archaic form like strathspeys or clogs. Just sort of for interest. Maybe Irish musicians use them, but for others.. forget it. They are the driving dances! In Cape Breton, you start with a jig set, then you do 2 reel sets. Maybe 2 jig sets and end with a reel set. :: BACK TO TOP :: ............................................................................................................................. CelticMusic.com
Interview: The
Playing Style of a Dance Fiddler "I go to sessions here weekly and play, but the dancing- to me, that’s it. " DB
= Dan Beimborn, the interviewer DB:
It seems a lot of the depth in sessions is missing- a lot of the session
you go to that people are starting into now from all the recent
recordings are reels played basically too fast. It took me a few years
before I even stumbled on something like a mazurka or strathspey or a
highland- these tunes that have their own spunk to them that add
difference- I can’t imagine NOT playing them anymore DB: like the march, strathspey, and reel equivalent Scottish set. FF: Yes- exactly. In the Cape Breton dances they use marches or strathspeys to get people on the floor for the square sets. This is still a big part of that. DB: As a side note- here in Milwaukee at Irish Fest, they have a dance tent. Some of the musicians seem reluctant to play there for some reason, but it would go down like a house on fire. Certain bands might not adjust their sets for the dance tent, they’d just play what they would do on a stage show- arrangements. FF: That’s it- you have got to have played for dancers before. Most people assume that what you are going to learn is "The Siege of Ennis" and "The Walls of Limerick", and that’s it. Then maybe some step dancing. [laughs] I’ll say this- some of the people that have made themselves well-known as Irish or Celtic performers probably don’t want to or couldn’t play for a dance, because they have gotten into the art form so much. I played at a festival with Martin Hayes last summer, and every night a different group played for a dance. The night before, I played with Joe Cormier the Cape Breton Player. The night before I played Dale Russ.. do you know who he is? DB: no FF: Irish fiddler from the Northwest- FINE Irish fiddler, plays with the group "Howling Gale". He and Martin played for the dance, and it wasn’t particularly Irish dancing. It was just a dance that they wanted to drive. Martin just TORE the place apart. STRONG, powerful, rhythmic fiddling. DB: He sounds like he has a heavy bow sometimes! FF: He played for dances in Ireland for ceilidhs and things, and sessions are a big thing in Irish music. I go to sessions here weekly and play, but the dancing- to me, that’s it. DB: My personal experience was starting out with sessions, and eventually we started gigging a little. Finally we played a few ceilidhs. The interaction that you always want at a performance is what you get at a dance. FF: Right DB: You really want to hear the whoops and hollers, the feedback, to hear what they like. FF: I would say that if that festival [Ed- Milwaukee Irish Fest] had Joe, myself, and Peter playing for the dance tent- uh..it would work. [laughs] :: BACK TO TOP ::
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During
his tenure as Director of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Frank
was instrumental in introducing Cape Breton fiddle music to the
Festival. In the Spring of 2003, he was asked to compile, edit, and
write liner notes for an anthology recording of Cape Breton fiddle music
presented at the festival since its inception in 1978.
Frank
began his fiddling at age 8, influenced first by his grandfather, a
traditional musician and native of Ohio and West Virginia. His father's
family originally came from the Longford area of Ireland via Maritime
Canada. Frank rekindled his interest in traditional fiddling under the
influence of local Irish, French-Acadian, and Canadian Maritimes
fiddlers while stationed at the old Charlestown Navel Shipyard in Boston
in the 1960's. Those were the days when Kerry fiddler Paddy Cronin held
forth at the old Greenville Tap in Dudley Square, while next door, and
up and down Dudley Street, Cape Breton Irish and French Acadian maritime
music drifted out of dancehall windows at such legendary venuess as the
Rose Croix, O'Connell Hall and the Hibernian. There you could dance to
the fiddling of Winston Scotty Fitzgerald, Bill Lamey, Tommy Doucet, and
Angus Chisholm, just to mention a few. And if it wasn't the dances,
there was always the old Hillbilly Ranch on Washington Street down in
the Combat Zone, a good place to listen and sit in with the likes of
Bill Keith, Tex Logan, and the Lilly Brothers.