The "english" Style Of Anglo Playing

[Dan Worrall]

First some thoughts for Wes. ‘Quick and dirty’ works for me, and I think all of us instantly recognized what you meant in calling the “English style” ‘mainly melody on the right, chords mostly on the left”. I associated your name with that definition in my reply only to make sure that I and others weren’t migrating off to a more general discussion of other “English” ways of playing the Anglo (meaning perhaps ‘played by Englishmen such as Scan Tester’ as opposed to the duet-like manner of playing, which is what I think you were meaning.

 

Not sure of the comments from Robin about the dots. If we are looking for the origins of the harmonic (= “English” as above defined) style on the Anglo, then the dots are our only source of information for pre-Kimber days; think of them as pre-Edison sound recordings. No one implies any slavishness to dots as being ‘exact’ or any such rubbish. What these early tutors show is that people were already playing in a harmonic/”English” style on the Anglo by the middle of the 1840’s. It is likely that then, as now, musical material included in tutors reflected what people in the general population were doing with the instrument at the time….that it reflects what styles were being played. I am not trying to infer that everyone learned from tutors...that is clearly not true...but that tutors generally reflect the standards of the playing population. It is interesting that the tunes in the early tutors contain everything from semi-classical to music hall to ‘traditional folk’, which is the sort of mix one may still hear on the Anglo concertina today (and as I understand, we will hear on Alan's new CDs).

 

I think the idea that the harmonic/'English' style was completely re-invented, Phoenix-like, in the post-1950 English world is a bit of a stretch, even considering that some of you were there and I was not! Allow me to explain. As Alan mentions, it seems that Anglo playing nearly died out in England after WWII…but Kimber and Loveless (and as Wes indicated, perhaps other folks like the lesser known Mr Holland) were around providing stylistic examples to those few who were playing. As Robin pointed out, one need not be specially tutored to play in a harmonic style…but it does help a lot to get the basic idea from another player that the instrument could be played in such a fashion (chords left, melody right). Kimber and Loveless clearly provided such an example during those lean times. My hypothesis, and here I am taking a conjectural leap, is that Kimber in his longevity provided a bridge for twentieth century players to earlier harmonic players in the nineteenth century who in turn very likely influenced him. Not a bridge in the specific details of his playing (not many sound particularly like him today), but in the basic idea of playing an Anglo in a harmonic/”English” way rather than as a fiddle. Happy to be proven wrong! Hearing Kimber's recordings, by the way, made me want to play in that style, and I am not smart enough to have figured out his style on my own. It was only years later that I heard any of the rest of you.

 

I very much like Wes’ idea that English music culture goes easily and naturally with harmonic style, in a way that Irish musical culture does not (or, for that matter, Boer culture in South Africa). That seems to fit the fact that English Anglo players adapted chords to it from the very beginning of the Anglo, when other cultures did not. They weren't the only ones however; German and Polish miners brought those German instruments into American coal mines and factory towns, and some of their decendants still play the German concertina's grandchild and Anglo's cousin, the Chemnitzer Konzertina, in a chorded way.

 

The sad thing is that that harmonic style is not promoted and documented more than it is…it is a lot of fun! I had the same experience as Alan when I was learning; all the tutors available in shops were miserably basic along-the-row stuff....not even close to the efforts of Minasi and Jones more than a century earlier. The Irish-type players have written some excellent tutors in the last 10 years; why don't you English keepers of the "English" style get moving and do the same?

[bigsqueezergeezer]

Great Pics, Howard. Is there any significance in the fact that they are all Northwest Sides, both geographically and dancing? Perhaps due to the proliferance of Concertina Bands in the area?

 

Derek

[Chris Timson]

The Irish-type players have written some excellent tutors in the last 10 years; why don't you English keepers of the "English" style get moving and do the same?

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Completely agree, and I for one would love to see JK produce the sort of tuition videos for the anglo that he has made for the melodeon.

 

At the ICA AGM last year Roger Digby gave out a superb little booklet called "Faking It" about ways of developing a left hand accompaniment that I am finding massively useful as I get back to using my left hand on the concertina again. I have spoken to Roger about getting it up on the net for everyone to see, and this is very likely to happen, either on the ICA's site or mine.

 

Chris

 

Edited to spell vidoes correctly.

Edited July 8, 2005 by Chris Timson

[Robin Madge]

Just a thought on the continuity of English harmonic traditions. Remember that the musicians in the West Gallery choirs are the same musicians who played at the village dances (just read some Hardy). If you examine what is going on in the West Gallery music you can see how the idea of the harmonies used there will extend into what was played at the dance hall.

Now I know we are predating the concertina here but I don't see why we can't extend backwars and forwards from this to see a continuing tradition.

 

Robin Madge

[wes williams]

Robin wrote: I think that I might be being a bit heretical here but I'm not sure that the English style of playing is to do with learning from dots or from other players.

Dan wrote: I think the idea that the harmonic/'English' style was completely re-invented, Phoenix-like, in the post-1950 English world is a bit of a stretch, even considering that some of you were there and I was not!

Then let me introduce the concept of EPMS (English Popular Music Style). I've lain awake into the early hours trying to put what was in my head, often unrealised, into something tangible, but I fully expect (and hope for) strong disagreement.

 

EPMS was the essence of the way the untutored English make music. It was never static, but changed over the years, with roots back in rounds and glees. Dan has demonstrated snapshot recordings of Victorian concertina variant EPMS in his tutor examples. For me personally, there is as much EPMS in an English pub piano player knocking out ‘Down at the Old Bull and Bush’ or ‘To be a Farmer’s Boy’ as there is in the playing of Kimber, Tester or Kilroy (KTK).

 

You don’t need to think of this ‘English’ style as being miraculously re-invented post 1950, because its EPMS basis had never been lost. Admittedly (as Al demonstrates) the finer points of concertina variants had been almost lost, but the EPMS essence was still there, and people like John Kirkpatrick and Roger Digby created their own personal variants of EPMS (as did KTK earlier) to produce something we now bundle into the term ‘English Style Anglo’.

 

Now I’ve recognised EPMS, it allows me to take the concept further – EPMS wasn’t usually learnt, but was usually absorbed from the music you heard around you. Although instruction on how to apply EPMS to an instrument could be handed down through the generations, EPMS itself was the carrier. Requoting an earlier post –How many times have we heard a phrase like ' Well I just took it up and made it sound like I thought it ought to' from a notable player?- now makes perfect sense if we accept EPMS. I realise that EPMS was all around me as a kid in the 1950s, even though it was mixed with Jazz, Skiffle, Pop and Blues. As kids of about eight with no musical instrument knowledge, we marched around the playground with harmonicas, making up bands, and what style did we play in? EPMS! When I first picked up a concertina, I’d only really heard Peter Bellamy play one. I slavishly copied what he played on his LP for starters, but when I tried anything else - why did my playing come out like more like Roger D. or John K than Peter? EPMS!

 

Roger Digby wrote:

Another thread on this site is accepting the fact that players are now mostly middle aged. How many prominent Anglo players are over 60? If my generation is to be seen as the next best thing to real traditional Anglo players - the next stage in the venerable and important transmission of traditional music - then we must ensure that we take our responsibilty seriously and show total respect for the music we are continuing.

Roger’s worry about if he qualifies as a real traditional musician can be finally answered – Yes! You do, Roger, because your playing is based on EPMS - the same as the KTK traditions,Bob Cann,etc were.

 

But this leads on to a question Dan and people nearer his age (I assume 'you were there and I was not!' indicates he is too young) can answer better than I can: Where is EPMS now? I can’t see much evidence of it after the mid 1960s, unless it has changed into something I no longer recognise. Did most of the ‘young tradition’ notables like Tim Van Eyken grow up where EPMS was carried by their parents via the Folk Revival? Should this really be part of 'Henk's Question 3' thread. Is the whole of EPMS now in real danger of being lost, rather than just the 'folk' aspect?

 

Finally, Dan wrote: The Irish-type players have written some excellent tutors in the last 10 years; why don't you English keepers of the "English" style get moving and do the same?

But how many of those writers were Irish living in Ireland? I think we have the same problem in England that Tony Crehan described in Ireland when talking about Larry Lynch’s ‘Set Dance’ book – It’s a great book, but we could never have written it because we live inside it. It takes someone from outside to see things that you don’t realise need to be seen.

 

[Howard - Many thanks! Great pictures, and already in the ICA archive. Could Glossop be an early Esperance revival side? ]

Edited July 7, 2005 by wes williams

[Robin Madge]

I see what you mean Wes.

 

But having decided that you want to play a particular tune that is lying there half in, half out of your subconscious, you are going to get a different feel to it depending upon what instrument you play. Of course, if you are a very good player you will be able to reproduce it perfectly, but mostly you'll get "the truth, the whole truth, or something like the truth".

 

I would say that the mistakes that we make but are prepared to live with are part of what makes the style we play in, and that some of these mistakes are to do with the fact that the instrument is an Anglo.

 

How we remember the tune will also be affected by the other music that we are familiar with. Cecil Sharpe was amazed that some of his singers were using the mixolydian mode, as he considered it a rarity confined to intellectual circles. They cnsidereded it completely normal.

 

Robin Madge

[Dan Worrall]

Firstly, I hope all of you and your families are safe from the horrid scenes from London that we are seeing on the news here.

 

I like Wes' new EPMS theory, even if the name sounds like some ailment. Some sort of cultural predisposition for wanting to chord....very interesting.

 

Nonetheless, I think you also may have made my point, Wes. You said that you heard Peter Bellamy play in that manner, and that that is all it took for you to want to play in that same basic (chorded) way. I would say there is a slender thread extending from you to Peter to heaven knows who else, that includes in its branches George Jones and all the others who played this instrument like a duet. The idea of playing it like a duet is spread from one to another, not the precise style. It obviously helps to be infected with EPMS, too!

 

And no, I am not particulary young (I'm in my fifties like most of you)....but my situation perhaps can provide a controlled experiment for your theory. I first bought a concertina from a shop in Austin Texas 31 years ago..1974. I had no idea what it was for, and had never heard one played. No other players around; I had no recordings; pre-internet and pre-Free Reed. I bought one of those horrible little concertina books that has a bunch of melodies and shows you how to play along-the-row. Then I met some Irish musicians, and started to play Irish music on it. I played it like a fiddle or a flute, rather than like a church organ. Meeting Chris Droney on a trip to Ireland cemented that approach for me. Even after I heard a Kimber LP, which utterly fascinated me, I had no exposure to the 'melody right, chords left' concept, and so it was years before I even attempted to learn that style. By then I had seen another 'English'-style player play, and had grasped that slender thread.

 

I continue to learn, after all these years, and the complexity and elegance of this little box is always a source of fascination. One particular fascination is how different 'chording' can be in the hands of various players. I think a lot of us undervalue the fact that a chorded arrangement is a unique piece of art, and has value in and of itself...it is not just random vamping, no mater how it feels to the artist who plays it. 'Dots' allow me to appreciate this more, and to learn little riffs from other players that might not otherwise be obvious to me.

 

By the way, I too have seen Roger's fakebook pamphlet. It is wonderfully well done, and further takes a lot of the guesswork out of this style. It deserves broad distribution.

[John Wild]

I have placed, for your perusal, three old photographs of morris dancers accompanied by concertinas

 

Howard Mitchell

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Interesting photos. Can you put a date on them?

 

- John Wild

[Alan Day]

The definition of English Style playing has been defined in this discussion as basically tune right hand chords left hand.I am going to open this discussion up to say that English style is that, but also using the Anglo in a combination of the jerky Country dance/Morris playing and chords as accompaniment.

Where the total tune is smoothed out the bellows played in the same way as a duet player would use them, then this is Anglo Duet Style. I think the two ways of playing are separate and many players (not just me) refer to English style and Duet style.To me Andrew Blakeny Edwards and Roger Digby and many others including myself play both styles.

If you listen to John Kirkpatrick playing "Gigue" to be found on the "Jump at the Sun" or the new Anglo International collection,there is no way that this is English Style Anglo playing,it is Duet Style.

Al

 

 

Edited to make sense,even I could not understand what I had written.

Edited July 10, 2005 by Alan Day

[wes williams]

Nonetheless, I think you also may have made my point, Wes. You said that you heard Peter Bellamy play in that manner, and that that is all it took for you to want to play in that same basic (chorded) way.

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Not quite, Dan. What I said was that the style things came out in naturally for me wasn't the same as Peter's, although that's where I started. I don't think of Peter's style as EPMS, but something he came up with to fit singing accompaniment. Al's post above is putting a tighter definition of what I was trying to describe generally as EPMS. Its not just chords, its also rhythm and the way the accompaniment is put together. But I think both styles that Al describes above are EPMS based variants.

 

I would say there is a slender thread extending from you to Peter to heaven

Excuse the misquote, but that's something many of us would like to think about Peter.

[Howard Mitchell]

I have placed, for your perusal, three old photographs of morris dancers accompanied by concertinas

 

Howard Mitchell

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Interesting photos. Can you put a date on them?

 

- John Wild

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John,

I only have details to hand for the Mossley photograh and some references to the Oldham Photo. I'll see if I can get something on the Glossop photo.

 

This from Fred Hamer's notes when visiting Mossley about 1955.

 

Musicians

1 Jack Robinson (still living in 1955)

2 Herbert Ormerod

3 Jack Pearson

 

Dancers on the Photograph

Sam Morgan, John Morgan, Albert Oldfield, Levi Leech, Jim Lowe, Jerry Grimes, Bill Briers, Paddy Curry, Ted O’Neil, Fred Hanby (Pea Jim), Dave Ogden

 

On the boxes:

Bed Ogden, Tom Gallimore, Tom Titter i.e. Rhodes, Tom Nestor, Bill Ivins, Hoinby.

 

The photograph was taken in front of the Crown Inn in 1903. J. Holdsworth, the proprietor is on the photo.

 

 

For Oldham see what you can deduce from the following from Dan Howison's notes dated 1959:

 

Jimmy Smith (Age 73) 33 Leaver Street, Oldham

 

Danced with a team conducted by a Mr. Goray (centre of front row on photo), two of whose sons were also in the team (immediately behind and in front of him on photo; the small one danced centre). Smith was with them from the formation until they broke up. He says he was about 37 when they broke up, which puts it about 1923. In confirmation, he says he thinks they were dancing for about two years after the war.

During the latter part of this time, from about 1909, they were conducted by Jet Foy, out of St. Mary's Ward, who came from the "Abbey lot", taking over the team after Goray (who was fairly old) retired.

 

 

So if the picture shows Mr Goray in charge and he retired in 1909, it looks about the same time as the Mossley picture.

 

 

Howard Mitchell

[John Wild]

John,

I only have details to hand for the Mossley photograh and some references to the Oldham Photo. I'll see if I can get something on the Glossop photo.

 

Howard Mitchell

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Many thanks for this info. Don't put yourelf out too much if there is no information readily available.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Wild

[Howard Mitchell]

John,

I only have details to hand for the Mossley photograh and some references to the Oldham Photo. I'll see if I can get something on the Glossop photo.

 

Howard Mitchell

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Many thanks for this info. Don't put yourelf out too much if there is no information readily available.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Wild

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No problem. I've put a scan of the newspaper article which contained the picture at http://www.hgmitchell.plus.com/glossop.jpg

 

It dates the photograph as 1927 and names the concertina players as Will Bowden and T. Byrom.

 

Howard Mitchell

[John Wild]

It dates the photograph as 1927 and names the concertina players as Will Bowden and T. Byrom.

 

Howard Mitchell

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Thank you. in my previous post i meant to say 'yourself' instead of 'yourelf'

 

but if you happen to have an elf...

 

Regards,

 

John Wild

[Mark Davies]

Eric Holland

 

I read with interest the reference to Eric Holland of Swanage,Dorset.I got to know Mr Holland in 1977 via the ICA and he when he became to old to play he sold me my first anglo a 40 key Wheatstone C/G which I still play(I had only played the English up until then).I attach a photograph of Eric holding the instrument.He took the concertina with him on his travels around the world and wrote in pencil on the reed pan where he had been.I also have a cassette of him playing.I would not risk playing it as it needs to be transferred to disc.As tape degenerates this probably can only be done on the first occasion it is played.

[Stephen Chambers]

... we can say some very solid things about the second question, “What is its source or sources?”. Clearly, it is not sourced in the concertina revival of the last few decades, nor even in William Kimber. The origins reach back to the very earliest days of this instrument in England. ...

 

The earliest tutor published in England was that of Carlos Minasi in 1846 (“Instruction Book for the Use of Learners on the German Concertina”). This was in many ways a visionary publication; in it are instructions not only for the simple “along the row” melody line style, but an extensive discussion of octave playing, cross row fingering, and chord accompaniment. On cross row fingering, Minasi states that his method is “intirely (sic) new, and (is here) introduced by the Author ...

 

But it is in harmonic treatment where Minasi puts his main effort. ... These arrangements are almost all in the above-defined “English” style, where chords are on the left, and melody on the right. A first simple example, “God Save the Queen”, is notable for its interesting chords…these chords are not as plain as one might expect (Second attachment); you might wish to try it out for yourself.

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Dan,

 

As you are probably aware, Carlo Minasi (born Marylebone, c.1817, died St. Pancras 1Q 1891), though principally a teacher/composer of popular dances/arranger for the piano, vocalist and composer of song music, produced more than fifty tutors and tune books for English and Anglo concertina, as well as tutors for piano-concertina, cornet, flute, violin and harmonium. The British Library catalogue lists no less than 222 works by him, 53 of which are for concertina, and their holdings are probably not exhaustive.

 

His Instruction Book for the Use of Learners on the German Concertina seems to have been the first of his concertina publications, and appears to have been the first English tutor for the German concertina, indeed it is also both the first British reference to the instrument and the earliest use of that name for it (in Germany it was still being referred to either as an Accordion or Harmonica, and not yet as a Concertina). However, the style of playing he described may not have been as novel as he suggested, but was rather the reason that the inventor, Uhlig, had in 1834 taken the keyboard of Demian's single-row accordion and first divided it in two, then added a second row in 1836 and a third (in Bb) by 1840.

 

 

 

Having already come across considerable "borrowing" from German sources in early English-language accordion methods, I compared Minasi's work with the only earlier German one that I have, Anweisung das Accordion zu spielen published by the Chemnitz concertina maker Johann Gottlieb Höselbarth in the early 1840's, only to find the exact same arrangement of piece No. 1 (no title) on page 13 of Minasi, as No. 3 "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermut" in Höselbarth, and Minasi's No. 2 "God Save the Queen" (which you have cited) is exactly the same as No. 4 "Den König segne Gott" in Höselbarth, which would make you wonder about the sources of some of his other arrangements ...

 

So perhaps his "English style" has German origins ?

 

Höselbarth 28-key

 

 

There are many other selections, and I attach here a Scottish folk melody (Third attachment); Minasi in 1846 was already thinking of using the Anglo for traditional music.

Surely this is an early "Schottisch" (as it was then known, and as the name appears in Höselbarth), a type of polka, sometimes called a "Schottische Waltz", fashionable in Germany in the 1840's (and nothing to do with Scotland), a dance craze that is reckoned not to have hit London until the end of that decade.

 

 

Note the clear use of an “oom-pah” accompaniment, a la modern Morris music.

Or a German band ?

 

 

Minasi’s tutor ... was released within a couple of years of the arrival of the first German (later Anglo) concertina in London.

I don't think anyone knows when German concertinas were first commercially imported into England, and Minasi's book is the earliest evidence that I know of for that, though there is clear evidence that they were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and became much more popular after that. However, the first instrument may have been brought to England as early as 1834 when Carl Eulenstein returned from his trip home to Germany. The Eulenstein instrument (below) is "No. 4" and dated 1835.

 

 

 

George Jones, it will be remembered, devised the top row of the three row “Anglo-Chromatic” (now called “Anglo-German”) concertina in 1851 in order to make it more easily playable in different keys, for chording, and for legato playing (ie., cross row fingering).

We have the evidence of an interview with no less an authority than George Jones himself on that subject :

 

"... he made the first Anglo-German concertina (twenty-two keys) so long ago as 1851; three years later his chromatic Anglo-German (twenty-six keys) was brought out...". [The Retirement of Mr. G. Jones, notice in Musical Opinion & Music Trade Review (no. 264, 1899, p. 851)]

 

George Jones 26-key #246

 

As well as his memoir Recollections of the English Concertina from 1844 by George Jones, Born February 29th 1832, which was written towards the end of his life (died 1919), which states : "The German concertina having one semitone only [F# on the G row], I made one with 22 keys for my own use and later made one with 26 keys full chromatic scale which was after my greatest success...".

 

 

Hence, and sorry to disagree with some of you, but this type of playing is clearly as old as the instrument itself, and it did not first develop during the concertina revival, much as it may seem so.

Agreed, but neither did it first develop in England ...

 

(Or is it simply that "English style" is inherent in the design of the instrument ? )

 

If you would like to hear the fully developed German style performed by a master, I would thoroughly recommend the wonderful album "Erinnerungen" ("Memories") by the Chemnitz concertina and Bandonion player Siegfried Jugel, which was brought out in connection with the Exhibition "Sehnsucht aus dem Blasebalg" ("Yearning out of the Bellows") in 2001, you can even hear extracts of five tracks from it on the Exhibition website. (Follow this link, then click on Shop, then on the title of the album.) It was a great joy to meet and hear Siegfried, he makes the large German concertina sound like a Duet, and is possibly the last of the great players of these instruments, having learnt from his father.

 

(Edited photos.)

Edited July 19, 2005 by Stephen Chambers

[keeper]

Given my lack of experience as a concertina player I may have a useful perspective on this topic. I am, if you like, fertile ground for examining what it is that is influencing my playing at an early stage. And I think that this is an important point: early stages having lasting effects.

 

I started playing anglo two years ago specifically to play English dance tunes, which is a repertoire that I did not then know. In that brief period I have had a couple of workshops with John Kirkpatrick and many sessions in a nearby pub, plus a couple of visits to Ruishton, ECMW and the WCCP. No one has ever asked me to perform, as such.

 

JK's workshops were by far the most influential simply because I had tough homework to do first, not because of any hero worship (deserved, nonetheless!) At my stage of competence, any focused, solid work is likely to lay a foundation that will remain for a very long time simply because it brings with it a quick facility that is gratifying and seductive. It takes quite a leap of faith to explore new styles which are always initially harder. This is particularly true if you are trying to 'learn' tunes to play with others: the necessity to get a tune under the fingers is more important than exploring the possibilities of the instrument.

 

Having said that, several people have commented on one aspect of my playing that seems to be unusual. Because my musical background allows me to think harmonically I quite often play as a purely harmonic/rhythmic instrument in sessions because I do not know (or cannot yet play) the tune. I don't know any other anglo player who does this. In fact, I have seen plenty who rest their left hand completely. But I know many piano players who will play chords and eschew a tune if there is a melody instrument and bass taking the outer parts. In this sense, if this is a 'style' then my major influence is Gladys Mills!

 

And I also think that previous musical experience is an area worth developing - many anglo players come to the instrument at an age where they have significant experience on other instruments. The most popular instruments are probably piano and guitar. Has anyone ever considered that the 'row' layout of an anglo coupled with the 'chord-shapes' of the left hand resemble a synthesis of piano and guitar?

 

So, my scant but intense experience so far suggests that style issues are localised, personal and anecdotal, particularly at early, influential stages. If so, are we trying to 'find' an English style of playing that is too disparate to reconcile? Certainly, the ability to play chords differentiates the anglo but this is not 'style' in a musicological sense. Tartini's double-stopping on violins is not a musical style - it is a performance medium. Style is normally a word reserved for what the music is saying, not how it is saying it. Okay, some forms have only monophonic tunes (plainsong, for example) and some have only polyphonic forms (symphonies, for example.) But there can be many different styles in both these and all other forms and these styles are to do with other aspects of musical performance- attack, dynamic, pulse, rhythm, pace, duration, register etc.

[Chris Timson]

So, my scant but intense experience so far suggests that style issues are localised, personal and anecdotal, particularly at early, influential stages. If so, are we trying to 'find' an English style of playing that is too disparate to reconcile?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No I don't think so (obviously, as I'd never have raised the topic in the first place ). Every player has individual variation that makes their own personal style, but it is possible, even easy, to detect a broad drift of style that is English, just as one can detect a couple of Irish styles that have a lot in common and an awful lot that is different from the English approach. Which is where we started.

 

Thanks for an interesting post, BTW. I think that John K has beenvery important in establishing the English style through his teaching activities. He has had a similar influence on me in a similar way.

 

Chris

Edited July 17, 2005 by Chris Timson