Farmhouse Fiddlers: Music & Dance Traditional in the Rural Midwest
This is an excerpt from a detailed and loving look at what the author terms "house-party music." His focus is Wisconsin, and he based the book on interviews with nearly 100 musicians and dancers. Profusely illustrated with photographs and quotations from the interviews, all carefully cited in the appendices.
An early section describes "the pioneer fiddler" and dance events in the mid- to late-1800s, the era described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House books. This is followed by the early 1800s, with social events in the wintertime, and leads into a lengthy description of house parties in rural neighborhoods in the first third of the 1900s. As decades passed, intimate neighborhood gatherings gave way, with the coming of automobiles, to public dance halls and more professionalized music.
The primary focus of the book is on fiddlers and other musicians, but the music is places in its social context, which usually involves dancing.
Subjects: Northern / Midwest
Tags: fiddler, house party, kitchen junket, Midwest, Philip Martin, shivaree, Wisconsin
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| This Item | is related to | Item: Social Dancing in Early Minnesota |
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An early section describes "the pioneer fiddler" and dance events in the mid- to late-1800s, the era described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House books. This is followed by the early 1800s, with social events in the wintertime, and leads into a lengthy description of house parties in rural neighborhoods in the first third of the 1900s. As decades passed, intimate neighborhood gatherings gave way, with the coming of automobiles, to public dance halls and more professionalized music.
The primary focus of the book is on fiddlers and other musicians, but the music is places in its social context, which usually involves dancing.