Irene S.
-
Posts
623 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Irene S.
-
-
Brian Peters will be our guest at the Music Institute Folk Club in Guildford, Surrey this Friday 9th February 2018. It occurs to me that it may interest some members of this group.
The Club meets at the Guildford Institute in Ward Street, Guildford, Surrey, postcode GU1 4LH. Doors open at 7.30, and music commences at 8pm. Tickets for the evening cost £9 (£8 for members and can be obtained from We Got Tickets
http://www.wegottickets.com/location/1161
Hoping to see some of you there.
Edit: Apologies for the rather rubbish typing of the subject title of this post! -
So sorry to have missed you this year Jody - even though you ended up at Byfleet , not that far from here, twas not to be. Glad it went so well, and I shall just have to keep my fingers crossed that I get to see you again next year :-)
-
Which of the tunes were you actually after Vin? Bart de Cock, a friend of Ralphie's constructed that video from a selection of pieces that were played by Ralphie, mostly from his CD "Eloise" and gleaned a number of the photographs from Facebook friends (mostly - and quite a few of them are ones that I took ).
As Mitch correctly said the first tune is Tommy Reilly's Tradewind Hornpipe ... The second tune is actually a live recording of one which was composed by Ralph - known originally as Ralph's Number One tune, played with Jo Freya and Fi Fraser at a Farnham Folk Day but later, with some slight modifications, the tune was given the name "Fairlop", which was a tune used by a Molly Dancing side known as Paddington Pandemonic Express, for whom he played. Third tune - The Obvious Jig, written by Nigel Chippindale, who Ralphie used to play with in the band Eric;Fourth tune ; Ralph's recreatioin of "Hopscotch" by Alexander Prince (with Gareth Kiddier accompanying on piano); then finishing the video off, "Wals Por Polle" by Wim Poesen;
Feeling quite wistful after watching and listening to that again. It seems impossible that it is now three and a half years or more since Ralphie died. I was only just now noodling on the concertina which he somehow dragooned me into buying and we went up to Liverpool together to collect.
As Blue Eyed Sailor said, it's a lovely little video. Bart did a really good job on it, and its good to see it popping up again as a reminder of Ralphie and his music. Thanks.
-
55 buttons in total. Not clear if there is an air button or not as the photographs aren't that helpfully taken!Certainly plausible, I would think -- the big stretched-hexagon Lachenal Maccanns usually have a much large number of buttons in my experience. This looks like it may be, what, a 55-ish?
If so, I wonder if it goes as low as a G-bass?
-
Irene, that would be great!
Really sad not to have been able to make it after all Jody! Hope to see you again next time you come over to the UK
-
Hope to get down to see you in Horsham Jody!
-
Hi Geoff. Glad to hear that there will be a duet workshop at Whitby again this year ... and I hope I can make it!
-
Hi Robb
You're a bit late ... Ptarmigan actually posted up the fact that Aldi were again offering their fishing bag for sale (as in previous years) on 28 July.
-
Hello Adrian - sorry, only just saw this.
There were video cameras there - I think from Shirley's record label, but I wouldn't swear to it. I know no more than that, I'm afraid.The cameraman during the afternoon event , Shirley's conversation with Stewart Lee, told me that that video had been commissioned by Shirley's son. He didn't know whether it was ever intended for public release. Whether the situation would have been the same for the evening one, I know not.
-
Thanks a lot for posting (commented at SC) and thus directing me to your page - really enjoying Ralph's playing and your singing!
Best wishes - Wolf
Thanks for those kind words Wolf. Ralph was talking about recording the pieces "properly" in the year before he died. It would have been good to do so. These are rehearsal recordings , but nevertheless I like listening to what he did with his Maccann - it was always an inspiration, and quite often a bit of a surprise (sometimes even to him) what came out!
-
Having discussed this with a professional geneaologist in the family, she made the point that the matter of date of birth in some public records is never a reliable one, particularly when looking at the matter of reporting and registering a death.The information recorded in the registers relies very much on the accuracy of knowledge of the individual who actually does the registering. Incorrectly recorded dates of birth are apparently quite common. As to the matter of the national Birth and Death Index reporting that there is no death certificate, she pointed out that again, the best means of checking it out is to check with the local rather than national office, as any discrepancies are more likely to be solved at a local level.
-
Having discussed this with a professional geneaologist in the family, she made the point that the matter of date of birth in some public records is never a reliable one, particularly when looking at the matter of reporting and registering a death.The information recorded in the registers relies very much on the accuracy of knowledge of the individual who actually does the registering. Incorrectly recorded dates of birth are apparently quite common. As to the matter of the national Birth and Death Index reporting that there is no death certificate, she pointed out that again, the best means of checking it out is to check with the local rather than national office, as any discrepancies are more likely to be solved at a local level.
-
Except, so far at least, though we've now got an obituary and a date, he's not officially dead...
Although of course,the balance of probabilities is high enough to say that there is an entry for him in the Register of Deaths for Liverpool district for the period Oct-Dec 1915, volume 8b Page 105?
Member Dowright stated that he had applied for the death certificate for this entry, but had been advised that it did not exist (see entry for 18 May 2015) ... aliens again?
Except that's for a John McCann born in 1846, and (as I've mentioned) there was such a person in Liverpool, who was alive in 1911, so it's not looking good!
(But you never know, fingers crossed...)
Hmm,yes,point taken. It's almost as if he planned it, isn't it?
-
Now for those ICA folks in the UK, especially the MacCann players.....this leaves just four months for you to get together a little celebratory session or maybe even a seminar on the occasion of the centenary of MacCann's death. Looks like it will occur in early October this year, thanks to Andrew's research. Maybe that would be a good time to release that long-awaited Duet International, too?
Dan
How strange Dan. Dirge and I have discussed the idea of a Maccann get together more than once over the last 5 years or so, and I was intending to try and organise something with Ralphie Jordan - the number of times he maintained that if you got more than two Maccann players together in one room implosion would occur! I recall reporting to him with glee a duet players workshop at Whitby Folk Week where there were around two dozen duet players in the room, of which only two were not Maccann owners. On that occasion nuclear fission should have occurred. It would be good, at long last, to get something sorted. Unfortunately I can't volunteer to set it up, due to current personal circumstances.
And YES! Time for Duet International ... and to get Al Day to do another nudge?
-
Except, so far at least, though we've now got an obituary and a date, he's not officially dead...
Although of course,the balance of probabilities is high enough to say that there is an entry for him in the Register of Deaths for Liverpool district for the period Oct-Dec 1915, volume 8b Page 105?
Member Dowright stated that he had applied for the death certificate for this entry, but had been advised that it did not exist (see entry for 18 May 2015) ... aliens again?
-
Oh well done sir!! How did you manage to track that one down? Sounds rather sad that at the end of his time he was reduced to entertaining pub customers and football crowds.
I believe someone earlier in the thread had tracked down an entry in the Register of Deaths for this period, had tried to obtain the death certificate, but was told that the record was not available ? -
Eagle's Whisper Waltz (arranged and played by Ralph Jordan and Irene Shettle)
A Maccann duet duet put together by Ralph Jordan and myself for a show that we produced on the life and work of Lucy Broadwood, the Victorian folksong collector and researcher. The original tune was collected by Lucy in 1906 in Cappoquin, County Waterford from a young lady named Bridget Geary. In the six months of rehearsal of the show the tune became somewhat changed (mostly due, I suspect to Ralph's ministrations), and ,as he said during one of our shows when I referred to Lucy probably spinning in her grave at the changes ... "yeah... we made it better ... it's the folk process innit?"
Truth to tell, having gone back to the original I think he was right. Whatever the case, it was fun to play it together, and I still find it infectious and cheerful. The basic tune is played by me (I had only been playing for about six or seven months when we embarked on it all); the embellishments, arabesques and pirouettes around it are all his (and rather lovely they were too). It changed with every playing thanks to his skills at improvisation. This was a live performance for a fundraising concert for the choir that I had sung with for many years.
https://soundcloud.com/surreysinger/eagles-whisper-waltz -
I don't know where this project ever got to, but I've just discovered that Hazel Askew of the excellent Askew Sisters is playing Maccann these days, and doing very nicely on it (no surprise there!). Was she included on the list, and are there any other recent additions we should know about? Sadly, of course, there must be some names to remove from the list, for the inevitable reasons.
Yes - Hazel has been playing a 55 key for quite some time and is a known quantity. I shall have to get back to doing this list at some point. Another fairly newbie is Ollie King; and Ralphie Jordan (who of course is no longer listable - gone but definitely not forgotten by any of us ) sold a 55 key to Becky Taylor about two years ago or more, and I know that she is playing it.these days.. Matt Quinn has been on the list for two years anyway.
-
American: Glendy Burke
"Here’s a pretty straightforward oldtime version complete with concertina.
For a totally different sound, check out this video; the singer is the tenor who leads the Civil War band I sometimes play in, Doug Jimerson, a leading interpreter of Civil War music.
Here’s a creative interpretation with English concertina. I think the basic melody is in there somewhere.
And played by a brass ensemble. "
The creative version of Glendy Burke is by English singer and concertina player Steve Turner ... unfortunately that's not a particularly good video, but it seems there aren't any others. His is a very hard and driving version with a great accompaniment... which seems to be somewhat different from the other versions I have heard from the likes of Jeff Warner and Debby McClatchy. Can't see myself attempting anything like that any time soon though.
-
I would echo what Stuart Estell said .... Jeffries duets are rare, and sadly partially because people have bastardised them into something else. The popularity of the duet seems to be increasing, judging by posts that I have seen. Why take something which was designed for a specific purpose and is rare, just to turn it into something else at great expense?
-
Buy a Wera for about £4 and your screwdriver problems will be solved.
I was about to say "What's a Wera", but googled it. Not a brand name I have ever come across before. But ,judging by the number of different tools they produce I am tempted to say "A Wera what?" They seem to do a fair few different screwdrivers, never mind the other tools.
-
Here is a picture of Ralph playing my Wheatstone mini anglo at Bradfield in 2005.
Hi Mike - I've just realised that you have put the date down as 2005. In fact it was later than that. We were at Bradfield to give our presentation of our show on Lucy Broadwood, and that was actually in 2010, five years later than you have suggested. He was playing your mini Wheatstone in that very cold barn after he had taken part in the five way discussion on Duet concertinas with Jon Boden, Geoffrey Crabb, Gavin Atkin and Roger Digby.
-
Dan - I think you'd have enjoyed his company. His enthusiasm for fellow musicians and for sharing music was immense,and his musical tastes were wide,extremely varied and sometimes quite eccentric (thanks to his sense of humour I think). As a sound engineer and studio manager for the BBC he worked with musicians of all types and genres in that capacity, and so was widely exposed to many influences during his working life. He claimed that you could play "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to anything - which I doubted until he actually proved it at a session which we were both at! Bart has made a very good choice of those tunes as they span quite a few areas of his musical tastes, including, of course, his love of Swedish/Scandinavian music and his homage to Alexander Prince with Hopscotch.
-
I think Marcus Music in Newport do repairs?
Ear Pain, Ringing from Higher Notes
in General Concertina Discussion
Posted
I have this problem, and like Ken Coles, know perfectly what causes it in my case - tinnitus. I have a constant high pitched ringing in my right ear, which most of the time I tune out, except when it is very quiet. For years I had noticed that high pitched noises caused distortion and pain. WHen the tinnitus was investigated, the consultant told me that he also suffered and that I might notice "some distortion with high pitched sounds" ... and there was the cause. When I play my duet I notice after I have finished that I have more obvious ringing in the ears, which later settles down. I think you should get it checked out by your doctor. Good luck.