fiddling

He had a tolerable knack of fiddling, which all appreciated save the First Mate, who sprang from the sofa as if he had been shot, emitted a shriek of protest, and fled wildly up the stairs.

And certainly whose degenerate arts and shifts, whereby many counsellors and governors gain both favor with their masters, and estimation with the vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling; being things rather pleasing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tending to the weal and advancement of the state which they serve.

Here voyageurs frolicked away their wages, fiddling and dancing in the booths and cabins, buying all kinds of knick-knacks, dressing themselves out finely, and parading up and down, like arrant braggarts and coxcombs.

Bob obeyed, and Solomon walked in, fiddling as he walked, for he would on no account break off in the middle of a tune.

There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the contrary, smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing and fiddling; there are bullies pushing about, bucks ogling the women, knaves picking pockets, policemen on the look-out, quacks (OTHER quacks, plague take them!) bawling in front of their booths, and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind.

For hours at a time, he remained locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, very, very softly.

Finally, one thing that brings people back year after year to such events is a feeling of nostalgia brought about by what fiddling symbolizes for this subculture, such as a return to a simpler time and small-town values.

"She is probably the very best representative of the Cape Breton fiddling style, yet she's very accessible," says OFAM executive director James Ralph, who admits MacMaster is a particular favorite of his.

Fiddling Way Out Yonder: The Life and Music of Melvin Wine.

But Falkirk Sheriff Court was told Rae deprived the public purse of pounds 16,000 by fiddling benefits.

Perlman, an author, banjo and guitar player, teacher, and music collector, draws on interviews with 150 fiddlers and others from Prince Edward Island, Canada, as well as archival records and other sources, to trace the culture of traditional fiddling on the island from the turn of the 20th century to the present, focusing on the central role of fiddlers at dances and celebrations, how they learned their skills and music, their values and attitudes, and how they relate to each other, their communities, and their environment.