Cape Breton's Magazine

Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER The next is a jig. Winston on the record" has it called MISS MENZIES. It's called "Miss Gordon of Park" in the Marshall Collection, but you'll find that it's not nearly as nice there. Winston really made it nice. He re-composed the tune, I suppose you could say. He wanted to play it better than he'd ever heard it, so he just kept playing it until he found the way that suited his style. But the thing is, after Winston put it together like that, nobody would play it the way it was in the book any more. You'd never hear it played today the way it's in the Marshall Collection. Never. Jig Wm. Marshall Miss Menzies He did a medley of tunes in F~a strathspey and two reels. LASS OF CORRIE MILL, FISHER'S WEDDING, and PERTH ASSEMBLY. Again Winston has just put subtle melodic changes that suited his style, and afterwards became the standard settings that I've heard played in Cape Breton. ' . . ,#* Winston taught himself to read music. And feels that it's an essential part of your learning tools, to know] how to read. But at the same time he stresses that he ' thinks too much classical training can change dance ,.'''___ ____ ?__. ?___ music. He felt that's what's happened in Scotland in j'''''BI'I'H'''HIIIIJIKl'MS JS''''T''fMliCi'BBiii'??'. the last 80, 90 years, since Scott Skinner. Although he plays a lot of Skinner's music and likes that type of music • he feels that classical training is applica? ble to slow airs and all. I mean, there's no doubt a- bout it, it helps when you're playing that stuff to have that kind of training. But when it comes to dance i music, if you get too caught up in technique and sound | production, you can miss some of the other.... If you play it exactly the way it's written in the book, without putting in flavour, without putting your own touches, then it's like • as Winston once said • "It's like washing your feet with your socks on!" That's where Winston has the edge. He told me he played dances 15 or 20 years, 6 nights a week; he might play concerts on Sunday. Playing for dances all the time • the timing and everything else • the dancers make you play better. Lass of Corrie Mill strathspey Photo above: The Winston Fitzgerald Orchestra at the Venetian Gardens. From left to right: Eddie Pastoni, Tupper MacAskill, Wes Pretty, Beatie Wallace, unnamed friend, Estwood Davidson, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald. Victorian Furniture All Famous Brands: Gibbard, Super Style Chesterfield Co. JOHN CUNNINGHAM LTD. Draperies and Home Furnishings 602 GEORGE ST. * SYDNEY Custom Made Draperies or Fabric by the Yard or the Meter mmwft mu located 1/2 mile off the Cabot Trail at Neil's Harbour 336-2288 Enjoy jour favorite DOWN NORTH The Book of Cape Breton's Magazine PAPERBACK $12.95 / HARDCOVER $19.95 A Neighbourhood Store in a Beautiful Village Neil's Harbour CO-OP' (71)