Page 32 - With Pianist Doug MacPhee

ISSUE : Issue 43

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1986/8/1

described Mary MacDonald one time, "She plays like she speaks." Mary had a very strong Scottish accent. She grew up in Ma? bou Coal Mines--MacKinnon's Brook. And I guess the people from that area had the Scottish brogue. That comes, I think, from speaking Gaelic; it flows over into their English, this expression. And Mary MacDon? ald played that way, sort of from the heart. Her music was very Scottish--as we call it--she had this brogue, it came out in her music. Mary MacDonald--there's no question about it--she was one of the very best musicians in her day. And we're talking traditional Gape Breton fiddling. And Duncan MacQuar? rie was another. And Duncan MacQuarrie was a very modest man. He always took a back seat. As Sandy MacLean said to me years a- go, when I first met him, "Duncan was al? ways in the back row, because that's where he wanted to be. But he should have been in the front row." Meaning, he was there with the best of them. A great traditional Scottish fiddler, Duncan MacQuarrie was. The late Donald Angus Beaton, he was cer? tainly impressed with Duncan MacQuarrie. Fr. Angus Morris idolized Duncan MacQuar? rie's music. John Archie Maclsaac, New Wa? terford, he idolized Duncan MacQuarrie, just his style of playing. Beautiful bow hand. Beattie Wallace (Winston Fitzger? ald's piano player)--she thought that Dun? can had the best timing, he was the best jig player she ever heard in her life. He was a very, very smooth player. He never rushed in his life, for anything. Duncan was a very cool, cool customer. Everything he did was done in that way. He thought out everything before he did it. He wasn't Mary MacDonald, playing at the MacPhees' home. New Waterford, December 1959-- accompanied by Margaret MacPhee. impulsive. Like Duncan would sit down and play, and you'd see his toes moving in his shoe--there was no heavy tap, nothing. He did everything at ease, it was just effort? less. He just had a terrific bow hand, free. And sweet--a very, very sweet player. He lived for music. And he loved company. Good music, a good music session, where there'd be good listeners. There's nothing disturbed him more than to have people gab? bing when a performer would be playing very well. Duncan would want everybody to be listening. There were many years that Duncan MacQuar? rie and John Archie Maclsaac and Mary Mac? Donald and my mother played for square (32) A Message From Honourable Terence R. B. Donahoe, q.c. Minister of Vocational and Technical Training I am pleased to tell you about the ser'aces the Department of Vocational and Technical Training offers the young people of Cape Breton throu' its Youth Initiatives Office (YIO). YIO has a field office in Sydney staffed with career counsellors who welcome the opportunity to tjilk to young j)eople about their career concerns, about how to: • get a job • make a career decision • write a resume • prepare for an interview • get a high school equivalency diploma • train for an occupation • get a student loan • get the capital needed to set up a business • get into vocationeil, techniccil or apprenticeship programs • participate in provincicil emplojmient prc'-cims. Each office has information on education eind training programs, occupations and the labour market. Youth Initiatives staff also run Job Finding Clubs and conduct workshops on career planning, job seeking, and creating your own job. The Youth Initiatives Office works closely with other youth-serving organizations in the community, sharing career counselling resources and information and developing career plcinning services. All services are free of charge. Call the Youth Initiatives Office and cisk to speak to a career counsellor. Nova Scotia Department of Vocational and Technical Training Provincicil Building Sydney, Nova Scotia BIP 5L1 Telephone 562-3203

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