RobSay

Billy Pigg's Hornpipe is generally played 'flat' and at speed, the Carrick is a dotted hornpipe and goes slower; both are built round arpeggios which is a characteristic of Billy's tunes. Untitled #4 does build on arpeggios and there are some common chord transitions and progressions but it doesn't get the full triplet-isation treatment that generates a classic bubbly effect on Northumbrian Smallpipes (and transfers well to the EC). Dots for all three for comparison (and more importantly playing!) Billy Pigg Hornpipes.pdf

It is "Untitled #4" by Northumbrian piper Billy Pigg - it's not that he didn't name his tunes but that some of the titles got lost in the last 50 years ..

Hello - I have a question on musical notation for the English Concertina (although it could equally apply to Anglo & Duet). Is there a generally accepted standard of musical notation to indicate bellows direction? (Text takes up too much space and is too busy) The reason I ask is that I recently delivered a couple of sessions at the Swaledale Squeeze and was asked how (or whether) I could write out what I actually do on a particular tune. One thing that became apparent is that in one place I consistently use a pull note in a particular way to achieve softer note articulation on a descending run - but I change to pull a note earlier in the previous bar and it's this I want to indicate. My natural choice was to use violin Up & Down bowing (Down indicating Push) like so: All references, examples, contradictions & comments welcome. thanks Rob

ah ha - Definitely spent too long writing my reply There you have it in Matt's own words! R

Well now - there's a story to that piece ... Cuckold is a very old tune and has many different sets of variations - mostly stemming from Border piping and Northumbrian piping traditions. The baseline version for many years was that in the Peacock tuneback - of which there are numerous facsimilies (such as here: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/musicfiles/manuscripts/peacock.pdf). A chap by the name of Matt Seattle has done an extraordinary amount of work to recover old forgotten music & manuscripts and make it available in various forms. His musical journey has lead him to the Border pipes, the discovery of the Dixon manuscript and fascination with all things variable in the BP repetoire. Some while ago he published (in one of his early books I think) a setting of Cuckold that was very definitely his version (reworked orginal themes, sustantial new variations etc). Whoever it was that did the music for M&C went for authenticity and played music 'of the period'. If you're looking for 18th century vernacular music from Scotland - at some point you will come across Matt's work... Anyway when the soundtrack CD to Master & Commander came out, somehow Matt's variation set was one of the pieces .. and it was not attributed to him (I choose to err on the charitable 'genuine oversight' here). As with all things of this ilk (i.e. marked trad), the 'arrangement' was copyrighted to whoever did the recording* - Fox music in this case. Fortunately Matt was in the Union and had a pretty clear trail of evidence (published books are sort of a gold standard really ...) - and Fox eventually agreed the work needed to be recognised as belonging to Matt So if you want Matt's setting of the tune, you need to find a copy of the Border Bagpipe book (now out of print) ... or write to him; he's a terribly nice chap: http://www.dragonflymusic.co.uk/ - given the history ... any random copies floating around on the internet aren't really going to be popular. * © is highly unbalanced hammer for old trad music

Hello - A lot of Billy's tunes work really well on the concertina. If you're playing English Concertina, some of the more arpeggio'd tunes with successive 3rd jumps can prove interesting. As far as the other books the NPS have on offer, they all contain good box tunes. - Book 1, lots of 'standards' and a few that have dropped out of currency. Some classic variation sets - Books 2 & 3 have less well known tunes but there's some absolute gems in there and you get some modern compositions (#1 was compiled 80 odd years ago!) - Charlton Memorial ... has some excellent tunes, particularly hornpipes (but there's a new edition in the works ) - Peacock/ Minstrelsy / Bewick - older 18th & 19th century style, mostly simple chanter (8 note) tunes .. some with variations, - Fiddle music of James Hill (All the fiddle tunes in G&D ... I'd skip in favour of the proper one (LLB) - Lads Like Beer (fiddle music of james hill) .. all of the tunes in the proper keys and all of the history we know. Much played around the world (but v. demanding) - Remember Me (Whinham) ... fiddle repertoire of 19th C dancing master - Variations book ... what it says, really good fun but don't expect to play much with anyone else! Hardcore piping repertoire - Billy Pigg & Tom Clough ... fantastic resources, both very pipey - in different ways. Just tunes is OK - but I think the history/context adds to the mix - Great Northern Tunebook - Vickers manuscript, excellent resource, not massively played but has many many gems. - Dixon - 18th C border pipe music with varations - First 30 - designed as a primer for lone pipers, 30 tunes that are guaranteed to have cross over with any other piper you meet If you want: - a book with tunes others might know ... 1,2,3, Hill, Charlton & First 30 - to be a piping expert ... 1, Peacock, Pigg, Clough, Dixon, - historical music ... Peacock, Bewick, Dixon, Clough, GNTB - sheer enjoyment / challenge on Concertina ... Hill, Whinham, Pigg, Variations (For reference / disclaimer - I play both pipes & concertina ... and I have had a hand in the production of a number of the books) cheers Rob

Concertina is now Sold (via forum) - thank you!

For Sale: Wheatstone Aeola Treble, #27864 48 keys, 6 fold bellows, steel reeds, brass mounts, concert pitch, lovely tone, original leather case Original manufacture: May 8th, 1919 (http://www.horniman.info/DKNSARC/SD01/PAGES/D1P1150S.HTM) Refubished: 2009 by that nice Mr Gibb @ theboxplace - incl pads, valves, thumbstraps & retuning The concertina came to me from a lady who was sorting out her grandfathers effects - the only history I have is "he'd had it all his life" - but I doubt that was from new. You can see in the photos that the fretwork has slots for bowing levers. There is no mechanism and indeed there are no airholes in the actionboard base or the reedpan (i.e. it was built like this). Leather case is OK for storage but I'd recommend a new case if you're you going to be taking it out It's an excellent player - classic Aeola versatility, ready to go and just looking for the right person to make beautiful music with. Reason for sale: one in, one out! Price: £2700 incl UK delivery Location: Northumberland & occasionally elsewhere (ask!) Donation to C.Net - irrespective of sale. thanks Rob

PM'd - I don't know if Alistair plays two or four parts on the DVD but the fourth part owes much to Adrian Schofield's interpretation of the garbled recordings. If you want more Billy Pigg tunes, try the Billy Pigg book: http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/index.php?page=Book-Store-One A lot of them go well on (English) concertina since Billy used a lot of arpeggios but some of the third jumps can get a little mechanical. Also take a look at the Old Drove Road - the same thematic structure gets re-used in at least 4 tunes. cheers Rob

Oh my word .. I shouldn't be surprised by what appears on the internet any more. Apparently I was on the telly on Sunday, they reshowed "The Glass Virgin", a Catherine Cookson film from ~1992 .. and then someone pointed out it's also available on youtube. For your delectation and to make sure that someone other than my granny has seen it - part 8/10 - tunes at ~1:15 & ~1:55. There's even a concertina close-up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28RTGSAdDjI If I recall correctly the actors couldn't dance and that they played the wrong track based on the spec I also had to sacrifice my waist length hair to get that bob!

Now sold thanks to that lovely Theo Gibb of The Box Place. cheers Rob

He was also a (quite small) caterpillar ... He was this big: [------------------] ...

I had a similar thought 3 or 4 years ago .. I've only had 2nd hand reports and none from players I know well. Wim had just moved or was moving out to the states. I couldn't find a way to try an instrument before ordering. The import duty ultimately made the instrument unaffordable and I stopped pursuing that option (Sorry Wim). I spoke to Colin Dipper - he was not very keen as he had masses of work and was concentrating on making Anglos. He also held the opinion that the supply of older quality EC was strong enough to mean the new cost differential would be very high. I got the impression he hadn't produced a new EC for some time. I'd played a Suttner years ago and heard a Norman (or was it the other way round?) but didn't feel they offered much over an good well restored historical instrument for the cost. Not a heard a recent Steve Dickinson (Wheatstone) instrument. And I'm still waiting for the right instrument to come along... cheers Rob

Hello Simon - I think I know which box you mean ... On mine there were multiple sources of action noise which I've found on a similar box over the years: When depressing the button there is the sound of your finger hitting the button, can't do much about this except modifying playing style If the hole bushing is dead you get a click or a scrape from lateral movement (renew bushing - really helps) There can be a noise of the button engaging with the lever end (new bushing in key) When releasing the key, lateral movement of the key can make a small noise again You do get rattle from the lever slot - I found this particularly noticeable on keys where the spring was closest to the slot. Stronger springs might help or moving the action point back (but it's pretty cramped in there and I was loath to mess with the original design). if the slots are worn then this gets louder and is almost unavoidable By far the biggest noise was the slap of the pad back on to the hole - new pads can help but I never managed to reduce it by much. On slow tunes you can reduce the noise by slowing the return button travel speed with your finger but this does change the end shape of the note. I never experienced key pegs bottoming out or pads hitting the fretwork but these would be significant R

Now with added sound! Oh and contact details - PM thru C.Net or rob.say@milecastle27.co.uk sound moved: http://milecastle27.co.uk/rob/2011/06/boyd-english-concertina-for-sale/ cheers Rob