Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally. As well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay. ca 

Rockin Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here come Peter, here comes David, oh listen Bringing stories, making waves, no missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave, So sweet. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mic. It's all right. Join the ride. It's going to feel just right.

Dave Graham: Hey, welcome to the program. Here comes a fresh new episode, and I want to introduce my co host. He's a guy who turned his life around by redefining the meaning of success, and he's still celebrating the successful completion of breakfast this morning, dropping standards, and getting stuff done. Ladies and gentlemen, he's the incredibly successful Peter McCully.

Peter McCully: Don't forget I also dressed myself this morning. And he's a guy who found out he doesn't work well under pressure, or any other circumstances for that matter. He's Dave Graham.

Dave Graham: I also dressed myself this morning. Hey, you want to know what I'm wearing? No, no, I do not. Let's stick to the business here. I'm wearing almost everything. This is part of my emergency preparedness. I figured it out. I have on almost every piece of clothing I have. I stuff the pockets with supplies. It's brilliant. I mean, I don't need a go bag now. I'm wearing it. Have you seen my pen, by the way? I put it in one of these pockets. I just can't seem to find which one.Did someone turn up the heat in here? 

Peter McCully: Since we chatted with earthquake seismologist, Taimi Mulder, about earthquakes and seismic activity in and around Vancouver Island, we experienced four earthquakes in less than two weeks. Taimi answered all of our questions about the increased seismic activity.

Taimi Mulder: They've been very interesting earthquakes in the grand scheme of things. These are still relatively small earthquakes. They're not magnitude sixes or sevens that are going to do damage. They don't appear to be related. We've just had a little cluster of events. This is a relatively normal thing. It is a little bit unusual to have four in such a short time span, but it's not the normal occurrence, but not at a ballpark.

Dave Graham: Natalie McMaster has concerts booked up and down Vancouver Island in March. Natalie has been an international star and ambassador for Cape Breton fiddle music since she was a teenager. She and husband Donnel Leahy have seven children, all musicians. I 

Natalie MacMaster: I still have small children and there's a lot of time spent on, you know, finding the shoes and the tights and making sure the hair and so and so practice that part and all this stuff. So that beauty is often distracted by just the daily duties of the moment. But when I do get the odd opportunity to really soak in what's actually happening, it's unreal to me. I can't even believe. First of all, to have seven kids, like, where did that come from? When I was 33, we had our first child. I didn't expect there were going to be six more coming after. And then to have them all playing music. There's nothing that makes me happier than to watch them flourish. 

Dave Graham: Natalie McMaster. She and her husband Donnel are known as Canada's reigning couple of Celtic music. 

Peter McCully: And it's a family affair. Not only are there seven children musicians, they all appear in Natalie's Christmas shows. And their smaller four on the floor tour will be playing Colicum Beach near the end of March. 

Dave Graham: Boy, I hope they get along well. Touring and working together as a family, that could be interesting. I mean, I have two sisters. I love them both. I don't get to see them often enough, but I can't imagine what it would be like to have that much time together. Okay, seriously, who turned the heat up? 

Peter McCully: Chilliwack will be making an appearance as part of Beachfest in Parksville, July the 12th. It will most likely be only one of two shows on Vancouver Island. We have tickets to give away in a draw. Email the name of your favourite Chilliwack tune to contest at thepulsecommunity.ca, your name and where you live. The draw will be May 30th.

Dave Graham: I can never think of the band Chilliwack without thinking back to a TV commercial I saw of theirs once. I remember thinking at the time that I was, well, it was kind of impressive that a Canadian band was at the level of being able to advertise on television, and then I heard the announcer say their name, Chilliwack. I mean, I can't blame the announcer, it's kind of spelled Chilliwack, I suppose, but don't call them that. 

Peter McCully: Dave, we've got a call here. 

Dave Graham: Oh, wrong number? 

Peter McCully: No, it's a call on our speak to us line.

Rosalie Garland: Peter and Dave. I wanted to let your listeners know Oceanside Community Safety Volunteers offers a program for individuals living independently in the Oceanside area who could use a wellness check by a phone call every morning between nine a.m. and 10 a. m. Calls can be made 365 days a year or on a temporary basis if a family member is away on holidays. There is no charge for this service. For more information, contact Kim at our Qualicum Beach office, Tuesdays to Friday at 250 752 2949. Thank you. 

Peter McCully: Rosie Garland from the Oceanside Community Safety Volunteers. And we should also let you know that the web address, in case you want more information, is OceansideCSV. org. 

Dave Graham: Wow, that was great. 

Peter McCully: Wellness checks? Yeah, it's a great service. 

Dave Graham: Oh yeah, that too. I, uh, but I was thinking of how we're getting some use out of that feedback line, the speak to us feature. 

Peter McCully: Well, we want to make it easy as possible for folks to contact us. The link to speak to us allows people to use their computers or their phones to literally leave us a voice message. 

Dave Graham: Not everyone is comfortable doing that, so we also offer a link to just type us a message. If you prefer, follow the contact links on our main page, thepulsecommunity.ca. We'd love to hear from you, even just in the form of a comment on something you've heard. It'd be even better if you want to Sponsor us? Oh, speaking of comfort, you know, maybe I should be rethinking this idea about wearing my emergency kit. It's kind of hard to tell. I think I'm sitting on something. Might be a can of beans. 

Peter McCully: It's great that you're at least trying to be prepared. We had a series of small earthquakes over the last month or so, and our first guest is here to pursue the topic. Marilyn, if you'll do the honors. 

Marilyn: If you are wondering about what causes so much seismic activity off of Vancouver Island or when the big one is coming. Earthquake seismologist, Taimi Mulder, has lots to talk about. She joins us from the Green Room. 

Peter McCully: Welcome to the podcast today, Taimi. Thank you. You're our first repeat guest we've had on the Pulse podcast.

Taimi Mulder: I feel quite honored, Peter. 

Peter McCully: Well, you should feel honored because you're one of the guests who has that vast amount of knowledge that we're looking for because everybody is either talking about Donald Trump or earthquakes on Vancouver Island. Since the last time we chatted, we had four earthquakes in the space of a couple of weeks felt in various parts of Vancouver Island. I think there was a couple in Washington state, one on the Sunshine Coast and one east of Sydney. So we'd like you to talk about those particular earthquakes, the strengths, where they're located, who felt them, what you know about them. 

Taimi Mulder: We've had four earthquakes since February 21st. The first one was on February 21st. It was a magnitude 4. 7 just north of Sechelt. Then that evening at 7. 30, there was a magnitude 2. 5 on the Saanich Peninsula, so just north of Victoria. March 3rd, there was a magnitude 4. 5 on Orcas Island. And on March 5th, there was a magnitude 3. 9 on the Olympic Peninsula. So it's been a bit busy for us in the office.

They've been very interesting earthquakes in the grand scheme of things. These are still relatively small earthquakes. They're not magnitude sixes or sevens that are going to do damage. They don't appear to be related. We've just had a little cluster of events. This is a relatively normal thing. It is a little bit unusual to have four in such a short time span, but it's not the normal occurrence, but not at a ballpark.

Peter McCully: Were these earthquakes related to each other as far as foreshocks or aftershocks go? Do they appear to be independent seismic events? 

Taimi Mulder: These are independent seismic events, they're too far apart in space and in time for them to be associated with each other. And more importantly is really the space aspect in this particular situation.

Peter McCully: The space physically or the space and time? 

Taimi Mulder: The physical space. They're too widely separated to be aftershocks. So the aftershocks tend to occur very close to the main shock. This magnitude 4. 7 event, for example, you're looking at a potential rupture area of 500 meters to a kilometer ish, something like that, in a square area.

So these earthquakes are easily 50 kilometers or more apart from each other. So in the spatial extent, they're not aftershocks at all, they're not related. Some of those earthquakes occurred at different depths. Some of them were down within the Juan de Fuca plate, and some were in the overlying North America plate.

So when we talked about them being related spatially, there is your horizontal distance on the map, but then they are also separated by a plate. With some of them actually occurring in the North America plate and some being in the Juan de Fuca, which makes them even more unrelated to each other.

Interestingly, the Sechelt earthquake has had quite a number of aftershocks. There's a lot of small ones that aren't up on our website, like very small ones that we can barely even locate. But there's probably been more than 50 teeny, teeny, weeny aftershocks from that event. 

Peter McCully: How do these recent earthquakes compare in magnitude and characteristics to the historical seismic patterns that you observe in and around Vancouver Island?

Taimi Mulder: They're part of the historical pattern. They're not deviating from it. It's the areas of known seismicity in southwestern B. C. We certainly haven't had a magnitude 4. 7 in the Coast Mountains. That's a teeny bit unusual, but In the grand scheme of things, over thousands of years, not unusual. One thing I think we have to remember is, we've really been recording and monitoring for earthquakes in a very short period of time.

Our first instrument in Victoria was in 1898. That instrument picked up long period waves. A small earthquake generates a lot of high frequency waves. The initial instruments that were designed were to pick up the much longer period waves that came from much, much larger earthquakes. So the ones that travel around the world.

So magnitude 6s and 7s and 8s. And the first set of instruments really were only able to detect these larger events. And that lasted up until about the 50s. Over time, over decades, other instrumentation came in that would pick up the shorter period waveforms. In the 50s, we expanded our network and were able to locate more earthquakes in southwestern B.C. 

We had three instruments that went in, and then we had a big expansion of our network, and we had a slow expansion from the 50s onwards, and up to about 1985, then we had a very large expansion of seismic stations for our network. At which point, we're able to locate smaller and smaller events, probably our four and a half, our record for that, I think that would go back to approximately the fifties in terms of what we call completeness, meaning that we would have recorded that earthquake and known that it happened.

Peter McCully: Last time we chatted Taimi I asked you if we were closer to the big one. And now, with all this increased activity, are we? even closer to the big one or not? 

Taimi Mulder: Well, we are even closer to the big one, but this recent activity isn't bringing us any closer to the big one. 

Peter McCully: So all this increased seismic activity isn't a forerunner of something else?

Taimi Mulder: No, this is still part of our normal pattern of events. It's not reached any anomalous stage. At this point in time, and interestingly enough, I was just looking at a plot for the Japan earthquake that happened, looking at all the earthquakes that happened prior to the main shock, and they were in the year prior, less than magnitude five, then the main shock happened that aftershock sequence, even a year after you were still getting magnitude five events, there was a real And Uptick in seismicity and earthquakes, you didn't see that prior to the actual earthquake mainshock.

Peter McCully: When we chatted previously, we talked a little bit about artificial intelligence, AI, and how it was being incorporated into modern seismology. You mentioned that it was being used for identifying patterns and predicting seismic events. Was it of any use in the past few weeks in that regard? 

Taimi Mulder: We haven't used it in the past few weeks. It's more a research tool for not for prediction so much, but for going through old data sets or previous data sets where we've already collected the waveforms and then going through and getting a more complete catalog of seismic events that occurred in that timeframe. 

Peter McCully: After the second earthquake occurred, lots of folks said they didn't receive an alert on their phone. I didn't get an alert for any of the events. How did the alerts work? What am I doing wrong? Is the technology and Peter, they don't go together. 

Taimi Mulder: You're not doing anything wrong, Peter. The alerts are issued only for a region where there may be damaging shaking. That is actually for the 4. 7 in Sechelt. That was a very small area, maybe about 30 kilometers. Radius around the main shock. It didn't really reach out to the Vancouver area at all or to Vancouver Island. I think Seashell residents received the alert. However, once you went beyond that distance, there was no alert issued. And of course, the alert is issued from the cell tower. And your phone has to be connected to that particular cell tower to receive the alert.

Peter McCully: Well, that makes perfect sense. 

Taimi Mulder: And for the other earthquakes, the intensity of shaking didn't reach such a level that we needed to issue an alert in Canada. 

Peter McCully: Just for fun, after we had the third earthquake, I asked Siri to Look up for me how many earthquakes there were in the world that very same day. And there was 1181 of them recorded. Four of them were over a five magnitude. Is that just a normal day? 

Taimi Mulder: More or less, you might not get four magnitude fives in a day, you could get something bigger, you might only get one magnitude five, you could potentially get zero, but it's not unexpected. 

Peter McCully: To have that many earthquakes in the world in a day?

Taimi Mulder: Correct. The world's big, we have big tectonic plates that bump up against the edge of each other. There's teeny weeny earthquakes occurring. All the time, many of which we're not even recording the ones that we have located or the ones that you saw when you did your search, but most of those are quite small. It's a bit of an exponential curve. So as you go down in magnitude, you get more and more and more. Smaller earthquakes. Most of those, as you noted, were quite small and there was only a handful of larger events on that day. 

Peter McCully: Timey, what are some common misconceptions about earthquakes and aftershocks that you'd like to talk about?

Taimi Mulder: People should be aware that aftershock sequences, for a given earthquake, it may or may not have a long aftershock sequence. That's partly dependent on where they are, maybe on the depth of the earthquake, plays a small factor. Initially, it didn't look like we had many aftershocks from the Sechelt earthquake, but the total number of aftershocks for that event were more than I thought we would see given what we saw in the 24 hours following that event.

But it's not necessarily unusual, it's just typically closer to the event, you see more aftershocks, and as time goes on, they die off. If the event is very large, aftershock sequences can extend for a year. I spoke earlier about the Japan earthquake, their magnitude 9, and that aftershock sequence, a year later, they were still getting magnitude 5 aftershocks to the big event.

And their aftershock sequence just extends for many, many years. But those magnitude fives are still occurring within that first year. So typically, the larger the actual earthquake, the longer the aftershock sequence. So for smaller earthquakes, like a four, you could have an aftershock sequence of days, maybe a week or two, and then they would die off.

For bigger events, like fives and sixes and sevens, The length of those aftershock sequences expands into months and years. As I mentioned before, typically bigger aftershocks will occur closer in time to the main shock, but that closer in time is dependent on the length of your aftershock sequence. So it's all relative.

If you have a very long aftershock sequence like you would for Japan, you'll see magnitude fives for at least a year afterwards, if not more. 

Peter McCully: As always, great explanations to our questions. 

Taimi Mulder: It's been great speaking with you, but it would be nice to have a break from some of the earthquakes. It's been very busy at work, and all these earthquakes just give us extra things to do, and so now we're just playing catch up from the last couple weeks.

Hopefully it quietens down so that, you know, we can catch up with the regular work. 

Peter McCully: Well, Taimi, I'm going to head out to the garage and work on my earthquake kit, making sure that it's up to date and I get to change the water in the bottle and all that kind of thing, so. Thanks for being with us and taking the time to explain earthquakes.

Taimi Mulder: You're most welcome, Peter. It's been lovely, as always. 

Dave Graham: You know, I'm almost surprised you were even able to talk to her again. It seems that anyone who works in the field of seismology has been pretty busy lately dealing with calls from media. I mean, we get earthquakes all the time, but we hardly ever feel them, so interest is really peaking, but I don't need to tell you that.  

Peter McCully: It is a major story Dave, around these parts, and that's what we're all about here at the Pulse Community Podcast. We're interested in the people and the stories of Mid Vancouver Island, and we're interested in finding another winner with our Tickle Trunk Contest. Every week we offer clues to the virtual location of the trunk. We have a $25 smile card from Thrifty Foods for the winner. 

Dave Graham: And we are looking for someone to tell us the current name of what used to be the site of a school. It was associated with Malaspina University College years ago. It was also home to an alternative high school, Pass Woodwinds. Nowadays, there is a daycare center on site, meetings of community groups.

They have gatherings, coffee and conversation kind of thing at regular intervals. Actually, there is a women's group and a men's group. Which is great to see, really, because we men often require a little push to get out and meet people. Anyway, they would like to be your go to center for your next big event.

They are ready to host your next big party, or a day of arts and crafts, or maybe a small trade show. They can handle that. I can't personally get out right now. I'm prepared for an emergency by wearing pretty much all of my clothing. It does make movement just a little more difficult. 

Peter McCully: If you can identify the location of the tickle truck, drop us a line and perhaps next week we'll be announcing your name. As the winner, thanks to Thrifty Foods, you can reach us at contest at thepulsecommunity. ca. Please include your name and where you live in your entry. 

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Dave Graham: This is the Pulse Community Podcast with Peter and Dave. He's Peter, and I'm looking forward to the next time we'll be able to get out to talk with people, find out what's on their minds. Yes, the last time we were out was Captain Canada asking people about buying Canadian. I know Captain Canada is normally busy doing superhero stuff, but I hope we can get him to come out with us again.

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, it appears that the current political climate will be providing topics to talk about at a fairly steady clip. Whether we're physically on site or not, we welcome your input and you are welcome to contact us. If you'd like to tell us how you are expressing your patriotism, or maybe you're not, and you'd like to explain your point of view, follow the contact links at thepulsecommunity.ca and share your thoughts. 

Dave Graham: So Peter, when you reach out to speak to Captain Canada, do you use, uh, like a special phone or maybe shine a light into the sky like Batman? I'm not allowed to say, Dave. I'm sworn to secrecy. 

Peter McCully: Why do you need some help? 

Dave Graham: I'm thinking that maybe wearing my emergency kit with all my clothes might not be my best idea. I was gonna just ask for help to take off a layer or two. I can't seem to reach the zipper on my outer jacket. I'm not even sure how I got it on in the first place. And it's so warm in here. Is the room actually spinning, or is it just me? 

Peter McCully: I think you better hydrate, bud. But it appears that you can't bend your arms either, so I'll see if I can find a straw. Just hang on here. 

Thrifty foods: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, and schools. Our Thrifty Foods Smile Card Bulk Program allows organizations to immediately save up to 6 percent on the purchase of smile cards in bulk, allowing you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville.

Dave Graham: An important component of the Pulse Community Podcast is our series of kid stories. We call them Skookum Kid Stories and we have a couple of separate storylines. Peter narrates the one called Peter and Gracie the Eskimo Dog and the next story to appear will be about Peter and Gracie. Putting together an emergency preparedness kit. I'm going to suggest that they do not do what I have done, stuff supplies into pockets and then wear all your clothes. A bit bulky, tiny bit warm, and after three cups of coffee there may be other issues I didn't fully think through. Anyway, getting ready for an emergency is a good lesson to share and it'll be coming up on the next episode of Peter and Gracie.

Peter McCully: And Dave narrates the adventures of the Mellow Submarine, featuring Captain Dave and his sidekick Larry the Lobster. In the next installment, be listening as the crew of the Mellow Submarine fall smack dab into the middle of a herring mystery. Follow the links from our main site, thepulsecommunity.ca. Larry the Lobster is particularly popular over on the East Coast, so are all of his pals. Serve with a little butter and maybe a wedge of lemon. We have an East coaster lined up as our next guest, Marilyn. 

Marilyn: In the green room is Celtic fiddler, Natalie McMaster, who is a Cape Breton and Canadian ambassador for Celtic music worldwide.

She is a member of the order of Nova Scotia and the order of Canada. Natalie and husband Donald Leahy are bringing their four on the floor concerts to Vancouver Island. 

Peter McCully: Kimmer Ma How, Natalie, and thanks for making some time for us today. I know you're on the road touring and squeezing us in. 

Natalie MacMaster: Oh, great stuff. Like to hear the gaelic coming out of you. 

Peter McCully: It's been a long, long time since we chatted. It was Highland Games Week in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in the 90s. You've been around the world many times since then. 

Natalie MacMaster: Yes, my goodness, yes, yeah. 

Peter McCully: How old were you when you started playing the fiddle, Natalie? 

Natalie MacMaster: I was nine years old, but I had been step dancing prior to then, doing a little bit of piano, Highland dancing, going to a lot of the local functions. So I had a good musical base before I actually picked up the fiddle. 

Peter McCully: Was there a specific moment when you realized that playing the fiddle was going to influence the rest of your life, like this is what you wanted to do? 

Natalie MacMaster: The first day I picked it up, the reason why I started the fiddle was because I had a grand uncle who sent me a three quarter size fiddle. It was small and cute and fit me perfectly, and that's what got me going. And I just kind of knew I'd always play. 

Peter McCully: Was that Uncle Buddy? 

Natalie MacMaster: No, Buddy was my uncle. And then my grand uncle was Charlie McMaster, who lived in Boston. 

Peter McCully: Well, Buddy was a legendary Cape Breton fiddler. I saw him quite a few times. What was the most important lesson he taught you that you still carry around with you today?

Natalie MacMaster: Well, I didn't actually take lessons from Buddy, but certainly on a broader scale, I admired him so much. And I think I learned his music and studied his music just live and through cassette recordings more than any other fiddler. But I would say. Without a doubt, actually, the greatest lesson I learned from him was to be generous with your gifts. He was very, very generous. I don't think he ever turned down a performance no matter how far or how difficult on his part to get there. Even his humility was ever present. He could play gigs that were very prestigious and ones that were very not, and he would just put the same effort and give in the same way.

Peter McCully: Speaking of music lessons, you and your cousin Ashley MacIsaac and countless others really took fiddle lessons from Stan Chapman. Who were some of those other teachers and performers along the way who might have influenced your style? 

Natalie MacMaster: Well, Mark O'Connor influenced my style a lot. He was an American fiddler. I was in my late teens when I heard those two people play and very impressionable and also had not heard much different from what I grew up with. It was just the right time for me to hear something new. But aside from Those two fiddlers, my style was really influenced by all the other Cape Breton fiddlers, like Willie Kennedy, I just loved, and Arthur Mewes and Jerry Holland and Winston Fitzgerald, Howie Macdonald, Jim O'Rourke, and just love their music.

Peter McCully: Cape Breton fiddle music has Scottish roots but its own distinctive style. How would you describe what makes Cape Breton fiddling unique? 

Natalie MacMaster: Well, the Cape Breton fiddle music is actually an old form of Scottish music. The historians tell me that the music of Cape Breton is a more pure form of Scottish fiddling than the music in Scotland today. But with the specific nuances of Cape Breton fiddling, I would say the greatest virtue to me, except that a part, is this driving, solid rhythm. It's mostly produced from the bowing, which is less slurring of the bow. A slur is when you put two or more notes into one bow movement, one bow direction. In Cape Breton, we tend to use more individual bows for individual notes, and that makes a more rhythmical sound. There's a lot of physical power behind that as well. We don't focus so much on being delicate and precise as much as we focus on being Energetic and powerful. 

Peter McCully: Natalie, you and Donald are raising seven children, all musicians. The family band performances have become a highlight on your stage shows, TV shows. How has performing with the children changed your experience on stage? Is this like a full circle moment for you? 

Natalie MacMaster: Well, you know, I don't often get to see the forest through the trees. I still have small children and there's a lot of time spent on, you know, finding the shoes and the tights and making sure the hair and did so and so practice that part and all this stuff. I still, you know, that beauty is often distracted by just the daily duties of the moment. But when I do get the odd opportunity to really soak in what's actually happening, it's unreal to me. I can't even believe. First of all, to have seven kids, like, where did that come from? When I was 33, we had our first child. I didn't expect there were going to be six more coming after. That in itself is unimaginable to me. And then to have them all playing music, oh my goodness, it's, I don't know how to describe it. I mean, it's beautiful. There's nothing that makes me happier. There's nothing that makes me happier than to watch them flourish, you know, in that way.

Peter McCully: You mentioned that it's a bit of a challenge with seven kids. How do you balance being both a mother and a touring musician? I, I figure with seven kids, music lessons, chores, traveling, it's either like a well oiled machine or complete. Chaos, 

Natalie MacMaster: it's complete chaos. It's complete chaos. I just wrote a book. It's coming out in the fall. It's called I have a love story One of the motivations behind the book was the question I get in every interview in the last 19 years How do you balance career and motherhood? I guess you'll have to get the book to find the answer But in the meantime as we're talking I'm thinking to myself. Oh, yeah, I do. How do I do it? Well, you have to be a multitasker Even doing this interview, I'm surprised I'm not folding a load of laundry. Like I'm actually sitting down to do this interview. I don't usually make phone calls unless I'm able to do something else while I'm talking. So yeah, you have to multitask a lot.

Peter McCully: Your daughter, Mary Frances, has just released her first album. 

Natalie MacMaster: Correct, yes, in May last year. 

Peter McCully: How do you feel about that? 

Natalie MacMaster: Fantastic, that I can talk about. I do get to sit and enjoy that, and very proud of her, incredibly proud. It's a miracle to me to watch her do her thing, especially with her. The thing that she has that I don't have or certainly didn't have it till later years is the ability to write and create.

I was just a player of the tunes. I probably played for 20 years before I ever even thought of writing a tune. It just was not something necessary to me. There was lots of great tunes in the world and I had no motivation to write one, but With Mary Frances, she can't help but write. She's been writing music since she was five years old, making up beautiful songs and melodies and arrangements.

And so that record she did was all her own material and all her own ideas. And she had a wonderful producer with her as well, who helped really draw out and embellish those creative juices. 

Peter McCully: I remember when we were chatting a long time ago, you told me about opening for Carlos Santana, after literally thousands of performances worldwide, is there a particular venue or an audience that stands out as especially memorable?

Natalie MacMaster: Well, one was pretty darn memorable. I mean, that was in front of a crowd of 80, 000 people in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I can remember playing at the Hollywood Bowl. That was an incredible night. We did shows at Carnegie Hall and even the traveling, you know, traveling over to Europe. Even though I didn't know the places I was playing, we were playing all these places.

I didn't know the venues. I don't know how prestigious they are or not. I just knew that I was in Slovenia, you know, or wherever I'd be. I'm like, wow, we're in this other country. And just all the traveling. It's been a pretty fantastic existence all around, but yeah, there was definitely those highlights.

Peter McCully: As somebody who's achieved as much as you have as a musician, what still excites you about picking up the fiddle every day? 

Natalie MacMaster: That's a great question. I feel like I just have renewed zeal for playing, for getting better, developing, progressing, continuing, recording, creating, writing, all of the above. And I don't know why that is.

I suspect that some of it's to do with the fact that I can't indulge in it like I used to. When I used to indulge by that, I mean, Life was only about myself and I did whatever I wanted and I went around the world and I played and I played and I played and I played so much I got sick of it even. You know, I've had burnout before.

I've lost luster at times in my life, a little bit, but I know what that feels like a little bit. But, you know, having It's such a large family and going really into domestic life. I'm not able to indulge so much in my music because my time is now divided with my family life and my children and helping them develop their crafts and their skills of all sorts.

So now when I have some me time, I consider performing on stage now like a day at the spa. I feel like I'm pampering myself. 

Peter McCully: Natalie, let's do a speed round of questions you can give us. A thought or two or a short story? How old were you when you mastered playing and step dancing at the very same time?

Natalie MacMaster: Sixteen. 

Peter McCully: Was it rough along the way? 

Natalie MacMaster: The actual dancing and fiddling at the same time? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, it was rough, but only for about a few minutes. We eventually got it smoothed out. 

Peter McCully: Your first professional gig where somebody gave you money for playing? 

Natalie MacMaster: I was 10 years old, Glendale Hall, Cape Breton.

Peter McCully: That's where I saw your Uncle Buddy. 

Natalie MacMaster: Nice!

Peter McCully: When you first met Donald. 

Natalie MacMaster: I was 19 in Truro, Nova Scotia, going to the Nova Scotia Teachers College. 

Peter McCully: The farthest you've traveled the world for a concert from point A to point B. 

Natalie MacMaster: Antarctica for the millennium on a cruise ship. 

Peter McCully: Really? 

Natalie MacMaster: Yep, with the Chieftains and Diana Krall.

Peter McCully: A place you have played in the world where you wouldn't have thought would be a hotspot for Celtic music. 

Natalie MacMaster: Hmm, probably Slovenia. I don't remember the event exactly, but I remember we did nine countries in 11 days, which isn't that hard when you're in Europe, but going through all those different countries, I just happened to pick that one, but there was a series of them where I'm like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're playing in these places, like really Cape Breton fiddling. But they went over real well. 

Peter McCully: What's it like to play with a symphony orchestra? 

Natalie MacMaster: I compare it to being on the luxury cruise liner, as opposed to the zippy little speedboat. So it's a little harder to steer around, but you've got a lot more to work with and you produce a bigger sound, bigger, more power. 

Peter McCully: Yo Yo Ma.

Natalie MacMaster: One of the silliest people I've ever met. 

Peter McCully: Really? 

Natalie MacMaster: Yeah, I mean that in a positive way if he was listening to this. He's an incredible musician and has had an incredible career that has crossed so many genres. But to meet him, he was so fun and light hearted. And I said to him, you're kind of silly. I said, I just, I'd never think that about you. And he said, my inner child is still intact. 

Peter McCully: The Chieftains. 

Natalie MacMaster: Chieftains, yes, I performed with for years. And it was always an honor. To get to play with them. They introduced me to a lot of venues and audiences and experiences that are irreplaceable. 

Peter McCully: The most Grammy awarded musician ever, Alison Crouse? 

Natalie MacMaster: Uh, isn't that something? So amazing. All her awards. She's had quite a career herself just being totally true to who she is and making great music. That's what it's all centered on. I met her when I was 15. She was 16. We were at a folk festival in Vancouver, and a few years after that, we recorded a song together. 

Peter McCully: What kind of fiddle do you play?

Natalie MacMaster: It's called a violme. It's a French violin. 

Peter McCully: Why do you like that particular fiddle? 

Natalie MacMaster: I just tried it and I like it. For fiddles, with me, it's got nothing to do with name or money. It's just got to do with feel. 

Peter McCully: The music, as it's referred to, carries forward a tradition that spans generations. When you think about your contribution to Cape Breton fiddle music, What is most important to you?

Natalie MacMaster: I've become passionate about spreading culture. I think it's partially stemmed from the pandemic, you know, being separated and recognizing that I love unity. I love community. I love traditions, things that people can share in together. I love focusing on things we all have in common. which is, you know, food and fun camaraderie and how the music traditions promote that.

I've started to teach square dancing and we've put on square dances here at our local hall since the pandemic opened up. My whole mindset has changed on all of that. I'm almost vicious for it. You can probably hear fiddle music in the background. There's kids out my door just practicing. But I'm just vicious to pass on the life that comes with culture.

Peter McCully: Natalie, tell us about the Four on the Floor concert series that you're currently touring the country with. 

Natalie MacMaster: We have a big entourage. We have our band and our whole family, and it's a big, big entourage. And the odd time we play in a smaller theater, and so when we do that, it gets difficult to handle having all that amount of people on stage.

And we were just wanting to come up with something that's more suitable for certain venues. That was one reason, just kind of an easier touring entourage. I remember one stage we played on. A few months back, we actually didn't all fit on the stage. So we had a couple of people off the stage. I mean, we do big venues too.

We just did our Christmas tour here and you know, just having options, versions of us. Another big one was having a version of us that just challenges us a little more. You know, when we do play with the full band. There's a lot of the little intricacies of our own fiddling styles that you don't really notice.

Just the challenge of having that in the forefront again, where it's just raw and open, then having, you know, the intricate arrangements to embellish that is very important to us. 

Peter McCully: Well, Natalie, we'll certainly look forward to seeing you on Vancouver Island very shortly, actually. Thanks for joining us on the podcast today.

Natalie MacMaster: You're very welcome. Can't wait to see you there. It's going to be wonderful. We love our west coast and very eager to get on those familiar stages again. 

Dave Graham: Their show will be in Nanaimo, Victoria, Campbell River, Duncan, and Courtney and stopping in Qualicum Beach to play the Civic Center, March 29th. 

Peter McCully: As always, we look forward to your input. Maybe you have a memory of seeing Natalie perform that you'd like to share, or perhaps you know someone you think we should be talking to. Ideas, comments, and questions are always welcome. Type an email, text a message, or speak to us using your own voice. Follow the contact link at pulsecommunity.ca. 

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979.

He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996. Marketing and selling residential, rural strata recreational investment and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both re Max International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals@ianlindsay.ca. 

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, it looks like we're coming to the end of another Pulse community podcast. You look about ready to lie down and take a nap. 

Dave Graham: You know, I thought I was lying down already. It's kind of hard to judge up and down when you can't really feel anything. You know, I really thought I'd hit on a great idea. Wearing all my clothes as a portable emergency kit certainly has potential. I mean, there's a nugget of a good idea in there somewhere. Maybe if I just took all my clothes and supplies and, I don't know, put them in a bag or something. 

Peter McCully: I'll tell you what, I'll help you get rid of some of the outer layers and watch you bend your arms and stand up on your own. Why don't we head down to the cafeteria and see what Mabel's cooking up? 

Dave Graham: I got a look at today's specials bacon and legs legs? Do you think that's a typo legs? 

Peter McCully: Did you say legs? 

Dave Graham: What do you suppose that might be? 

Peter McCully: I don't know 

Rockin Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here come Peter. Here comes Dave Bringing stories making waves No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave. They're on the mics all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.