Speech 3: The ‘Git’ Fiddle

An attempt to create a visual image of a most unusual home-made percussion instrument:

A little History

My Dad was a part time musician – he sang and played guitar and harmonica in a country/bluegrass band nearly every weekend and major holiday his entire adult life.

My Mom was not a musician and she couldn’t sing a lick – but she was there with my Dad nearly every weekend and major holiday of her adult life.

My Dad and Mom are a wonderful love story (see below) and this is one part of that story.

See if you can imagine…

A tall pole about 6 feet in length standing upright, maybe 2” wide.
It was six sided so it was easier to grip.

At the foot of the pole there was a heavy duty spring attached so that you could push the pole down to hit the floor and it would spring back.

Dad then took 2 metal beer trays about 15-18’’ in diameter and secured them face to face creating a space between them so if you tapped them it would reverberate a little. He then bolted them to the pole about a third of the way up the pole from the floor.

He found an old bass piano string and strung it from the top of the pole across a bridge he had affixed to the two beer trays and then tied it taut to the bottom of the pole just above the spring.

Next he found a stuffed toy that looked something like the ‘joker’ or ‘court jester’ you see in a deck of cards. It was red, white and blue and had bells on it’s ears and feet. Dad secured this to the top of the pole.

He painted the pole white and the beer trays a bright red. If you squinted it kind of looked like a skinny stand up bass with one string.

The player (My Mom) used a 3 foot long dowel or rod that was about ½ - ¾ inch thick. The rod had a spiral groove on it about 2/3 the length of it – leaving the end smooth so my Mom could grip it. The grooves allowed her to catch it on the string and make a different sound and/or rhythm.

And this instrument my Dad dubbed a ‘git fiddle’ because he said it made so much noise most people would yell ‘git’.

So How Do you Play This Thing?

Hopefully you now have a visual image and wonder just how do you play this thing. Well, my Mom didn’t seem to need any instruction. She took to it so fast and was so good at it that when she played – everyone in the place was on their feet – whoppin’ an hollerin’. Her appearance was a show stopper!

Of course fast paced songs were best – maybe Wabash Cannon Ball, an up tempo Just Because and polka's were always a good choice.

Dad saved her for the third set – she would bring out this instrument and folks who hadn’t heard or seen her play this yet would be scrunching their brows – wondering ‘wha?’ for no one in those parts had ever seen such a ‘thing!’.

What Rhythm…

My Mom may not have been able to sing a note but boy did she have rhythm! She could keep that pole going up and down hitting the floor in time to the music – while making an entirely different rhythm and sound using the long dowel as a bow against the string and beer trays. The bells were just an added treat.

She was fantastic. And least you think anyone could play that thing? Not really. Many tried and many failed, including me.

I tried to find a picture of this instrument and could only come up with an old picture of my Mom where only the top half of the fiddle is visible. And we have no audio that I know of.

I find it sad as I grow older and look back at the love story that was my Mom and Dad and remember this part of their story and realize that there are so few who remain who experienced the ‘git fiddle’. So I wanted to share this vivid memory I have with you – and hopefully pass on a small portion their story by trying to describe this gift my Father built for my Mother so she could share the limelight of a musician - by whacking away with such delight on the ‘git’ fiddle.