Old time fiddlers were almost extinct in Perth-Andover in 1992 when Garold Hanscom started teaching students of all ages for $1.00 a lesson, or free if they could not afford it. He jokes, “All the fiddles put away in attics during the Rock and Roll years are now out being played.” Garold believes that, “Fiddle music, a jig or a reel, can give you a rush of happiness, while a lament can tear your heart out.”

I first became aware of Garold Hanscom in May 2006 when village resident Glen Furge noticed our B.C. plates and approached me as I pumped gas at their highway service centre. He spoke of how excited he was to be learning the fiddle at age 69 and of the man who was his teacher – Garold Hanscom. I realized only after Glen drove away, that here was a story. My detective work eventually led us to the ornate red brick City Hall where a friendly young lady pointed us in the direction of the historic St. James United Church a short distance away.

Sweet sounds of fiddle music drifted out of the church hall. A bearded ‘fiddler on the loose’ with a twinkle in his eye accompanied a young girl playing a solo, while fifteen fiddle players of all ages waited silently to join in. Garold Hanscom stood relaxed amid the players, turning first to one, and then another, or stopping the group to make a point.

On-lookers were friendly and talkative, watching and listening with pleasure to their children, husbands, or wives, while strangers like us were accepted warmly and without reservation into the group.

Behind Garold’s salt and pepper beard are kind eyes and a face that makes children and adults smile. His easy way belies the passion he holds for his pupils and their progress. His teaching formula is simple; “I try to teach new students songs they know, like Old Macdonald; songs they recognize, so they know how long to hold the notes.”

Hanscom writes the music for his beginners using a ‘tab system’. He explains, “Students don’t necessarily relate the string letters, E, A, D, G, to their fingers, which are numbered 1, 2, and 3. As Garold’s student’s progress and gain confidence, he gradually takes the ‘tab’ away and they start to play by identifying the notes.

Garold chuckles, “My older students don’t want to learn to read music, they just want to play.” He muses, “When I began playing at six, the old fiddlers would tell me;” ‘don’t learn to read music, it will ruin you.’

Garold Hanscom’s first music job was at fourteen in the 50’s with a Tobique First Nations band. He smiles, “They would come and get me for a dance on the Reserve and then take me home.” Later he played lead guitar in a band, with his father on drums until 1962.

I asked Garold whether he learned to play the guitar or fiddle first. “It’s kind of a funny story. Santa Claus was to bring me a fiddle, but a week before Christmas a guitar appeared, and before Christmas came along I was able to make chords on the guitar. When the fiddle arrived, I wasn’t terribly interested in it.” He pauses in thought, “I still play the guitar once in a while.”

Hanscom’s students play Old Time Fiddling music, “but some are learning to play in the Celtic style made popular by the famous Cape Breton families of Ashley MacIsaac, and the McMaster’s, Natalie and Buddy”, he explains. “They do ‘cuts’, a little stutter, a form of a triplet that imitates the bagpipes, but around here you play Don Messer style.”

9:15 pm - the church hall is alive with piano, drums, guitars and fifty fiddles, including Garold’s wife Dorothy, fiddlers from nearby Maine, and Hanscom’s 89 year old father Winferd, on spoons. We are tapping our toes in time to tunes like ‘Cock of the North’, ‘Whalens Breakdown’, and ‘Boil the Cabbage’. Ninety-five year old retired dentist Dr. Lee White approached to show us his sleek fiddle; smiled and said, “I have hand built 99 violins, not 100.”

Bringing back fiddle music to New Brunswick is important to Garold Hanscom. “I grew up listening to Don Messer, and my Grandfather was a fiddler who always wanted me to play.” An old fiddler once told Hanscom that, “you listen to other forms of music, but the fiddle puts the music right under your feet.”

Hanscom relates, “As I get older I am beginning to appreciate that there is something unusual about this music. We visit nursing homes and these folks just light up at the sound of the fiddle. Alzheimer patients who do not react to anything will start moving their hands or feet to the music. Toddlers will jig to a fiddle tune, and mothers dance around with babies in their arms.”

Garold Hanscom feels that, “fiddle music is special; it’s important that it be preserved, and everyone, particularly young people, should have a chance to play. Once you learn it, it lasts a lifetime.”

Perth-Andover was not our original destination, but worked its magic spell upon us. We will return.