The Fumblin' Fingers
The Fumblin' Fingers have their roots in a community choir (Atlantic
Voices - The Newfoundland and Labrador Choir) which formed in Ottawa (Canada) in the summer of 2002.
The choir had need of musical guests for their concerts, and Hannie Fitzgerald, an alto, started learning to play the accordion in 2004.
She then recruited other musicians from the choir to entertain the choir for the annual picnic.
We had such a ball, we decided to form a "house band" for the choir, and had our first performance in the Winter concert of 2005.
At that time there were only five of us - Hannie, Marcia, Tom, Wayne, and Andy (Baird - who has since moved to Nova Scotia...), with a limited repertoire, but lots of gusto!
Today, the band boasts eight members, and has upgraded our instruments to include guitars, fiddles, mandolin, bass,
ektar (see Ektara on wikipedia)
various woodwinds and tinwhistles, accordions, bodhran, ugly stick (wikipedia has an entry, but no pictures, so see Celeste)
and various percussion instruments. We have boosted our repertoire to several binders-full, and have produced two CDs!
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Hannie
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Marcia
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Tom
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Lynn
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Dave
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Wayne
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Sue
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Celeste
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Celeste Bradbury-Marshall
Percussion (Ugly Stick, Guitar, Washboard, Ektar and various other percussion instruments, such as Shakers.), Vocals
Celeste was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, to Gerald and Eileen Bradbury. Her family was always in some way involved in music while she was growing up. Her mother has a lovely soprano voice and her father was well known around the area with his deep baritone voice and played in a band in his younger days before the war. Gerald's sisters were also very musical with nicknames like 'Moonlight' and 'Doom'. All were involved in the local Glee Club and dragging family members along for the ride. On Celeste's mother's side, her grandfather from England, Tom Gilder, was a well known banjo player and composer. At present, Celeste's 2 older brothers and younger sister are all accomplished musicians. Her oldest brother was once a band member of the Ravens and had his own band called Borealis in Newfoundland in the early 70's.
Celeste has sat back at many a family gathering and watched, as well as sung, at the parties and events over the years. So it is not surprising that she has sung in a few church choirs and now with the Atlantic Voices.
In 1990, she met her future husband and they have an 12 yr. old daughter and 15 yr. old son who, of course, are both involved in music and dance. As the kids got older and started school fulltime, Celeste and her husband, Brien, decided to join the Atlantic Voices Choir as something for them to do as a couple. This was back in 2003 and 4 years later, they're still involved and enjoying the camaraderie and music the choir has to offer.
About 2 years ago, with the help of Brien, Celeste made an ugly stick. This is not what it sounds like and is a type of percussion instrument made popular years ago in Newfoundland, probably a traditional instrument brought over by Irish settlers who landed on the 'Rock' as early as the 1600's. An ugly stick is made from a wooden floor mop which is turned upsidedown, planted in a rubber boot and has bottle caps nailed in the handle which jingle as one shakes it.
Recently, 'Tammy' (named as such because it has a Newfoundland tartan tam sewn to the mop head) has become a staple at the A.V. concerts, especially during the singalongs. Another was made for one of the silent auctions held at A.V. concerts and it fetched a hefty dollar for the fundraiser!
Dave Huddleston
Guitar and Spoons
Dave bought his first guitar while in university. Having tinkered with the guitar ever since then, he's gained much of his competence and experience 'on the job.'
His love of Newfoundland music prompted him to purchase a set of spoons from Dory Dan in Corner Brook. With the help of many kitchen parties, he brought that extra little bit o' somethin' to the band. "It's dos spoons, b'y!"
Dave was born and raised in Alberta. During his tenure with Parks Canada, he spent 10 glorious years in Gros Morne National Park on Newfoundland's west coast and fell in love with Newfoundland music and songs. He, his wife and four children live in Ottawa, Ontario. Dave joined the Fumblin' Fingers in 2005.
Hannie Fitzgerald
Accordion
Hannie comes from a musical background where singing was an integral part of her upbringing. She started piano lessons at the age of nine while in an English boarding school and was also taught the recorder. She taught herself guitar and took classical guitar lessons for one year at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ottawa.
She has sung in one choir or another ever since childhood and has played piano and organ for a local seniors' home (where her father resided) for nine years. But her love of music climaxed when she formed the Fumblin' Fingers band in May of 2004, this only two months after starting accordion lessons!
Lynn Petros
Fiddle
Lynn comes from a non-musical family, and just stumbled on the violin when she was five. Her mother found a school bulletin describing violin lessons buried in her school bag, and asked her if she was interested. Not having a clue what she getting into, she said yes. For many years she took private lessons, played with the South Shore String Orchestra and the Montreal Civic Youth Orchestra, and when she was nine, made a guest appearance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. She hasn't played much in the last fifteen years, till a few months ago, when she began dabbling with the fiddle.
During her hiatus from playing the violin, she sang with La Chorale de l'Ambassade du Canada in Paris, and the Maple Leaf Melodia, in Mexico City, a 6 person ensemble that raised funds for Doctors Without Borders, and for orphans.
Lynn joined the Fumblin' Fingers in the fall of 2005, and is just loving it!
Marcia Phillips
Recorder, Whistle, Bodhran
Originally from England, Marcia arrived in Ottawa with her husband Barry and two children Jane and Michael in 1989. After living in Orleans for 19 years, she now lives in Merrickville, Ontario. She has been teaching instrumental music in schools and in her home studios since 1971, and since 1995 has worked as a music engraver and editor. In her spare time she loves to compose music, mainly for woodwind and piano.
Born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1950, Marcia inherited her love of music from her parents who both sang to her as a baby, so the first musical instrument she discovered was her voice. She remembers picking out tunes on the piano at about 3 years old, but she did not start formal lessons until the age of 7, receiving her first recorder around the same time. At the age of 14 she learned to play guitar, and with her school friends, formed a folk-singing trio. During her last years at grammar school she was a percussionist in the Shropshire Youth Orchestra and every Saturday played piano for a local school of dance. Whilst a student at Bretton Hall College in Yorkshire (1968-71), Marcia and singing partner Linda King performed regularly at the Bretton Folk Club. During her time as secretary of the club she felt honored to meet many famous folkies, the most memorable being Peggy Seeger, Ewan McColl, and Martin Carthy.
Since then Marcia has been a member of various folk, rock and blues bands. During the eighties, when she and her family moved from Shropshire to Yorkshire, she played accordion for the Oakworth Morris Dancers, joining the ceilidh band formed by the Morris musicians. They had a great time touring Yorkshire and Cumbria from pub to pub. Talk about fumblin' fingers! One memorable gig was at a Scottish wedding: "We were all very nervous about playing highland music for Scots to dance to when there wasn't a drop of Scottish blood between us. However, the music was appreciated, if the loud whoops and swinging kilts were anything to go by!"
When Marcia heard the Atlantic Voices perform their first concert in January 2003 she was inspired to join the choir, and this led to her becoming one of original members of the Fumblin' Fingers.
Sue McCarthy
Bass Fiddle
Sue was introduced to the love of music at an early age by her parents who always had a hi fi stereo going with the latest show tunes. Although neither parent played an instrument, Sue remembers the family settling down with their songbooks once a week to "Sing Along with Mitch".
Although Sue was in a choir in high school, her active participation in music started in the early 1980's when she used to get together with friends to sing bluegrass music. Eventually, Sue with the help of her husband, Richard and other friends formed the Ottawa Valley Bluegrass Association (Valley Grass), an organization dedicated to the promotion of bluegrass music in the area through concerts, jam sessions and other events. In the mid 1980's Sue took up playing the acoustic bass and sang and played in the New Tradition bluegrass group with Richard and other friends. The band hosted a bluegrass open stage once a week at Rasputin's on Bronson Avenue at Clemow.
In the mid- 1990's, Sue's interest turned to Celtic music and she joined Richard to play bass with the Lyon Street Celtic Band.
Sue's love of Celtic and Newfoundland folk music has led her to play bass with the Fumblin' Fingers and sing with the Atlantic Voices Choir. Her connection to the Atlantic Provinces comes through her mother, Doris Jardine, who was born and raised in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Tom Murray
Fiddle
Tom was born in St John's, Newfoundland and grew up in the small Irish fishing village of Long Harbour, Placentia Bay. As a result he was exposed to music, songs and dance at an early age. He started playing the violin when he was 13 having found an old instrument that his brother had bought and neglected many years before. However, there were no other violin players in the area so he had to teach himself. After many trials and errors he finally figured out how to play a few tunes. After becoming fairly proficient he found out that he had tuned the violin like a guitar and had to relearn how to play it all over again.
He continued to play the fiddle after he joined the Air Force. He also taught himself guitar and dabbled in playing the mandolin and banjo but the fiddle remained his favourite.
Since moving to Ottawa in 1974 Tom has become very active in the local music scene playing old time fiddle and guitar with a number of Country & Western, Blue Grass and Irish Groups. He re-established contact with a number of other musicians whom he had met in the Air Force and gets together with them for regular jam sessions. Tom is also active in the local fiddle clubs where he can be found most weekends playing lead or backup fiddle with a strong Irish flavour.
Tom joined the Fumblin' Fingers Band for their first concert performance, going back to his roots of Newfoundland music.
Wayne Mercer
Guitar and Mandolin
Wayne is from Gander Newfoundland. Aside from singing in junior choirs in elementary school, he has had no formal musical training. He got a guitar for Christmas when he was 14, and taught himself to play it, then joined with a group of friends to start a rock/pop band, which only lasted a couple of years. The guitar was put aside to pursue a career in Engineering, then to raise a family.
Wayne got back into music when he heard the call from Kristina Curran to start the Atlantic Voices choir. He and his wife Terry helped start up the choir, and have been very active with it since. In addition to contributing a Bass voice, Wayne was the choir's music librarian for several years.
When the choir held it's 2nd annual barbecue, Hannie called up the instrument-capable members to help entertain the group. Wayne brought along his guitar, and was then induced to join in the formation of the Fumbling Fingers the following season.
In addition to playing the guitar, Wayne is able to bumble along on percussion instruments (like the spoons), can tear off a few mean Blues licks on the Harmonica (not much use in this band), has learned a bit on the fiddle, and has brought his new Mandolin to the band to round out some of the tunes.
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