If you’re looking for Les Cooper, you’ll likely find him in one of his happy places: surrounded by instruments in his music room, out in his workshop drafting up plans for his next project or spending time with his family.
Les, who hails from Yorkshire, U.K., has called Newfoundland home since he was in his early twenties. He ventured to Labrador for work and it wasn’t long before he met his wife Laura, who was teaching in Happy Valley-Goose Bay at the time.
“I didn’t have a fixed plan when I arrived in Goose Bay in ’71. I was going to go wherever the wind blew. Then I met Laura and that was it. It put an end to my rambling days,” he tells SaltWire with a smile.
It wasn’t long before the two wed and, while they were celebrating the happy occasion with family in St. John’s, they ventured to the Strand Lounge, where Ryan’s Fancy just happened to be playing.
“That was the watershed moment for me. I listened to them with great interest and bought some records and then I decided to buy a fiddle,” says Les. “I purchased it at a store in Goose Bay and started to teach myself how to play. I remembered how to play the scales from my little bit of time playing violin in grade school. I had the rudiments of reading music, too, but it didn’t go far for many years.”
Their careers soon led the couple back to Newfoundland and they settled in the town of Bay Roberts. Soon their family grew to include three daughters. Work and fatherhood meant there wasn’t much down time for his musical hobby, but as his daughters grew, there were some special opportunities to share music together and Les gladly played fiddle for them.
When a fellow musician passed him a book on how to play jigs and reels, he admits he took it home, “played it almost cover to cover” and that, too, was another watershed moment. He has been hooked ever since.
Instrument construction
Les has been primarily self-taught on the fiddle, but his natural talent, keen ear and eagerness to learn has heled him hone his skills as the years went by. He has always enjoyed playing with and learning from fellow musicians and continues to do so today. His love of music is so deep that he became interested in building his own instruments.
“The first instrument I built was a fiddle. Just before I retired (about 15 years ago), I got interested in making my own but didn’t have a lot of information about it at the time,” he says. “I had a couple of books and bought some wood and I had it around for several years. One day, Laura encouraged me to get it started, and so I did. And the fiddle came out of it.”
In recent years, Les has collaborated with fellow luthiers around the country and they have proven to be an invaluable resource.
Les has since made a cittern and classical guitars, with another guitar and violin in progress in his workshop. While he admits it’s tedious work, it’s also incredibly enjoyable.
“I like the craftsmanship and working with my hands. I have always enjoyed woodworking and, since my back isn’t in great shape, at least there is no heavy lifting with that kind of stuff,” he adds.
He appreciates how building an instrument is a fascinating “mixture of science and art” as so many measurements and formulas have to be just right. There’s also an element of beatification and precision that has to be achieved as well.
Les enjoyed seven intense weeks of that process when he attended a guitar-making course in Saskatchewan a few years ago.
“I was looking for a violin-making course but I couldn’t find one that was within my means. I stumbled across this one and it was very reasonable and only a day’s drive from Calgary (where my daughter and her family lived). Around that time, I decided I was going to learn how to play guitar so I said, ‘Shag it - I will learn how to build a guitar.’”
New challenges
When this craftsman sets his mind to taking on a new challenge - whether it’s in his workshop or in his music room – you can bet he will see it through. Since retirement, he has not only built numerous instruments, but he’s taken various lessons in fiddle, guitar and harp, and recently completed his Level 1 of Music Theory with the Royal Conservatory. He is also busy teaching music to some local students, is a member of the provincial Fiddler’s Association, and is a busy husband, dad and grandfather.
“I’m a bit strange in some ways,” he admits with a laugh. “I cannot sit and watch TV - it drives me insane. The first ad that comes on, I’m out of there. But I can read all day.”
While his wife enjoys a show, Les is often found with a music or woodworking-related book in his hand, absorbing as much information as possible as he readies for the next project.
“I have another violin started and I’m working on a guitar, and I’m thinking of doing a nylon string arch top, which is a rare instrument,” he says.
In the meantime, Les has lots to look forward to, including sharing music with family. From an enriching music camp experience he enjoys with his grandson to playing fiddle for his granddaughters as they perform a musical number, Les enjoys every opportunity to share music with this family. If, one day, they ask “grandad” to make an instrument with them, his drafting board will be ready to go. Until then, he says he will be “continuing his musical education.”
“It keeps the mind working,” he adds with a chuckle.
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