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fiddling history
learning the instrument
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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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October 21, 2017 - 8:44 pm
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I'm a history nut and I have an interest in the history of everything I'm associated with.  I was wondering something today.  The people who played "folk" music years ago were mostly working people who farmed or herded or the like.  Whether in the Old World or the New World it was mostly an agrarian society without the benefit of modern machinery.  Those people worked from dawn to dusk most of the year.

We all know that fiddle is one of the hardest instruments there is to learn to play.  So my question is, when did they find the time to practice?   

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damfino
my own little world
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October 21, 2017 - 9:11 pm
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I guess my thought is it was something they did to wind down at the end of the day. One of the historical homes near here, built in the early 1800s, the farmer who owned and hand built the home (even made his own bricks) was a fiddler, and they said he often could be heard playing the fiddle on his front porch. I also remember reading that they did little holiday concerts with their neighbor. I think they were the first house built in the area, so they probably didn't have many neighbors at first, haha.

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KindaScratchy
Massachusetts
October 22, 2017 - 7:19 pm
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My thoughts are similar to @damfino 's.  That was all the home entertainment that they had in those days...no television, no radio, no movies, no internet.

Plus, in the pre-electricity days, when the sun set, there probably wasn't much else to do besides play some music, dance and sing.

violin-studentdancing-irish-smileypaddy-smiley

When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,

I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.

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