Jim Besser

Sorry, I don't know the name of the second tune; maybe someone here can identify it.

Seeing the concertina.net list of birthdays, I see that Big Nick Robertshaw would have been 64 today. Sadly, Nick died in 2007. He was an amazing player of the Jeffries duet system, a wonderful singer and writer of songs and the consummate Morris man. I played at Morris events with Nick for years when I was musician for another Washington area Morris team, and then joined his Foggy Bottom Morris Men and got to spend a year playing alongside him at weekly practices and Morris ales. I learned more in that year than in the previous decade of Morris playing. For those unfamiliar with Nick's playing, here are some examples. Princess Royal, for the Bampton jig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWOtkNtcJlA Beer that tastes like beer is one of Nick's songs that gets sung at just about every East Coast US Morris event, and many in England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUTcMOYqllA The Young Widow, jamming in an English pub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKRbR_LUxSs The highly off color Hot Meat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbahVkz0h0Y He had a robust, daring playing style; unlike many Morris musicians, he was always trying new chords and new ways of playing old tunes. He told me he asked Colin Dipper to overhaul his primary instrument and make it the loudest concertina in the world; I totally believe Dipper succeeded. You could hear Nick for blocks. Nick was also just about the first to bring concertina content to the Web with his Concertina Spotters Guide, some of which is now maintained by Bob Tedrow. Just thought you'd want to know.

Well, there's a lake, so why not?

Glad you did! Nice tune with a definite O'Carolanish feel.

Electioneering is fine. I had a similar reaction to Å jänta å ja. I've played it for contra dance hambos, and it's always played very indifferently - hambos, as you know, are just thrown into contra dance programs for the relatively few dancers who like to do them, and most contra bands don't have a clue what to do with the music. There is a lot you can do with it, and I'm figuring I'll play around with the tune even if it doesn't win.

Here's some info on the tune, with variant spellings. http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php?topic=11007.0

The people have spoken: in September we'll learn, record and post the lovely Scottish tune The Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord, written by James Scott Skinner. Until this month, I heard it exactly twice - once as a gorgeous slow air, once as a lively Scottish dance tune. As they say, pick your poison. Best I can figure, it is commonly played in 3 sections. The first AA-BB has an airlike quality even when played at a brisk pace; the second AA-BB is notier and punchier; and the third is a minor key variation that resolves back to major. You don’t have to do it that way. The fiddler friend who played it at a recent session did just the first AA-BB a bunch of times and it sounded fabulous. Here are some more examples to get you started. - a lively Scottish dance version. - Bonnie Lass into (!) Soldier's Joy. - a lovely slow version with the minor second part - a pipe band. - thanks to Ptarmigan, here's a clip of Skinner himself playing at least part of the tune. He plays it fast - or is the recording sped up? I can’t tell. Some notation sources: - The basic tune here - with the second, notey part - Skinner's original manuscript version with the minor variation Here’s a lot of information about the composer. As I said, there are lots of ways to play this tune. Do it your way and let's enjoy some serious musical diversity!

Concertinas are the quintessential English instruments, right? So why not a theme featuring the rich body of traditional and modern tunes from England? There’s so much to choose from, including: - the lovely Playford repertoire - traditional ceilidh and barn dance tunes - punchy Morris dance tunes (yes, there’s lots of crossover here) - modern tunes that start from a traditional base and - in some cases - really rock (think about today’s great ceilidh bands like Whapweasel that write their own material, or groups like the about-to-expire Bellowhead.) And let’s not forget the great English classical composers, including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten, who sometimes incorporated traditional themes. There's a lot of musical ferment in the UK these days, with groups of talented musicians elaborating on traditional music with amazing skill; think Leveret here. And what about the diverse body of music emanating from John Kirkpatrick? Brian Peters, too, is no slouch when it comes to penning tunes influenced by British and Welsh traditions. One of the things I really like about so much English traditional music is that tunes can be adapted to different styles. Many Morris tunes sound lovely when played in a smoother, more lyrical style. I’ve heard the Kruskal brothers play Orange in Bloom with such intensity and passion it choked me up. Shepherd’s Hey and Country Gardens found their way into the classical repertoire, thanks to Percy Grainger. There's also the Playford English country dance repertoire, which can be rocked up - or played like chamber music. So that’s this month’s challenge. Find an English tune that appeals to you and make it your own. Better still, learn and record a set of English tunes. Need some suggestions? Here are some resources for those of you who don’t play a lot of English tunes. - A giant collection of Playford tunes in ABC format. - A smaller collection as PDFs. - a small collection of English barn dance tunes: - And this one. - Morris dance tunes in ABC Personally, I love John K's tunebook Jump at the Sun, chock full of great tunes, available at his Web site. And if you're searching for English tunes, you can't do better than Lester Bailey's Tune a Day blog, now with more than 400 video clips and ABC notation. They're not all English, but most are. And there's our own Paul Hardy's online tunebooks, another great mother lode of great tunes. Again, they're not all English, but you'll find plenty to choose from. Have fun!

In an interesting coincidence, there's a thread about this tune on melodeon.net. Apparently it is also called Gweharall. Here's a beautiful rendition.

Other beat me to it. For me, the AMazing Slow Downer is indispensable. I have used it for years, first as PC software, but the IOS version is much better. I use ITunes as my music player. I hate it, totally hate it, but haven't found anything better, and it integrates perfectly with the SLow Downer. And I have almost all my music on my iPhone, so ... well, I'm stuck with it. For notation I use ForScore. I have mostly given up ABCs for storing tunes, now just keep the PDFs - since disk space is no longer an issue - and view / sort them with ForScore. I sometimes use Live BPM to check out my speeds. I have recorded on my iDevices, but mostly use my Zoom h2n, so I don't have much experience. When I was using ABCs a lot I used Tunebook. But ABCs are so very yesterday. I still acquire a lot of tunes in ABC format, but quickly convert them to PDFs. Oh, and Dropbox for sharing tunes with various bands and posting MP3s to the TUne of the Month here on c.net.

I always enjoyed playing Theme Vannitais for border MOrris dancers, and it goes nicely with The Wren. Thanks.

Nope, still available.

Yep, I'll be there.

A wonderful sounding concept, but I'm guessing concertinas are ill suited to such a venture because of the cost factor; even a reasonable starter box (a Rochelle/Jackie, Stagi, etc.) is always going to cost more than is practical in a Third World situation. The idea of a crate of Chinese instruments fiddled by a local technician sounds the most practical, and might provide an introduction to music making, but then what? It's unlikely people could progress to better instruments in such an economic environment. And what are the chances of making such instruments playable enough to keep students involved? You mention Appalachian dulcimers; these are very well suited to such a project. Years ago, Andy's Front Hall, a mail order dulcimer emporium (can there even be such a thing?) sold a cardboard dulcimer kit for something like 15 dollars; perfectly playable, sounded not bad. A quick Google search: they're still available from other sources, although more expensive: http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MK&Product_Code=CBDulc&Category_Code=cardboard. Or cardboard banjos: http://www.westmusic.com/b/backyard-music It seems to me that the ideal instrument is one that can be supplied, in playable form, for very little money, or one that could be inexpensively crafted by local people (a cigar box guitar?)

Never too late! Thanks for a nice version.

Never too late! Nice clean playing.

Wow, somehow I missed this entire thread until today. A fabulous project, well implemented. I'm going to through my own music collections and see what I have; I'd like to hear/learn more. I remember reading about the (allegedly) bawdy origins of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?' in the British trenches. Interesting stuff! Also a curious intersection of interests. I've been delving more deeply into the music of early Tin Pan Alley. As a non-singer, my focus is instrumental. DUH.

Very nice. That's a grandkid who will grow up appreciating free reed music!

Very nice, and yes,not an easy tune!

Is the pic blurry because there was so much good beer? A great time was had. We had about 7 or 8 concertinas - English, Anglo, on duet - and bunches of accordions.

Can it possibly fall? Maybe we should put Autumn Leaves in this month’s poll. Oh wait, we did that already. Whatever. Here’s a selection of tunes for your consideration as the September 2015 Tune of the Month; vote for the one you’d most like to learn, record and post. Or just learn; that’s OK, too, although we all benefit from hearing the way other players approach the monthly tune. Swedish: Jänta å ja Here’s a catchy little Swedish tune - or maybe Norwegian, I'm not really sure - often used in this country for folks dancing the hambo, played here by my friend Bill Quern on melodeon. And a version on one row melodeon, and one on fiddle. Here's a sort of mellow sung interpretation. And how about a rocked up version? Sung at a wedding. This tune seems to inspire bizarre interpretations, like this. And for off the charts bizarre, check out this one. Jazz: Back home in Indiana A catchy little Tin Pan Alley classic written in 1917 and performed by artists ranging from Louis Armstrong to Jim Nabors (remember Gomer Pyle?) My personal favorite: this wonderfully, jazzy oldtimey version by - are you ready for this? - Jerry Garcia. Here’s the classic Armstrong version , and one by jazz great Lester Young. How about a sung rendition by the Mel-Tones, featuring the mellow voice of Mel Torme? Or a lively country-western version? I really like this clean Western swing fiddle version. And on guitar. They keep on coming: here's a throaty Marlene Dietrich singing it, and Rosemary Clooney. French Canadian: Evit Gabriel This popular contra dance tune is commonly termed a French Canadian reel, which might not be entirely accurate; according to thesession.org, it was “written by Daniel Thonon, a musician and composer who was born in Brussels in 1949 and emigrated to Canada in 1963.” No matter: it’s a wonderful, driving reel that never fails to evoke whoops from dancers. But I’ve also heard it played slow and evocatively at sessions. Curiously, it starts almost the same way as the late Bob McQuillan’s Dancing Bear, which sometimes produces interesting results among dance bands. Here’s a somewhat sedate contra dance clip, and a nice trio version. Also, a driving version by a big band with a concertina tucked in the middle. This is a pretty notey tune, and most musicians I know simplify it a bit. Here's an example from a session I attended maybe 15 years ago. Off to a slow and rocky start, but it picks up steam! Scottish: Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord I heard this lovely tune at a recent session played by a talented Scottish fiddler, and was immediately taken with it. It was composed by James Scott Skinner, who also did a minor variation; the two are often played together, which makes for an intriguing set. Here they are together in the characteristically snappy Scottish manner: A gorgeous harp version here, and a nice uptempo version on fiddle. Here's one with a very different feel to it. That's September's poll. Please vote, and please participate once we have a winner. And please, please send along your suggestions for future TOTM candidates!.

Credit where credit is due: Randy Stein is co-host of the squeeze ins. Concertinas in Monrovia? You do show up in the most interesting places.

If you're anywhere near Washington DC or Baltimore, join us for another great regional squeeze fest tomorrow, Aug 23. This time we're convening at McGinty's Public House in downtown Silver Spring, Md. Great beer and munchies, a nice room, congenial people. We do all genres of music - English and Irish trad, oldtime, jazz, klezmer, Scandi, whatever strikes our fancy. We have all levels of players, from rank beginners to professionals. We do some straight jamming - ie no dots - and play some tunes from notation. 2-6 PM. Join us if you can!

  I could be wrong, but I think the word you're lookiong for is 'sustain.' As in 'hammered dulcimers sure have a lot of sustain.'