State Symbols

State Instrument: Fiddle

Posted at May 27, 2008 15:29

By John Fisher

FIDDLES ARRIVED IN MISSOURI with the first French explorers
and fur traders. This light and easily carried instrument even traveled
with Lewis and Clark on their journey to explore the West. Settlers
of Scotch-Irish descent from Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and
Tennessee, and German settlers in the 1800s brought fiddle music.
Today, Missouri is widely known for its varied fiddling traditions resulting
from settlers of various cultures coming to Missouri. Songs of French
origin are still played around Ste. Genevieve and west into the old lead
belt, while the Ozarks, Little Dixie, and the Missouri valley in northwest
Missouri each exhibit their own distinctive fiddling styles.

The fiddle has been associated with dances, whether Irish jigs, waltzes,
or square-dancing. Because of the fiddle’s association with dancing,
good times, and strong drink, some religious groups during the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries referred to the fiddle as the “devil’s
box.” Nonetheless, the services of a good fiddler were always in demand.

It has taken considerable effort to preserve traditional fiddle music.
Old-time fiddle music might have been lost if not for the efforts R.P.
Christeson, who compiled hundreds of traditional tunes for his book Old
Time Fiddler’s Repertory.

Although played at dances and jam sessions, perhaps the best place to
hear old-time fiddle music is at one of the dozens of fiddle contests held
across the state. The state championship is held annually at the Missouri
State Fair. Fiddling contests usually require each contestant to play three
tunes: a hoedown, a waltz, and a tune of choice. Contest rules also state
that each tune must be danceable.

Named our state musical instrument on July 17, 1987, the fiddle
has been and remains an important part of Missouri’s cultural heritage.

December 2007

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