Canadian Grand Masters | |
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Genre | Traditional Fiddle Music |
Dates | Last Weekend of August |
Location(s) | Canada (city varies) |
Years active | 34 |
Founded by | Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association |
Website | https://www.canadiangrandmasters.ca/ |
The Canadian Grand Masters is an annual event celebrating traditional fiddling in Canada. Considered "the pinnacle of Canadian fiddling," [1] the core of the event is a concert/dance on Friday evening, followed by the competition the following day. Upwards of thirty contestants are selected to compete from across Canada, considered to be the top exceptional fiddlers from each province/territory. [2] The winner of the contest earns the title of Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Champion.
The Canadian Grand Masters is hosted by the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association (CGMFA), founded in 1989. [2] [3] Their mission is to support the preservation of traditional fiddle styles and recognize astounding Canadian fiddlers. In this effort, they elected to hold the first national championship the following year, originally known as the "Canadian Grand Masters Championship." For the first six years, the contest was held on Labour Day weekend before being changed in 1996 to the last weekend of August. [2] The contest’s purpose is to draw attention to and provide space for the traditional Canadian fiddling styles from across the country, while providing a space to showcase the country's top fiddlers. [4] Aurora Fiddle Society member Teresa Watson noted that "it's also a chance to meet people who are significant in the fiddling world," adding that besides the space to perform, the contest is a major social networking event for Canadian fiddlers. [5] According to the CGMFA rules, the recognized styles include: country, old time, Cape Breton, Swing, Métis, Bluegrass, and French-Canadian. Classical, jazz, blues, and similar non-traditional styles are not accepted. [6]
The Canadian Grand Masters competition weekend in recent years consists of a dance/concert on Friday night, and the preliminaries, finals, a junior showcase, and Hall of Honour Inductees ceremony on Saturday. [7] [8] The preliminaries feature each contestant performing their set in a randomly selected order. At the end of this section, the top ten will be chosen to play again that evening in the finals before the winners are chosen from them. Up until 2020, a top eleven performed at the finals, but this has been changed to a top ten in recent years. Their first ever contestant was Keith Ross of New Minas, Nova Scotia. [6]
Besides the finals, the Saturday evening’s entertainment also includes a showcase performance from the judges and the Junior Showcase. The latter features a small selection of young fiddlers from across Canada, chosen by the CGMFA, who play their own tunes of choice in a non-competitive environment. Many of these performers go on to compete in the main contest in later years. [6]
Saturday’s events also include the introduction of new honourees to the Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour. Started in 2022, CGMFA board members voted to combine their previous awards of recognition (Lifetime Achievement, Award of Merit, and Canadian Fiddle Legends Award) into a Hall of Honour. [9] Five to seven recipients are chosen each year to be inducted into the Hall at the Canadian Grand Masters competition.
Year | Inductees |
---|---|
1991 | Roma McMillan |
1993 | Bob Ranger |
1996 | Ned Landry |
1998 | Graham Townsend |
2001 | Bruce Wilson |
2002 | Conrad Pelletier |
2003 | John Arcand |
2004 | Webb Acheson |
2005 | Calvin Vollrath |
2006 | Brian Hebert |
2007 | Ivan Hicks |
2009 | Gordon Stobbe |
2010 | Peter Dawson |
2012 | Louis Schryer |
2013 | Alfie Myhre |
2014 | Denis Lanctôt |
2015 | Winnie Chafe |
2016 | Roy Warhurst |
2017 | Yvon Cuillerier |
2018 | The Ottawa Valley Builders and Scott Woods |
2019 | British Columbia Old Time Fiddle Association and Daniel Lapp |
2022 | Frontier School Division, Patti Kusturok, Anne Lederman, Garry Lepine, Mel Bedard, and Larry Martineau |
2023 | Lloyd Bogle, Natalie MacMaster, Buddy MacMaster, Bill Guest, and the Maritime Fiddle Association/Maritime Fiddle Festival |
By 2008, CGMFA became a national arts organization, showcasing its importance at a national level. Two years later, they achieved their charitable tax status. [2] Canadian Fiddler Matthew Johnson also recognized the difference in atmosphere between the Canadian Grand Masters and other fiddle contests, noting the Grand Masters is more professional, with former president of CGMFA Bruce Cummings saying that the atmosphere is different largely due to its invitational nature, theatre venue, and structure. [10] In its over thirty years, the Canadian Grand Masters established itself as the top tier competition in the country. Journalist Frank Peebles noted that "it's one of the hardest climbs in the Canadian fiddle world. Getting called to compete at the Grand Masters is a career watermark for any fiddler who gets their name on that coveted list." [11] The Grand North American Old Time Fiddle Championship even sponsors the top three Albertan contestants to go to the Grand Masters.
Besides the competition, the CGMFA also organizes workshops throughout the year, promotes National Fiddling Day events, and also launched The Canadian Fiddler newsletter in 1993. The newsletters feature events, news on fiddlers and fiddling in the country, interviews, results, tunes, and upcoming events. [12]
Since its incorporation in 1990, over 900 contestants have competed at the Canadian Grand Masters (including those who have competed multiple times). As of 2023, the vast majority (176) are from Ontario. [6] While no contestants have yet entered from Nunavut, the contest has seen more contestants from the Northwest Territories than Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.
Province/Territory | Number of Contestants |
---|---|
Newfoundland | 10 |
Prince Edward Island | 6 |
Nova Scotia | 70 |
New Brunswick | 84 |
Quebec | 119 |
Ontario | 176 |
Manitoba | 120 |
Saskatchewan | 114 |
Alberta | 87 |
British Columbia | 113 |
Northwest Territories | 11 |
Yukon | 5 |
Nunavut | 0 |
Dual Citizens Outside of Canada | 2 |
The championship consists of upwards of thirty contestants. This number depends on the amount of representatives chosen from each province/territory who are able to attend. Each contestant must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and be a member in good standing of the association. It is a closed championship, meaning that contestants must qualify according to the contest's eligibility criteria to compete. The contestants are considered to be fiddling experts. [13]
Contestantss can be eligible for the annual competition by the following methods:
Each province/territory is allowed to send up to five contestants each year, although the host province/territory can send seven. [6]
During the preliminary round, contestants play a waltz, jig, reel/breakdown/hornpipe, and a tune of choice (that is not a waltz, jig, or reel) in any order in under 5 minutes. The Grand Masters judges sit behind the contestants on stage, listening to the contestants as they play with no additional audio equipment for aid. These three judges will then judge the contestants on intonation, technical ability, danceability, overall accuracy, emotion/feeling, and variety. The top ten from their marks will then proceed to the finals. [6]
Those chosen for the finals must play a new set of a waltz, jig, reel, and tune of choice. In the event of a tie in the top three, those tied will play another set of three tunes in 4 minutes and be judged again.
Although issues with diversity amongst the fiddle circuit go beyond the Canadian Grand Masters, research on the event highlights issues it faced with gender, especially in the 1990s.
Examining the culture of fiddling contests in Ontario in the early 2000s (which includes the Canadian Grand Masters, as it was held in Ottawa annually until 2013), Sherry Ann Johnson interviewed women fiddlers to understand if gender impacted competitions. Although Johnson notes that most did not experience any limitations based on gender, fiddler and judge Karen Reid said that there was a "definite old boy's school attitude" when it came to contests, with several comments made to her about being "good for a girl." [14]
Johnson notes that since the 1970s, women fiddlers are often discouraged from competition in championships and open groups due to perceptions of gendered skill differences and a lack of role models. [15] Women winning champion titles were often treated as unordinary and unexpected. [16] In terms of the Canadian Grand Masters, Johnson also highlights instances where perceptions also influenced the judging. In 1997, one judge's top eleven were all women, and he was asked to change his marks. [17] In the end, the top eleven that year were made up of ten men and one woman, April Verch. Verch won the championship, and also won the Canadian Open the following year. Verch noted several comments were made to discredit her wins because of her gender, such as "it's time for a woman to win, so that's why [you won] it." [18] Johnson concludes with the belief that the stereotype of women being weaker fiddlers no longer exists.
The results of the Canadian Grand Masters show some changes in the statistics and gender divide that support Johnson’s statement. As of 2023, out of the 360 contestants who have placed in the top eleven/ten, about 68 per cent (245) are men, while 32 per cent (114) are women. There are four years out of 33 where women made up the majority in the top eleven/ten (2001, 2002, 2006, and 2017), although there are six years that only one or two women made the top eleven/ten (1997, 1998, 2008, and 2023 all had one woman in the finals, 2010 and 2022 had two). Looking at the top three contestants each year, out of the 99 contestants who placed in the top three, only 13 were women. Of the 33 winners, only six champion titles were won by women, with two women having won more than once. [6] [19]
In her 2013 dissertation, Monique Giroux wrote that Patti Kusturok's wins, in particular, along with Crystal Plohman's second place finish "gave girls and women public role models that early generations did not have: not only were they competing, they were winning big." [20] Kusturok won the Canadian Grand Masters three times, the first Western Canadian to win, along with champion titles from the Grand North Americans and Pembroke. While women have won the Canadian Grand Masters championship more often than at the Canadian Open, they are also statistically less likely to make the finals.
Besides gender, the Canadian Grand Masters has made steps to ensure cultural diversity and support a variety of fiddlers and styles from across Canada. Their contests recognize and accept a range of traditional fiddling, including Indigenous/Métis styles, and several top fiddlers and judges are Métis/Indigenous. [6] [21] The movement of the event each year across Canada between different cities also enables and attracts a wider range of fiddlers, and provides better access to the competition for those that would otherwise be unable to travel cross-country. [22] In 2024, the Canadian Grand Masters will be held for the first time in Whitehorse, Yukon, again providing access to the contest for those that might not be able to travel, while also providing space for Northern fiddlers and fiddle styles to shine. [23]
Winners of the Canadian Grand Masters contest become the Canadian Grand Master Champion. The contest also recognizes the first and second runner ups separately from the rest of the top 10/11 finalists. [6] In 2019, Ethan Harty became the youngest fiddler to win the contest at the age of 17. [24] Louis Schryer holds the record for most wins (4), with Patti Kustruok, Shane Cook, and Mark Sullivan tied for second with 3 wins. Louis Schryer and Patti Kustruok are also the only fiddlers to win three years in a row. Scott Woods holds the record for most times in the finals, with 11 appearances, followed by Mark Sullivan and Kyle Charron with six.
Year & Location | Champion | First Runner Up | Second Runner Up |
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1990 Ottawa | Pierre Schryer | Louis Schryer | Patti Kusturok |
1991 Ottawa | Louis Schryer | Pierre Schryer | Calvin Vollrath |
1992 Ottawa | Louis Schryer | Crystal Plohman | Scott Woods |
1993 Ottawa | Louis Schryer | Calvin Vollrath | Rob Dagenais |
1994 Ottawa | Patti Kusturok | Scott Woods | Yvon Cuillerier |
1995 Ottawa | Patti Kusturok | Pierre Schryer | Scott Woods |
1996 Ottawa | Patti Kusturok | April Verch | Scott Woods |
1997 Ottawa | April Verch | Scott Woods | Bryon Myhre |
1998 Ottawa | Scott Woods | Rob Dagenais | Yvon Cuillerier |
1999 Ottawa | Scott Woods | Shane Cook | Mike Sanyshyn |
2000 Ottawa | Shane Cook | Mark Sullivan | Scott Woods |
2001 Ottawa | Mark Sullivan | Shane Cook | Scott Woods |
2002 Ottawa | Shane Cook | Mark Sullivan | Scott Woods |
2003 Ottawa | Shane Cook | Scott Woods | Mark Sullivan |
2004 Ottawa | Mark Sullivan | Scott Woods | Matthew Johnson |
2005 Ottawa | Mark Sullivan | Matthew Johnson | Chuck Joyce |
2006 Ottawa | Chuck Joyce | Matthew Johnson | Trent Freeman |
2007 Ottawa | Louis Schryer | Matthew Johnson | Chuck Joyce |
2008 Ottawa | André Brunet | Matthew Johnson | Kyle Charron |
2009 Ottawa | Julie Fitzgerald | André Brunet | Patrick Wieler |
2010 Ottawa | Julie Fitzgerald | Kyle Charron | Eric Provencher |
2011 Ottawa | Daniel Gervais | Julie Fitzgerald | Greg Henry |
2012 Ottawa | Tom Fitzgerald | Greg Henry | Kyle Charron |
2013 Saskatoon | James Steele | Ben Plotnick | Kyle Charron |
2014 Ottawa | Paul Lemelin | Greg Henry | Kyle Charron |
2015 Moncton | Greg Henry | Paul Lemelin | Dan Mighton |
2016 Morinville | Daniel Gervais | Greg Henry | James Steele |
2017 Valleyfield | Aynsley Porchak | Kyle Burghout | Dan Mighton |
2018 Ottawa | Jane Cory | Ethan Harty | Kyle Burghout |
2019 Abbotsford | Ethan Harty | Kyle Burghout | Jane Cory |
2021 (Online) | Paul Lemelin | Kyle Burghout | Daniel Gervais |
2022 Winnipeg | Ethan Harty | Kyle Burghout | Alex Kusturok |
2023 Truro | Kyle Charron | Ethan Harty | Alex Kusturok |
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a "brighter" tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught "by ear" rather than via written music.
Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster was a Canadian fiddler. He performed and recorded both locally and internationally, and was regarded as an expert on the tradition and lore of Cape Breton fiddle music.
Daniel Edward Lapp is a Canadian folk musician based in Victoria, British Columbia and Pender Island.
April Verch is a Canadian fiddler, singer, and step dancer raised in the community of Rankin, Ontario, located approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) southwest from Pembroke, Ontario. The youngest daughter of Ralph and Muriel Verch, April began step dancing at age three with her first step dance teachers, Buster and Pauline Brown, and began learning fiddle at age six from Pembroke fiddler Rob Dagenais, shortly after receiving her first violin as a birthday present. Throughout her childhood, April played both old time fiddle and classical violin, having competed and having won awards at fiddle contests inside and outside Ontario, as well as regularly performing with the Deep River Symphony Orchestra over that period. She also competed and won numerous awards for her step dancing in that time frame as well.
Calvin Vollrath is a Canadian fiddler and composer and is one of the few European-Canadian fiddle players playing professionally in the Métis style. He lives in St. Paul, Alberta.
Jean Baptiste "John" Arcand, is a Canadian fiddler, composer, teacher, and luthier. Arcand has been composing and performing since childhood, having learned the traditional Métis tunes from his father Victor and his grandfather Jean-Baptiste. John Arcand has said, "I knew from childhood I would be a fiddler." "I love the constant challenge because you cannot ever master the fiddle." He is known for the impeccable sense of timing in his music, a skill that is necessary when guiding dancers.
The National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest is an old-time music competition, festival, and musical gathering in the western United States, held annually during the third full week in June in Weiser, Idaho, about fifty miles (80 km) northwest of Boise. Within the fiddling community, it is often referred to simply as "Weiser"; the contest draws musicians from across the country. Nearly 7,000 attend for the week and almost 350 fiddlers compete in eight divisions. In addition to the contest there are workshops, performances, a battle of the bands, a parade and a carnival. The contest is held at Weiser High School: the competition is held in the gymnasium, and most of the contestants camp in the school's sports fields.
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Athabaskan fiddle is the old-time fiddle style that the Alaskan Athabaskans of the Interior Alaska have developed to play the fiddle (violin), solo and in folk ensembles. Fiddles were introduced in this area by Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and Métis fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company in the mid-19th century. Athabaskan fiddling is a variant of fiddling of the American southlands. Athabaskan fiddle music is most popular genre in Alaska and northwest Canada and featuring Gwich'in Bill Stevens and Trimble Gilbert.
Lawrence "Teddy Boy" Houle (1938–2020) was Métis fiddler from Ebb and Flow, Manitoba. He started to play at an early age, reportedly teaching himself to play "Red River Valley" on one string. Houle went on to become an influential fiddler and vocalist, recording a number of albums and maintaining an active performance schedule.
Patti Kusturok (Lamoureux) ( KUS-tə-rok) is a Canadian fiddler, performer, teacher, and composer who is known as "Canada's old-time fiddling sweetheart." She resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba where she teaches fiddling. She performs frequently in addition to teaching at workshops and music camps each summer. She has taught at the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp, Shivering Strings Fiddle Camp in Winnipeg, and Falcon Lake Fiddle Camp. Her son, Alex Kusturok is also a champion fiddler.
Scott Woods is a Canadian Grand Masters fiddling champion and band leader based in Ontario. He is known for his travelling variety fiddling show.
Gordon Stobbe C.M is a Canadian fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, and composer based in Seaforth, Nova Scotia. Stobbe was born in Saskatchewan, but has made his home on the East Coast of Canada since 1977. His musical interests and passion lie in the field of Canadian traditional music, especially as it is expressed in a wide variety of fiddle styles. He plays several instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, guitar, clawhammer banjo, piano, accordion and percussion.
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