Daniel Gervais is doing something many musicians aspire to – not only does the 29-year-old fiddle player from St. Paul earn his living playing music, but he is now a two-time Canadian Grand Master Fiddler, the only Albertan ever to boast the title.
“I’d say the energy is electric,” Gervais said of the invitational Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition, that brought the top talented fiddlers from across the country to play in Morinville on Aug. 27. “I just treated it like any other performance - I stayed calm. I didn’t want to run my tunes too frantically and play out.”
During the competition, he tried to look comfortable, which people told him afterwards came across in his performance.
After winning the title for the first time in 2011, Gervais was ready to hang up his competitive fiddling hat. As it was, the University of Alberta music graduate found himself playing gigs throughout the year, and found it “stressful” to practice to compete against people he considers friends.
But when fellow St. Paul fiddle champion Calvin Vollrath – Gervais’ fiddle hero – called him and asked him to come to this year’s event, Gervais took the request seriously. Not only was he ready to come at Vollrath’s request, but this was also the first time that the competition was held so close to home, as he and his family, including his three children, make their home in Edmonton.
“There’s no way I wanted to miss out on the action.”
Vollrath and his wife Rhea Labrie were co-chairs of the committee organizing the event, and were instrumental in bringing the championship to Alberta.
“It was getting stale after being held in Ottawa for 24 years,” said Labrie, adding that after the competition moved to places like Moncton and Saskatoon, it was rejuvenated and saw better success.
When the president of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association put the call out for a host venue, she and Vollrath both wanted to see it happen in Alberta, and brought together a committee that was successful in putting in the bid to host in Morinville.
Vollrath picked out five superior fiddlers to send to represent Alberta, with Gervais getting an automatic invite as a past champion, to round out a field of 33 competitors.
Gervais “played his heart out,” Labrie said, adding the decision to crown him the champion was made unanimously by the judges.
“Obviously, it’s a proud moment. And it was a proud moment to have an Albertan win in Alberta,” she said, adding that Gervais also won the People’s Choice award, sponsored by Vollrath.
Gervais noted the competition gives fiddlers five minutes to play four tunes that celebrate old time Canadian fiddle music.
“You’ve got to really, really showcase your skills, you’ve got to not hit the ditch,” he said.
In preparation for the show, he ran through his performance every day for a month, recording his playing and listening for weak spots to improve so that “no matter how nervous I’d get, I’d allow the muscle memory to take over.”
In addition to winning him $3,500, coming at the top of the prestigious competition does create a buzz, and media attention, said Gervais. When he won in 2011, it opened doors for him in being selected to perform in the London Olympics and performing at Carnegie Hall with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
“I feel like, with the 150th anniversary of Canada coming up, maybe some things will present themselves with that,” he said.
His next closest concert date in the area takes place in Bonnyville on Sept. 24, but his schedule next year is already getting pretty full, as he plans to put out a new album of fiddle music, tour Manitoba and Saskatchewan in April, and is planning for a tour in France during the summer.
From a five-year-old boy who first picked up a fiddle to a 14-year-old boy traveling to country opries in places like Bonnyville and Boscombe and now to a two-time Canadian Master Fiddler, Gervais has made his way up and up in the musical world, but it’s no question of luck, but rather, as he says, “preparation meets opportunity.”
“Hard work and the right attitude, it pays off,” he says, adding his advice for anyone looking for success in any sphere would be the same – “You find what you’re passionate about, and you give it your all.”
