Dan Worrall

A few more things about Peter. Memorial service Guest book A nice concise description of Peter and folk dance and folk dance music in Australia A Youtube of Peter playing a polka mazurka. Peter's playing was technically straightforward, often on a single row as in this piece, but that simplicity belies a strong understanding of and commitment to playing for old time dances. Peter was among a rare number of modern concertina players in Australia to primarily play for dances in an old style that eschews the showiness of modern session music, and instead highlights rhythm for the use of dancers. Peter had a deep knowledge and love for these dances - ones that seem so remote today: polka mazurkas, varsovianas, the Pride of Erin waltz, Gay Gordons, cotillons, and on and on. Most session players today would be hard pressed to give clear tune examples of each of these various dance rhythms, let alone play them rhythmically well enough for social dances....not for lack of technical skill, but for lack of experience in playing these instruments in the way in which they were used 150 years ago. Peter and others in Australia have labored long and hard to keep the practice of traditional social dance alive. We can hear CDs of people like Dooley Chapman and William Kimber and Mary Ann Carolan, but having Peter around was a living bridge to their time. He will be missed.

A mighty concertina player and all-round musician and folk dance expert has passed away in Australia. Peter Ellis died last night of cancer; Rob Willis sent me the very sad news. For those of you not fortunate enough to have known Peter, he lived in Bendigo, Victoria Australia. He has been a contributor and leader in the folk music and dance community there for decades. He began the Bush Dance and Music Club of Bendigo as well as the Emu Creek Bush Band, playing both anglo concertina and button accordion. He was a prolific author of all sorts of books and CDs on Australian music and dance; there were few to none in that scene in Australia that did not enjoy his cheerful friendship. He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2012 for his lifelong contributions to that country's music and dance heritage. My wife and I had the great privilege to meet him and travel around the country with him in 2012. I had hoped to go back for another meeting with Peter, but now that shall not happen. Rest in peace, Peter. They may not allow accordions in heaven, but surely there will be concertinas there! Dan

Edited to combine this post with my post just before it, for clarity (ie, see previous post!).

Don't ask me why I am following up on the final days of a duet player! But here are some random thoughts on the last years of Maccann. His final tutor was published between 1901 and 1902, and in it he is interviewed, and says: I revisited the States in March 1901, for a six months tour, then back again to London, and I have already told you that I shall soon be leaving England again for my next tour, which takes me this time to Australia with Mr. Harry Rickard's Company. http://www.concertina.com/maccann-duet/howtoplay/Maccann-How-to-Play-the-Concertina-1902-HQ.pdf Rickards was an Australian talent scout and producer of music hall entertainment. https://ozvta.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/rickards-harry-3032015.pdf Maccann indeed goes to Australia (and New Zealand) with Rickards; here is an advert for a show on 27 November 1902: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WC19021127.2.31.3 In May 1903 he was still there, and gave a performance at a local freemasonry group meeting -- not exactly Carnegie Hall, but a paying gig. At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the brethren adjourfned to the Cafe Cecil, where a banquet was served, and the usual toasts were gone through, interspersed with se lections by Bro. McCann, the Concertina King, and songs and recitations by other brethren. An August 14 1903 New Zealand paper noted that he returned to London. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=WDT19030814.2.25 He was in Dublin in 1903 as I noted in a post above, and he was in the Sheffield Grand Theatre 1903 as per Wes Williams post above. A November 11 1903 article in the Otago Witness (New Zealand) says: Concertina King McCann, recently through New Zealand with Rickard's Company, is running a musical academy in Liverpool. A ca 1905 Lachnal brochure reads as if he were still alive: Professor Maccann can recommend these instruments for simplicity in learning. A Lachenal brochure of ca 1920 mentions "the late Professor McCann." Both of these brochures are on www.concertina.com. We can thus assume that McCann died in or after 1905 and before 1920. I would guess that that death occurred in 1905 or 1906, otherwise he would have turned up in a music hall gig or some such - unless he was incapacitated for a long time. Now let's turn to the "musical academy" in Liverpool (mentioned in 1903, above). Neil Wayne noted in his concertina museum website that he had a Lachenal duet Concertina stamped Maccann's English Concertina Academy, Liverpool; Lachenal & Co's Instruments. It is listed there as C.309 Lachenal & Co Maccann Duet, 61 Key, gilt metal ends, No 1819. Internal dealer's stamp on inner pan face from "Maccann's English Concertina Academy, Liverpool; Lachenal & Co's Instruments". Whether THE Maccann, or merely a use of his name, is not known. Here is the stamp: http://www.concertin...ies/C309g3b.jpg It says Maccann's English Concertina Academy 16 Dunkeld Street West Derby Road Liverpool Lachenal & Company Instruments With the 1903 note from New Zealand, we can assume that Maccann opened that place in 1903 after returning from Australia/New Zealand, and that perhaps it was also his last domicile. Can any of you UK based sleuths do anything with this address and information?

Your recollection is indeed perfect, Chris! That one is a real favorite of mine...perfect for Dooley Chapman tunes...... Cheers, Dan

Sean, Thanks for posting the photo.....I missed seeing everyone this year. Kudos to Jim Bayliss and Jody Kruskal for keeping it going another year! Dan

Wow....a great start! I could not help but thinking, as I watched your Youtube, that an Anglo made like that would be great for learners, if at a reasonably economic price. I've got a little concertina group meeting once a month here in Texas, and half of them are learners struggling with those Chinese-made Anglos that are - sorry to say - worse than useless. One lady is developing shoulder problems struggling with the stiff bellows on hers, while she waits a year for a decent concertina to be built for her. Another has a Stagi that is out of tune. If you can make an Anglo in about the same price range as those, with a decent imitation bellows action, then I should think that there would be a fair market. Not to slight the English concertina - it is wonderful! - its just that the market is so thoroughly in the Anglo camp, by a factor of perhaps five or ten. Obviously you will have to get a concertina tone somehow. And then get rid of that external powerpack with the cord....surely there is room inside for some rechargeable lithium batteries? Those are my two cents worth. I'm delighted to see this work progress. An electronic Anglo or English would never replace the real thing in my arsenal, but it would be a real hoot to have one for a little variety of sound timbre when playing in a group. Even a concertina player gets a bit tired of the constant screamer sound every now and then, and switching over to a little tuba oompah for a polka would be just plain fun. Dan

This is the eleventh year we've held this, and probably the eighth year that someone brought up Lena on the thread. We have eagerly awaited her arrival, but alas! The Queen of Palesteena hasn't showed herself. Yet. We'll have to settle for BBQ, dogwood blossums, old timey music, and...did anyone say.....concertinas in old Palestina?

It's that time again, time to start thinking about bringing yourself and your concertina to the East Texas pineywoods for the 11th Annual Old Palestine Concertina Weekend (and Old Time Music and Dulcimer Festival). The festival will occur March 26-28 this year, in the small town of Palestine, Texas. This year we are very fortunate to have a return visit from Jody Kruskal, in what is, I think, his fifth appearance at our concertina weekend. Jody is a superb teacher and a superb performer...and a very nice fellow to boot, as all on this Forum will know. We are still working on his Texas accent, but other than that, he'll do just fine! Jim Bayliss is stepping up to take the reins on organizing the workshops this year. Jim plays duet and Anglo, and has been to nearly every one of these gatherings, from the very beginning. To get on the mailing list for workshop details, etc. send him a PM via this forum, or via email at jmbayliss"at"juno.com For new folks, the Palestine music festival is an absolute gem, with a charming location in the East Texas Pineywoods, in high springtime. Lots for non-musical spouses to do in town (an old steam train; dogwood festival that week, azaleas, etc.), and there are superb festival concerts every lunchtime and every evening, in an old auditorium seemingly right out of a Faulkner novel. There are workshops for every conceivable stringed instrument, from various forms of dulcimers to fiddles to banjos, and shape note singing workshops for singers....for me those shape note sing-ins are among the high points. The performers -- old time genre for the most part, but always some variety too -- are accomplished, and very approachable. It is all very laid back. The festival website can give you the general details, prices etc. http://www.oldpalmusic.com/ But for the concertina activities, please contact Jim at the above address. Come join us for some BBQ, springtime, and tunes! Dan

Thanks very much for posting this, Irene. I never had the chance to meet him, but between the photographs and the selected tunes one can get a good idea of who he was and of his musical tastes. Wonderful stuff. Dan

Very nicely played, Jody. Happy 2015 to all! Dan

And lest we forget the Brits, William Kimber at 89 was still the best traditional concertina player in England in his day, and a decade later Scan Tester at 85 was a force to be reckoned with. Dooley Chapman at 90 in Australia surely was the best player in Oz in 1982, to look at festival schedules of that day (ok, maybe there was a young whippersnapper or two out there, but they certainly didn't have Dooley's charm). The big problem is not the brain or the hands, as these folks and Peter's examples show. One must only keep on the right side of the grass, and keep being engaged with music and people.

Dunno the answer to the question, but I do know that the Germans were into all sorts of end shapes by the time of this picture, from 1855. Round, square, rectangle, hex, octagon....whatever anyone wanted.

Many thanks, Greg, for those exceedingly kind words. Always great to know that someone out there discovers and appreciates such an effort. As one who started down the Anglo trail via Bertram Levy's wonderful tutor of thirty plus years ago, I remember Bertram's comment to the effect that learning to play the Anglo is a lifelong journey. One can certainly spend one's time traveling along one single highway, exploring it in great depth to great enjoyment, or one may find that there are many other highways too that beckon. The House Dance CD was done with the latter strategy in mind. Having put it together, I was amazed that the old patterns of playing the instrument in various locations were really quite similar - to the extent that we can say today from a limited set of old recordings. I'm still amazed by that, and love to play in octaves. Glad there is another octave aficianado out there. Dan

Fascinating! I visited Neil Wayne two or three years ago and saw his collection of 'tinware'. I don't remember seeing a shield but I was not focussed on it. I did see a lot of cups. While you're ringing folks, Dave, why not ring Neil about it? Dan

I discussed Rock Chidley and his bankruptcy in my book; see page 22 of volume 1: http://books.google.com/books?id=1-thWE5XRmsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=anglo+concertina+worrall&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4XHaU9K7E8ic8gGYgoHgDA&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=anglo%20concertina%20worrall&f=false Rock was listed as a concertina maker in the London City Directory until 1886. And as Wes mentioned, his brother Edward was active with Wheatstone until his death in 1899. Then Edward's son Edward Jr took over. And Edward Senior's grandson Kenneth Vernon Chidley joined Wheatstone in 1906, managing it by 1924. They probably should have renamed it the Chidley concertina!

Now that that is settled, what music was he playing? He spent some time inscribing a five line staff and some five notes on the front....again sorry about the focus as it was very dark. Any ideas? The staff is at least as clear as the inflation calculations......

As for me, I'm sticking with Stephen's estimates. I learned a long time ago that he usually ends up being right! I still think low thousands of dollars is about right, based on many of the logic streams that Stephen pointed out. BTW, there is a currency inflator that Randy Merris and Bob Gaskins developed for calculating vintage concertina prices in today's money, in the concertina library (concertina.com). Using the year 1862 and the lowest price of Geoff's Nickold's price range (1 pound 7 s), one calculates a modern price of 637 Sterling. That times 1.7 yields about $1000, more or less. Stephen has pointed out the error bars. Like I said, low thousands of dollars, one way or the other. In my history books, I used that calculator to figure out the daily take of Victorian street musicians playing concertinas, and always thought that the result seemed more or less reasonable. Prices of German concertinas, by the way, were about 90% less, which partly explains their astonishingly higher popularity.

Thanks, Geoff. So even a Nickolds was pricey. Those prices reflect a concertina that in todays terms would cost in the low thousands of dollars....more or less what a new EC would cost today. That deserter must have been a Boston Brahmin!

Terry, I may read your question a bit differently than some. I think you are saying that you want to play Nutting Girl in G, but to use the C row some of the time, and G others (ie, not that you want to play the tune in C). If that interpretation is correct, then you would be close to the way William Kimber would approach a tune. He was basically an octave player, and I described in some detail octave cross-rowing techniques in my House Dance CDRom. Kimber's style was - in its most elemental form - to play in octaves, drop out every other note on the bass (left) side to enhance rhythm, and add a third interval partial chord to each remaining bass octave note. When playing in either G or D he cross-rowed all the time, to answer your question. A good example would be Over the Hills to Glory, a Country Dance tune that he played in G. In the A part, it is low in pitch and, just as you asked, it is partly played on the C row. In the B part the pitch is higher, and he migrated fully to the G row. Normal operating procedure, and your instinct is correct. A transcription of that and all his tunes, as he played them, are in my 2005 book on William Kimber, published by the EFDSS. Most G tunes fit about 80% on the G row in the Kimber style, and 20% on the C row. C tunes typically are played roughly 50% on the C row and 50% on the G. Lots of cross rowing. Modern players will play it differently, with fuller chords and oom-pahs, and just about anything goes as long as it suits the needs of the dancers, I should think.

Stephen, A Nickolds makes perfect sense. The ends just don't have the finish and quality of a Wheatstone, or even a Lachenal. I'm used to seeing cheaper knockoffs of Anglos, but it surprised me to see an EC in such a basic form. I have seen very nice looking Nickolds though (probably you showed me one). That a basic EC would be the one falling into the hands of a soldier makes sense too....the really good ones must have been extraordinarily expensive. Have you ever seen any adverts for Nickolds showing a range in qualities and prices? Steve, No telling why he left it, but it is amazing what one would leave behind if on the lam. Or to be more generous, maybe he never returned because he had an accidental death (but not in combat....he was far from the battlefields). I've often felt that an EC was a better choice for Civil War tunes than an Anglo, mostly because it can be played in a nice legato manner, and so many of the classics are mournful dirges and/or slow love ballads. I play both types of concertinas, but reserve the Anglo for the bouncy minstrel tunes of that same era (Oh Susannah, Getting Upstairs, etc.). Dan

Some of you may remember that I have posted a couple of photos of concertinas documented to have been played in the US Civil War. One was this German concertina from the Gettysburg National Park museum http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=6516&hl=gettysburg and another was a period photo of a black youth in military garb plaing another square-ended German concertina. That photo is in my book on the history of the Anglo, volume 2. Just so the EC folks don't feel left out....I know they've been longing to play Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair in period garb at a re-enactor's ball....here is this nice English concertina spotted at the Confederate Museum in Fort Worth Texas. It was left behind by a deserter (a Yankee deserter, need I say more?....just kidding) in 1862. He was, we are told, a teamster for the 47th Massachusetts Infantry. That explains the concertina. An infantryman couldn't easily carry one of these, and neither really could a cavalryman....that is probably why they are so rare. But a teamster driving wagons all the time, no problem. Maybe he was chased away for his playing. By the way, if you are ever in the Dallas-Ft Worth area, I highly recommend that museum. Fantastic array of clothing, weapons and artifacts...including their most recent acquisition, General Grant's jacket worn at Appomattox. On the concertina, sorry for the photo quality, it was very dark in there. It has a four fold bellows, and rather crudely made wooden ends. On the other side, I looked for a label, but there was only a hole where it should have been. Maybe one of the experts can let us know what brand..... Cheers, Dan

Ciaran, There are tons of good concertina players there. Here is an article that I wrote about the concertina players I met there on a trip three years ago: http://angloconcertina.org/AustralianconcertinasPt1.html Of the Irish style players in Melbourne, Mark McDonnell is a key contact and great guy. He runs an Irish session there in Melbourne with a good cross section of local concertina players in the mix: http://irishsession.net/ Since you like English music too, I would highly recommend that you meet the traditional Australian style (bush) players as well. There are a number of them mentioned in my article. In Melbourne I would recommend Ray Simpson (who also plays Irish style), and in Bendigo you surely should look up Peter Ellis, a concertina and accordion player (and all-round scholar) who organizes traditional dances Aussie style. Further afield, Ian SImpson (Ray's brother) and his wife Di are mainstays in preserving the music and dance of the Nariel Valley (Victoria). And there are others! The Aussie style of concertina playing, as well as their dance music in general, is under some threat from the great popularity of modern Irish session music and concertina playing among the young. Good to be somewhat aware of that when you visit....jigs and reels are not the mainstays of their dance music that they are in modern Ireland. If you need any contact adresses, just send me a PM. Above all, enjoy your time in Oz. It is a wonderful place, full of nice people.

The Royton Morris (NW Morris tradition) danced to Oh Susannah, so maybe that would be a good place to catch the tune in an English context. It can be found on the House Dance CDRom, in the section on Ellis Marshall (Musical Traditions website) http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/worrall.htm Ellis plays it in octaves, which seems to have been the most common style of Anglo playing around the world before the folk revival. Oh Susannah was spread around the world by the minstrel shows in the 1850s to 1890s. There is a section in House Dance that discusses the minstrels and their legacy, especially in regard to the Anglo concertina.

I just saw the thread elsewhere here on a Dapper's Delight tune on Youtube, but thought I'd resurrect this thread on their CD, Dapper's Delight play Indoors, for my comments. I had a long drive to make yesterday through the low green hills of central Texas, and brought this CD along...I hadn't yet listened to it. I didn't know from the plastic-wrapped cover what to make of it - recorder and Anglo! - and was really hoping it wasn't yet another dreadful CD of re-enactors playing tunes in costume (go to Colonial WIlliamsburg and you will see what I mean, recorders and all). Nothing against that sort of thing-it can be really nice-but it seems like everytime I get a CD of such music I get a bit disappointed, and thus I tend to stick recordings of people I know, and of people who stick to traditional style playing. Boy, was I wrong on this one. It is superb! What looked to be a potentially iffy idea, mixing a recorder and its Early Music styling with a Victorian anglo concertina with all that entails, ended up being a stroke of genius. There are so many morris tunes with old roots that delving a little deeper in time fits the Anglo nicely, and Ms. Borsch's recorder playing is so wonderfully virtuosic that the whole thing comes together brilliantly. Adrian Brown's playing naturally echoes John Watcham's (his former mentor), which means that the chords are impecabbly chosen and the tunes flow on legato or bouncy fashion, as fits the needs of the music. Their playing together, with all the give and take in phrasing, is simply gorgeous, and the miles melted away as I listened to this CD during my drive. It is always very nice to find music that stretches the mind, and shows that there are still more avenues to explore for our favorite instrument. If you don't own this CD yet, you might consider getting it. ps. Also of note is the use of mean-tone temperament in two of Adrian's concertinas....the chords are lovely and peaceful-sounding. Greg Jowaises is tuning one of mine that way this month, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.