Story time...

At a Sunday afternoon session we used to have in Pensacola, a couple showed up one day, he with fiddle and guitar in hand and she schlepping an electric piano. You could hear the hackles of the acoustic purists rising at the prospect of anything electric being played at our session. (Particularly since several of us had once run an open mike and had been "burned" by letting people play keyboards on the promise that they'd keep it "very acoustic sounding".)

Anyway, the couple introduced themselves and he explained that he was a working fiddler who had a regular gig with an Alabama-based bluegrass band, but that he had grown up playing more traditional tunes, had heard about our session and had decided to drop in and play some music for fun for a change. We took turns leading off tunes and the young lady refrained from playing the piano until it was her husband's turn to lead off, whereupon they launched into a scorching set of Cape Breton reels on fiddle and piano that totally floored everyone there. Most of us had heard Cape Breton style piano accompaniment on records, but it was the first time any of us had actually heard it live, much less gotten to play with someone who could do it. The doubters very quickly got over their doubts, embraced the piano despite its need of electricity and it wound up being the best and most memorable session we had during the two-years we had them at that location.

I guess my point is don't let other people's preconceptions about the instrument influence your willingness to play it in front of them. You know whether or not your playing style is appropriate for the venue and the audience. Just do it and if people have preconceptions, change them.

By the way, the fiddler and pianist at that session were J.P. Cormier and his wife Hilda Chiasson-Cormier, names which meant nothing to us at the time. It was about a year later that things started to click for them and J.P.s rise to the top of the Celtic music pile began.