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Alf Edwards In "moby Dick"


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Here is Alf Edwards in John Huston's Moby Dick supporting "I'll Go No More A-Rovin."

 

BTW. Does anyone know if he perhaps played a mean temperament tuned instrument? I've been trying to match his accompaniment to A.L. Lloyd's "Tiggery Orem" on my Morse Albion (accordion reeds) and I don't seem to find the notes he is playing. I can hum it but not match it. Of course, I have a tin ear, so I am probably just grasping at straws.

 

https://youtu.be/VK0jrn9sGUQ

 

 

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Here is Alf Edwards in John Huston's Moby Dick supporting "I'll Go No More A-Rovin."

 

BTW. Does anyone know if he perhaps played a mean temperament tuned instrument? I've been trying to match his accompaniment to A.L. Lloyd's "Tiggery Orem" on my Morse Albion (accordion reeds) and I don't seem to find the notes he is playing. I can hum it but not match it. Of course, I have a tin ear, so I am probably just grasping at straws.

 

https://youtu.be/VK0jrn9sGUQ

 

 

Perhaps the mismatch is caused by a recording speed anomaly or Alf was playing in a strange key... though it is entirely possible that he was playing a Mean Tone instrument... or one still in pre war pitch .

Edited by Geoff Wooff
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Here is Alf Edwards in John Huston's Moby Dick supporting "I'll Go No More A-Rovin."

 

BTW. Does anyone know if he perhaps played a mean temperament tuned instrument? I've been trying to match his accompaniment to A.L. Lloyd's "Tiggery Orem" on my Morse Albion (accordion reeds) and I don't seem to find the notes he is playing. I can hum it but not match it. Of course, I have a tin ear, so I am probably just grasping at straws.

 

https://youtu.be/VK0jrn9sGUQ

Perhaps the mismatch is caused by a recording speed anomaly or Alf was playing in a strange key... though it is entirely possible that he was playing a Mean Tone instrument... or one still in pre war pitch .

 

But I doubt any of that would make it difficult to play the notes he’s playing if you can sing them. I suspect the “tin ear” and “grasping at straws” imagery is more likely to hold the answer.

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Training one's "Tin Ears" can be of great benefit because the ability to pick up a tune orally is a very useful device for the musician. The recent development of aids for this activity , like slow downer programs for computers and "bracketing" settings for CD players etc., make learning by ear and practicing by playing along with recordings much easier. I recall early attempts at tune learning by jogging the needle backwards and forwards on Vinyl records ... I was going to say 'gramophone' but I'm not quite old enough to have been winding up the spring at the same time.

 

I'm sure there will before long arrive a program that will listen to a recording and write out the score... perhaps there already is .

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 years later...
On 1/26/2017 at 8:31 PM, John Wild said:

I heard that for technical reasons related to film production, although it is Alf Edwards you hear playing, the sound you hear was dubbed on to the film afterwards.

 

Indeed so John, in fact I've always been quite certain that the concertina sound you hear in the film (including the scene in question) is that of Alf's metal-ended 1937 Aeola, #34523, which I owned for a few (precious) years.

 

But meantone tuning of English concertinas died out in the second half of the 19th century, and there's no question that Alf's Aeola was made in anything other than equal temperament, and at A-440 pitch (which was already commonly in use in dance bands in England at that time due to musicians taking to using a lot of American brass instruments and Saxophones - and Alf was playing in one of the leading bands then, that of Jack Payne!)

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On 2/23/2020 at 4:32 AM, malcolm clapp said:

Probably Alf Edwards (near end, middle row) with the Jack Payne Orchestra, c.1932 recording Love Is The Sweetest Thing

Jack Payne Orchestra reheatrsal.jpg

 

A great find Malcolm, that's Alf with the shiny new gilt Aeola, lending support to the violin section probably, and you can bet the empty (except for a trombone) chair behind him was also his - trombone being his main instrument in the band.

 

The date must be wrong though because Alf only joined Jack Payne's Band in November 1934, and that Aeola wasn't made until May1937...

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On 1/14/2017 at 1:34 AM, JimR said:

That clip is better than the book!

Only just saw this. Yes, the book is a bit of a slog, ain't it? The first 50 (?) pages however are quite

'funny' - if you have that sort of sense of humour ?. The clip is very good though.

 

Some of Melville's other books are more accessible - I particularly liked 'Typee'....

Edited by lachenal74693
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On 3/2/2020 at 1:35 AM, malcolm clapp said:

Yes, I wondered about the date too, in fact I changed it in my post a couple of times because of conflicting information. 1938 came up a couple of times too, so maybe that is more likely....

 

Yes, 1932 was the year Ray Noble's hit song Love Is The Sweetest Thing (sung by the great Al Bowlly) came out and got covered by "everybody", but it's much too early for this photo - 1938 sounds much more likely for it.

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