Old time fiddling old time year’s state champion and will compete this weekend at the state championship in Lebanon. Today, Ewing plays the fiddle, mandolin and will begin study The Community Center, ing the banjo soon. which has come under attack He admits the mandolin is * recently because of allegedly an unusual instrument. His fid too-loud rock music, played dle teacher suggested he take host to a different kind of music up a second instrument, and a last weekend. mandolin is commonly used to The local chapter of the back up some fiddle music, in Old Time Fiddlers held a jam in cluding Irish, Appalachian, the Center on Sunday, May 8, Canadian and Texan varieties. Mother’s Day. Approximately Ewing is now taking mandolin 25 fiddle players from lessons from Bob Misley, music throughout the metropolitan instructor at the College. area participated in the event. Unlike many young musi This is the fifth one to be held at cians, Ewing said no other the College. member of his immediate fami ly plays an instrument, except The days activities started his late grandfather. “My around noon, as musicians grandpa played classical violin began to wander into the Mall when he was young,” Ewing in groups of two and three. By said. “Before he died, he heard 12:30 p.m., nearly two dozen me playing the fiddle and liked players were standing in it a lot.” groups, rosining bows and One of Ewing’s fellow fid practicing old favorites such as dlers, John Melnichuk, was last “The Tennessee Waltz.” year’s state champion. He has No sheet music was pre played with the District 7 sented. Most of the fiddler’s group, which encompasses the repertoire has been passed Portland metro area, for 11 from generation to generation, years. Melnichuk pointedout that and everyone seemingly knows every number. Two fiddlers, most everyone present at the John Melnichuk and Jason jam was an amateur, himself Ewing, sat in a corner of the included. Few, if any, ever fid Fireside Lounge and practiced dled for a profession. “We codas of old, American folk have these public jams nearly every weekend somewhere in ballads. Ewing is an accomplished Oregon,” Melnichuk said. “We fiddler, belying the fact he is 11 have one in the Portland area years old, a 6th grader from about once a month.” This jam was a warm-up Uplands Elementary School. session for the state competi “I went to church one day tion, to be held in Lebanon on and Grant Wheeler was playing Saturday, May 14. “There will the fiddle,” Ewing re be 100 or more contestants membered. “Everyone went there,” Melnichuk predicted. nuts, and I thought ‘Hey, I Competition will be held in the Pee Wee, Junior, Senior and could do that!’ So I started.” That was two years ago. Championship division. The By J. Dana Haynes Of The Print OLD TIME FIDDLERS Dee Johnson of Rock Creek plays “Plucker’s Mill” on her fiddle. winners of each group will go on to the Nationals in Wheezer, Idaho in June. At about 1 p.m., the group’s emcee got up on stage and called for the 23 fiddlers, five guitarists, one bass player and pianist to gather on the risers. When everyone was ready, the emcee stood before the mic and said, “Here we go. Who’s gonna lead off and what are you gonna play? The entire jam had that same feeling of spontaneity. Malnichuk, one of the respected regulars of the group, shrugged and suggested a tune called “Boys of Cabbage Downs.” Once the number was selected, all the musicians chimed in, everyone seeming to know the number by heart. When it was over, and the au dience of about 100 applaud ed, someone else from the back of the risers shouted out “Over the Waves,” better known to non-musicians as “Those Daring Young Men on the Flying Trapsze.” Once again, everyone played along. The jam lasted till about 5 p.m., when the group began to disperse. Not everyone left im mediately. Many people hung back, reminiscing with old friends and looking forward to the next session or the state competition. It is a basically unassuming group of people, much like the music they play. They are gregarious but private, calmly gathering for a weekend to keep a traditional form of entertainment alive. Photos by Duane Hiersche fiddling old time fiddling old time fiddling old time fiddling KATIE MELNICHUK, accompanied by her father John, plays “Arkansas Traveler.” Katie, age six, was the youngest player at the jam. John Melnichuk was last fiddling old