| VIVIAN and
PHIL WILLIAMS HISTORICAL MUSIC PRESENTATIONS |
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| Vivian and Phil at the NW Oregon-California Trails Picnic 2003 |
Vivian and Phil Williams present programs of the history of fiddle tunes and fiddling in the Pacific Northwest, and the stories of how the tunes and the fiddlers got to this region. All programs are well documented with historical references and actual quotes from pioneer and explorer journals about the fiddling and tunes. Programs currently being presented are:
Fiddle Tunes of the Lewis & Clark Era
Lewis & Clark brought the first fiddlers to the Pacific Northwest of which we have any historical record . They were George Gibson, recruited by Clark in the summer of 1803 in Kentucky, and Pierre Cruzatte, recruited by Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri, in May, 1804. All of the journals kept on the Expedition mention the fiddling and dancing. Lewis and Clark found early on that the Indians really liked the fiddling and the fiddle was used throughout the trip to make friends with the Indians and to help with trading for horses and assistance. While no tune names were mentioned in the journals, considerable research by the Williams, and by Dr. Howard Marshall, Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of Missouri, uncovered the tunes that were commonly played by fiddlers in the Mississippi - Missouri river area in 1800. The Williams and Dr. Marshall recorded twenty-four of these tunes on a CD, Fiddle Tunes of the Lewis & Clark Era, which is being widely played and sold at major interpretive centers and museums along the Expedition's trail. Vivian and Phil present many of these tunes, along with quotes from the journals about the fiddling and dancing, the interchanges with the Indians, and the history of the tunes up to the present day. They also present quotes from an unpublished document from the Nez Perce Indian's oral history about their impressions of the Expedition's fiddling and dancing! The music is played on two fiddles, guitar, frame drum, sounden horn, and Jew's harp - the type of instruments used by the Corps of Discovery. For most of the programs the Williams use a self-standing backdrop showing the Lewis & Clark, Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. This program runs about an hour and ten minutes.
Fiddling Down the Oregon Trail
Much of the fiddle and oldtime music found throughout the Pacific Northwest when Vivian and Phil were growing up, and now found mostly in rural areas and in gatherings of the Northwest Fiddle Associations, was brought to the region over the Oregon Trail. They have done considerable research into the dance music played on the Oregon Trail and in pioneer communities along the way as recorded in pioneer journals. Some of the material comes from their own childhood experiences dancing to these tunes and their over 45 years of playing with fiddlers throughout the Pacific Northwest. They play this material both on modern instruments and instruments from Oregon Trail days, including fiddle, mid-1800's guitar, a gut strung fretless banjo that likely came over the Trail, and a mandolin from this era, interwoven with glimpses of how these tunes and dances helped ease a hard day of travel. The Williams wear authentic pioneer costumes for this program. This program was presented for two years under the auspices of the Washington Commission for the Humanities. The program runs about an hour and fifteen minutes. Reviews and Comments
The Williams also combine both the Lewis and Clark Era and Oregon Trail programs into one program for live theater presentation. This program usually is presented in two sets of about fifty minute each, with an intermission. The program is presented in costume and can be presented with dancers to demonstrate the dances, if desired and the dancers are available for the performance. The programs also can be presented to school audiences.
Pioneer Dance Music of the Far West
The great migration to settle the Far West started in the 1840's, and ended around the early part of the 20th Century. The emmigrants brought their music and dances with them. The community dance was a major social event and entertainment in the pioneer communities. The fiddle was the most popular and versatile dance instrument, although a wide variety of instruments was used . Rounding up musicians to play a dance often was a challenge. Usually there were very few musicians in the community, and they may all have come from different musical backgrounds and traditions. The tunes the brought with them came from different musical traditions, and had to be adapted so that everyone in the "band" could play them. As a consequence, dances in the Far West typically included many styles of tunes and dances from diverse national and regional traditions. This is the type of community dance we did here in the Puget Sound region as kids. We have done lots of research on the dance music and dances of the pioneer Far West, and present a program of this music, dance descriptions (and demonstrations, when we can get dancers), stories from accounts of Far West pioneer dances, and histories of many of the tunes. This covers an era of great development of popular dance in America, from the days of longways set dances (contra dances) and quadrilles (square dances), to the waltz, polka, schottische, mazurka, two-step, and the various "pattern" dances that we did as kids, but which now are considered "North American Folk Dances." We play tunes from pioneer dances of mining camps, farming settlements, and maritime communities in the Far West, using a variety of instruments commonly used for these dances.
