Art Form: Fiddling

Location(s): Honor (Benzie County) and Traverse City (Grand Traverse County)

Ruby John

Ruby John is a fiddler and commercial fisher from Northport, where she works for her family’s tribal fishery Treaty Fish Co. She is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. She first picked up the fiddle at age eleven and began learning to play old-time music from Christine Williams. Ruby’s mother Cindi supported her interest in fiddling and found recordings, camps, and community groups for her to learn from. Through Christine, Ruby met many other Michigan fiddlers, like those involved with the Bayside Travellers Traditional Dance Society and the Original Michigan Fiddlers Association. She broadened her stylistic knowledge of traditional music through involvement with the Traverse City Irish music session and festivals like the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival. Among her mentors she cites Lee Sloan, a fiddler she met at the Algomatrad Camp in Ontario. He noticed her improvement each time she returned to camp and spent time honing her ear training. Though he was in his 90s and unable to hold a bow, he would play old recordings of himself and have her repeat what she heard and guide her verbally through the tunes. In Ruby’s word, “Lee not only taught me fiddle tunes but also that fiddle tunes have feel and where to accent them for playing for dances. He would also always invite musician friends of his over to teach and show me how to play with others and teach me how to ask for what I need from anyone backing me up.”

A dedicated student in her teen years, Ruby sought instruction and mentorship from such fiddlers as Bob Saddler, Michigan Heritage Awardee Danny Johnston, Pierre Schryer, Anne Leaderman, Dan MacDonald, Rene Cote, and Shane Cook. These influences reflect Ruby’s regional Michigan style: a composite of French Canadian, Irish, Midwestern and Appalachian old-time, and bluegrass. She has gone on to teach around the country, at camps like Earful of Fiddle (Rodney, MI), Eve Glen McDonough Music School (Beaver Island, MI), Miles of Music (Lake Winnipesaukee, NH), Algomatrad (St. Joseph Island, Ontario, Canada). She notes that Strings Across the Sky is a camp with special meaning for her as an indigenous fiddler, as it is a camp focused on teaching music to indigenous youth. She has also worked to cultivate a Métis repertoire, which is a style of fiddling from Canada that comes from people of mixed indigenous and settler heritage.

Stacy Arnold

Apprentice Stacy Arnold began learning the fiddle at age 7 and has been more actively learning for about ten years. Her mother always played traditional music recordings at home which first sparked her interest in learning this music herself. Stacy met Ruby in 2013 through their shared mentor Christine Williams and has since taken classes with her at both Algomatrad and Earful of Fiddle camps. Receiving virtual instruction for the past few years, Stacy is eager to work more closely with Ruby in person. She seeks to gain greater fluency with tunes and increase her comfort with playing with other people at a faster pace. A goal of the apprenticeship is for Stacy to be able to fiddle for dances, something Ruby does regularly.