The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

This thesis asks what transcriptions of old-time fiddle tunes might tell us about their underlying purposes and the nature of transcription. How could differing approaches to transcription reflect the intentions of the author, and what are those intentions? What does this suggest about how aural information is prioritized? Through a comparative analysis of three transcriptions of the same recording—Tommy Jarrell’s “Devil in the Strawstack”—this thesis examines how musical information is prioritized and how transcribers have adapted their methods to better reflect the nuances of old-time music. The three transcriptions come from Clare Milliner and Walt Koken (The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), Drew Beisswenger (Appalachian Fiddle Tunes), and John Engle. The analysis of these transcriptions suggests new frameworks for interpreting old-time fiddling, further conversations about the possibilities and limitations of transcription, and provides insight into the underlying purposes of transcription.

In 1995, fiddler Ashley MacIsaac released the album Hi, How Are You Today? that featured MacIsaac performing traditional Celtic tunes accompanied by modern rock instruments. The musical genre transformation on the album (notable because people who were not fans of Celtic music bought this album, tracks were released for airplay, and music videos accompanied the singles) can be studied according to the types of genre transformation outlined by Alastair Fowler in Kinds of Literature. If MacIsaac's goal was to offer a popular rock album while playing traditional tunes on the fiddle, critics and members of his audience inevitably questioned his motivation, from which charges of pandering and exploitation followed. Alternate interpretations stressed that MacIsaac was merely adapting traditional music to reflect a changing musical climate. This thesis examines such perspectives, along with the global phenomenon of modernizing folk music amidst the ambiguous boundary between popular and folk musical genres.

Syftet med denna studie är att utforska mitt egna lärande i processen med att appropriera den ornamentik som är en central del i den irländska folkmusikkulturen. Syftet stärks med följande forskningsfrågor: Med vilka redskap tillägnar jag som lärling mig ornament från den irländska folkmusiktraditionen? samt I vilken utsträckning har jag approprierat irländsk ornamentik efter en period på tio veckor? Arbetet är baserat på ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med stark betoning på mästarläran. Detta ingår i bakgrundskapitlet tillsammans med relevant litteratur med inslag av tidigare forskning på området. Exempel på vad som tas upp är förklaringar om specifika ornament samt en översiktlig beskrivning av den irländska folkmusiktraditionen. Studien baseras på videoobservation av mig själv samt genom egna loggboksanteckningar. Resultatet presenteras med hjälp av olika rubriker; exempelvis olika redskap under enskilda fiollektioner, tillägnande av yrkesidentitet samt jag och min mästare. Avslutningsvis diskuteras resultatet i förhållande till litteraturen samt tidigare forskning där bland annat min etniska tillhörighet och outtalade regler vid sessions nämns. Här diskuteras även variation och improvisation samt vilka redskap som tillfört mest till min lärandeprocess. / The purpose of this thesis is to explore my own learning in the process of appropriating the kind of ornamentation that is a central part of the Irish trad music culture. The purpose is supported with these following reserch questions: Which tools do I use as an apprentice to appropriate the ornaments from the Irish traditional music culture? and To what degree have I appropriated the Irish ornamentation after a period of ten weeks? The thesis is based on a sociocultural perspective with a strong emphasism on master – apprentice teaching. This is included in the background chapter together with relevant litterature and earlier studies on this area. Explanations about specific ornaments and a brief description about the Irish trad culture are examples of what is brought up in the background chapter. The thesis is based on video observations of myself and by a written journal. The result is presented with several themes, for example different tools during individual fiddle lessons, adopting of professional identity and me and my master. In the conclution the results are discussed compared to the litterature and earlier research where my ethnical background and unspoken rules during sessions are mentioned. The discussion also include variation and improvisation together with which tools that have contributed the most to my process of learning.

La région du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean est géographiquement située dans une enclave qui a contribué à l’isolement des populations s’y étant installées. Aussi cet éloignement aurait-il favorisé la présence de certaines spécificités culturelles dans cette région, spécificités ayant été relevées au sein de plusieurs domaines tel que la génétique, la linguistique, le patrimoine culinaire, l’histoire et la musique. Cette recherche vise à documenter plus spécifiquement l’élément musical dans la région du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean par l’analyse du style et du répertoire de quatre joueurs de violon traditionnel ayant appris par transmission orale. La classification du répertoire et l’identification de différentes techniques de jeu au niveau du style permettent de relever à la fois des éléments communs et distincts chez les quatre violoneux. Outre les analyses quantitatives et qualitatives proposées au niveau du répertoire et du style, cette recherche comprend un survol de l’histoire des populations de la région avançant différentes pistes sur les origines et les influences des violoneux ayant habité ou séjourné sur le territoire depuis la traite des fourrures jusqu’à l’industrialisation, de même qu’un recensement de plus d’une centaine de violoneux du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean depuis la colonisation, et un lexique endogène de la terminologie des violoneux étudiés. / The Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region is an enclave, and this fact contributed, through the years, to the isolation of the populations established there. This isolation is a factor that would have contributed to the presence of cultural distinctiveness amongst the inhabitants of the region. This cultural specificity has been observed in many fields of research, such as genetics, linguistics, culinary traditions, history and music. This thesis documents the musical element of culture in the region of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, through the analysis of style and repertoire of four fiddle players from the region. The classification of repertoire and the identification of different playing techniques, highlight both common and individual elements featured in the music of these four fiddlers. The research also contains a historical overview of the people who lived in or crossed the region, from the period of fur trading to industrialisation, and how they could have influenced the music in this region. Additionally, this research contains a census of over 100 fiddle players who have inhabited or passed through the region since colonisation, as well as a lexic explaining over 70 terms and expressions used by the fiddle players of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra hur lärare undervisar i folkmusik. Studien tar både upp förhållningssätt till den gehörstradition som folkmusik bygger på, hur utbildningen har påverkat musiken och vilka konkreta metoder lärare använder i sin undervisning. Bakgrundslitteraturen sätter folkmusik och undervisning i ett historiskt perspektiv och den tidigare forskningen tar upp begrepp som metodik, institutionalisering, gehör och tyst kunskap. Arbetet studeras utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. För att samla in material till studien har semistrukturerade intervjuer använts och dessa har sedan analyserats tematiskt. I resultatet presenteras lärarnas metodiska tankesätt kring genrespecifika övningar som antingen har utformats på egen hand, utifrån låtar eller utifrån existerande material som har anpassats till genren. Vidare framkommer tankar kring tyst kunskap i en gehörstradition och hur detta ses i relation till utbildning. En folkmusikmetodik som är på väg att formas och utvecklas genom att folkmusiken har tagit plats i utbildningsmiljön är något som diskuteras av respondenterna. Diskussionen tar upp hur nya redskap för lärande utvecklas när musiken hamnar i nya kontexter och vilka redskap lärare tycker är viktiga för lärandet av fiol och folkmusik. / The main goal of this study is to examine the methodology in the teaching of fiddle, used by teachers in traditional music. The study examines the approaches to the tradition of learning music by ear which is central to the teaching of traditional music, how education has affected music and which methods teachers use in their tuition. The background literature sets traditional music and teaching traditional music in a historical perspective. Previous research studies address concepts such as methodology, institutionalization, learning music by ear and silent knowledge. Material for the study is collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and then analyzed thematically. The result presents the teachers' methodical way of thinking about genre-specific exercises. These have either been designed by themselves, based on tunes or based on existing material that has been adapted to the genre. Furthermore, thoughts emerge about silent knowledge in a learning by ear-tradition and how this is seen in relation to education. A traditional music methodology that is about to be shaped and developed, due to traditional music taking place in the educational environment, is discussed by the respondents. The discussion addresses how new tools for learning develop when the music is put in new contexts and which tools teachers think are important for the learning of fiddle and traditional music.

No description available.