Remembering Jerry Holland

by adminKFS on December 6, 2011 · 1 comment

A blog post certainly does not do the music and accomplishments of Jerry Holland justice, but I hope that for those of you who are not familar with his playing, this post will encourage you to learn more about him and his music.

Jerry was one of Cape Breton fiddling’s most well known exponents. His music is has been enjoyed far beyond Cape Breton, having performed and taught all over North America and Europe. He was known not only as a brilliant player but was a well respected composer. His tune, ‘Brenda Stubbert’s Reel’ is one of the most widely played tunes in Celtic music.

Jerry was originally from Brockton, Massachusetts and moved to Cape Breton in 1975. Jerry’s father who was from New Brunswick, was a musician himself and passed on to Jerry his love of both Cape Breton and Irish music. From an early age, Jerry was exposed to the vibrant Cape Breton community in the Boston area, playing at Bill Lamey’s dances in Brookline, Massachusetts at age 10. In his late teens and early 20s, Jerry performed with the Cape Breton Symphony on the nationaly televised John Allen Cameron show. It was during this time that he had the opportunity to work with fiddlers like Winston Fitzgerald, Angus Chisholm, Wilfred Gillis, Joe Cormier and John Donald Cameron. In his own words, Jerry said that “I had to play my best in front of these people, and I worked at it. I had to really buckle down and listen to what old tapes we had, or recordings…to get the right kind of feel” (from and interview in Cape Breton Magazine, Winter, 1999).

In addition to his massive Cape Breton/Scottish repertoire, Jerry had a wonderful repertoire of Irish music that was influced by 78 recordings of Coleman, Morrison, Killoran, as well as the Cape Breton fiddler, Johnny Wilmot who was well versed in Cape Breton and Irish music, a trait of the Northside style. I love listening to Jerry’s verisions of Irish tunes because he had versions that I would not hear from other Cape Breton players.

I had the honour of accompanying Jerry on the piano for various gigs both in Cape Breton, the Boston area, and in Scotland for about 3 years before he died in July of 2009 from cancer. While I didn’t feel like and adequate accompanist, he was always extremely encouraging and I learned a lot from him. Jerry was a great accompanist himself on guitar and the piano. He knew that accompanists were not always given the credit that they were due and made sure to acknowledge his acompanists in his concerts.

So many of Jerry’s tunes are now staples in not just the Cape Breton repertoire but also the Scottish and Irish repertoire. Two collections of his compostions are available: Jerry Holland’s Collection of Fiddle Tunes and Jerry Holland: The Second Collection, both published by Cranford Publications. They are available on Paul Cranford’s site: cranfordpub.com. Also, check out Jerry’s website, jerryholland.com. If you look at the discography section, you’ll find recordings of Jerry’s playing from the early ’60s. A great resource.

More Thoughts on Learning by Ear

by adminKFS on November 8, 2011 · 3 comments

Playing by ear is not just about replicating a phrase. It’s also about memorizing a melody which is half of the battle. That is why many students find it difficult to learn by ear at a workshop. You are hearing a tune for the first time. Think about when a new song comes on the radio. Initially, you don’t have all the words. But as you hear it more and more, you start singing the entire tune without even realizing that you’ve learned it. The same thing works for learning by ear on an instrument. Having the tune in your head for a while is a much easier way to learn.

In my workshops, I usually have my classes sing the tunes before we play them. Singing through the whole tune, as opposed to learning a small section at a time tends to help commit it to memory faster because you have the context of the whole tune. This is helpful when you do learn smaller sections becasue you will know where you are in the tune.

It’s interesting to think how our perception of a tune changes each time we listen to it. I was just teaching at a workshop this past weekend and something very interesting happend. As we were singing through the tune, I heard a few people singing the tune differently then what it was. What they were singing sounded like a variation. Their perception of that phrase was different than the actual melody. And of course when we played it through, they played it the way they sang it. So singing the tune and getting it into our heads is sometimes more difficult than it seems. So after you’ve had a tune in your head for a while, listen to yourself very closely against the melody when you sing it to see if you are hearing something differently. If you hear something different, then fix it in your voice first. Then you will most likely get it right when you play it on your instrument.

Also, when you make more time to listen this way- without your instrument-you allow yourself to listen to more things about the music itself; phrasing and articultion, grace notes, etc- because you aren’t concentrating so hard on getting the notes right.
So the next time you feel pressed for time to practice, try listening on the go. It’s just as valueable practice time.