Interview with Raynald Ouellet

Raynald Ouellet: Most of the time, musicians didn’t have anywhere to share ideas or play jam sessions, where everyone could share tunes and stuff like that. Really, it was the opposite! Everyone kept to themselves! Musicians each developed their own personal repertoire. And they’d guard it jealously, because that’s what their reputation was based on, their status in the community. They jealously guarded their repertoires, even kept them secret. But there were better-known tunes you could hear on the radio. It was easier for people to learn them, although it was still a matter of imitating, listening. And then, later on, in the 60s or thereabouts, tape recorders came along. That made it a lot easier. At the very least, you could record yourself, even if the recordings weren’t necessarily very good, in the right key. It all depended on the device, on the record player or the radio. The speed might change while it was playing, which would change the sound, throw things out of key. So, musicians had to concentrate very, very hard when listening to a piece of music. Otherwise, they just wouldn’t be able to reproduce it. Say it was a tune in D major. Reproducing it in D sharp on an accordion was no easy feat! A half step, it sounded bad! It was awful! Those people were so passionate about the music that they put in the time. For them, it was a game! It was a real challenge to learn such and such a tune, a new piece. It took a lot of passion!