Dan Hughie MacEachern, the
great composer from Queensville, had a major influence on
my music and especially in my composing. Some of my
earliest memories as a child include sitting down in
front of Dan Hughie with my half-size fiddle.
I remember one day in particular
he must have just composed Juanita MacIntyre's Jig.
There I was trying to learn it from him, scared
to death of making a mistake. Then there was the time he
composed The Red Mill. My father has a
sawmill in Queensville. He and I were painting it one day
when Dan Hughie arrived on the scene. He only stayed a
minute. About an hour later he came back with two tunes.
One was The Red Mill and the other was a
jig which I don't know the proper name.
Although Dan Hughie was my main
influence, I had several other heroes of the day. I
remember Dan R. MacDonald being at my uncle Donnie's one
afternoon. I don't know how I stopped shaking long enough
to struggle through The Glencoe March, but
I did! When I finished , I heard Dan R say: "He'll
make a good fiddler someday " . At that time, I
didn't know if he meant I was no good now, or if I had a
career in music (Well, I still don't know!)
As I approached my teens, Jerry
Holland took over as my mentor. I was about ready to give
up playing, (It wasn't cool at the time) when his MASTER
CAPE BRETON FIDDLER came out. Now to say I wore it out
would be the understatement of the century! I still know
every cut on the record and probably every time Jerry
took a breath! I had the pleasure of composing a few
tunes with Jerry (Chums and Ciaran
Tourish)
With the inspiration of the above
fiddlers and many others too numerous to mention, I am
presently composing and recording as well as playing for
both local and international events.
So enough chatter out of me! I'll
let the
tunes speak to you. And,
I hope you might find a tune or two worth learning in
this book. If there are any tunes you'd like to change to
suit your ear, please feel free to do so!
Dougie
MacDonald (June
1993)
