By Art Edelstein
Arts Correspondent
When David Kaynor passed away June 1 after a three-year battle with ALS in Northampton, Massachusetts, Vermont musicians and other New Englanders lost a leader and mentor whose influence inspired many to play and learn different musical genres.
Kaynor, a fiddler, dance caller and composer of traditional music and expert on Swedish-style fiddling, received many loving remembrances when news of his passing was announced on Facebook.
“David taught me much of what I know about playing harmony, teaching tunes and being a good jam session citizen,” wrote Susan Reid, of Montpelier, a member of the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra, on Facebook. “He also taught me some really dreadful jokes, and we shared a lot of late-night popcorn and wine after dances or rehearsals.”
“He was writing tunes right up until a week or so ago,” Reid wrote. “He went out with as much grace as is possible. I am grateful that there were tunes for him at the end, he has given us so many. I won’t be able to pick up the fiddle without thinking of him.”
“The thing I think David’s done best in his life is he’s encouraged hundreds of people who probably never really saw themselves as up-and-coming musicians,” said his longtime friend, Susan Secco, of Northfield, Massachusetts in the Commons newspaper.
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive disease, often called Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the legendary New York Yankees first baseman, first affected Kaynor’s ability to speak. As it progressed, his ability to play fiddle eventually left him with only the ability to communicate through software that allowed him to write using eye movement. In his last month, May, he composed six melodies from his hospital bed in this manner.
Kaynor, who was 73, led the Montpelier’s Vermont Fiddle Orchestra from 2013 to 2019. In this period, commuting from Montague, Massachusetts weekly during the VFO season, he organized a group of non-professional Vermonters into a cohesive orchestra. He also introduced them to traditional Swedish fiddle music, as well as melodies from the Celtic and Americana repertoires.
“He had magic,” said Molly Backup, vice president of the Fiddle Orchestra board. “His music is magic and his harmonies were heavenly.”
During his six-year stint, Backup said Kaynor, “had a huge breadth of knowledge and tunes and we learned genres we never heard of like Metis (indigenous Canadian) tunes and international tunes. David helped us learn how to feel the music, and for some to learn to play it by ear. After six years of his training our ear, we could pick up the tunes, and we got the feel and rhythm of the tune and made music.”
Kaynor learned to play the fiddle in 1974 while living in Burlington. He started calling local contra dances in western Massachusetts around 1980. He was a frequent dance caller at the Montpelier Grange dances as well and was well-known throughout New England and nationally.
As his influence grew, Kaynor became a popular teacher and was on staff at Northern Week at the Ashokan Center in upstate New York, taught at Contra Dance Musicians’ Week at North Carolina’s John C. Campbell Folk School and the Northeast Heritage Music Camp in Vermont many times. He also played for and taught dancing at Pinewoods, Buffalo Gap, Mendocino and the Summit School in Montpelier, and many other camps, workshops and music events around the country.
Kaynor’s eight trips to Sweden over the years helped him learn that nation’s traditional music that he later taught to the Fiddle Orchestra and in Summit School classes in Montpelier.
When not directing the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra, Kaynor commuted back to his home where he directed the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts.
Kaynor was recently honored by the Country Dance and Song Society with its 2021 Lifetime Contribution Award. Its website said that, “David was selected in recognition of more than 50 years of performing and teaching at camps and festivals across the United States, humbly mentoring an entire generation of contra dance musicians, tirelessly serving as a leader in dance and music communities of Western Massachusetts, generously sharing tune compositions and writings about dance calling, and supporting generations of musicians and dancers in creating warm, inviting and welcoming communities though music and dance.”
The Country Dance and Song Society held an online celebration of Kaynor’s birthday, April 17, 2021. Kaynor was able to communicate via special technology his acceptance of the award although he could not speak or write any longer.
During the final months of his illness Kaynor’s friends created a “tune-raiser” group on Facebook, which numbered nearly 650 members with over 900 contributions, to provide “a chance for people who aren’t able to come to play music with David in person to share a tune or song with him while he is in the hospital dealing with the ups and downs of the trach (tracheotomy) and learning to live with the new normal.”
The VFO’s Backup said Kaynor left an important legacy, “his inclusivity and ability to create a community out of diverse folk, ages, abilities and different instruments.”
Pete Sutherland, who taught with Kaynor at the Northeast Heritage Music Camp in Johnson, said about his friend: “By eschewing stardom, he became larger than life, and one could say he was irreplaceable … except that David’s whole ‘jam’ was nurturing community and always focused on empowerment. In that sense, his memory, as the saying is, is truly a blessing. May we ALL, happy campers past, present and future at NaHuMCa and all across the music diaspora, remember and be blessed for many, many years to come.”
“David A. Kaynor: Living Music and Dance,” a celebration of consisting mostly of his compositions and some his many jokes and his poster artwork, is nearing publication. Go online towww.theportlandcollection.com/new-product-notificationsfor publication information.
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