Alan Day Posted December 6, 2010 Share Posted December 6, 2010 A quick look at an English Concertina,Kate Rusby singing a lovely Sheffield Carol and did I see our own Mike Sam Wild in the pub singing ? All on BBC1 - Songs of Praise, last night. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Hi Alan, nice coverage for our area and a lovely West Gallery at Midhopestones chapel. Kautylia put up a link to the BBC playback .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 We had our own village carols do in a Bradford on Avon pub on Sunday and an absolute gas it was too, including a dozen local musicians with a couple of concertinas among them. Authentically crowded, we sang some of the Sheffield carols but also some from our own area we'd researched. A particularly nice touch was when a regular in the Sheffield sings who (unbeknownst to us) was visiting the area, offerred to lead Stannington and sang it beautifully. It felt a bit like passing on the torch We're doing it all over again this coming Sunday. Anyone interested look here! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maccannic Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Chris, I'm well impressed with that link. I wish you success with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnC Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 We had our own village carols do in a Bradford on Avon pub on Sunday and an absolute gas it was too, including a dozen local musicians with a couple of concertinas among them. Authentically crowded, we sang some of the Sheffield carols but also some from our own area we'd researched. A particularly nice touch was when a regular in the Sheffield sings who (unbeknownst to us) was visiting the area, offerred to lead Stannington and sang it beautifully. It felt a bit like passing on the torch We're doing it all over again this coming Sunday. Anyone interested look here! Chris Looks fun hope you have a warmer time than I did this last weekend playing in Robin Hoods Bay for the Victorian weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes williams Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I saw the Songs of Praise program - the carols just don't sound right sung by a 'trained' choir. I shall be off with the Odcombe singers on Christmas eve and the day before, just like they've done for over 150 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tootler Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 I saw the Songs of Praise program - the carols just don't sound right sung by a 'trained' choir. I agree. I thought the BBC missed a trick. Rather than sanitise the folk carols, feature them as they are. I would have liked to have seen the whole performance of the West Gallery Carol and also while I enjoyed Kate Rusby singing While Shepherds watched to Sweet Chiming bells it really need a group of singers to sing the "Chiming Bells" chorus to do it justice. Still, I suppose what they featured was better than nothing. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 while I enjoyed Kate Rusby singing While Shepherds watched to Sweet Chiming bells it really need a group of singers to sing the "Chiming Bells" chorus to do it justice. Havwn't sen this yet but that puts me right off. This stuff isn't meant to be sung this way. It was one that we sung last Sunday - that's how it's supposed to sound! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 (edited) It was Songs of Praise after all , the bit from the Blue Ball was just a taste of the real thing. They are normally sung without accompaniment or just a piano or electric organ, In the past they went round with fiddles ,cellos and a bass etc. I rember fiddles and a concertina in the 60s but usuallly the unaccompanied singing led off by a 'striker' to get the best key is the most powerful. The band at Red Lion Grenoside is a recent thing and is now associated with Grenoside Sword Dancers and ian Russell's festival in December. Nice feel of the old West Gallery bands. In the past the carols were much more widely sung around the country. In this area they stayed sung in South Yorks and NE Derbyshire , often in pubs and chapels or roud the houses and countryside after the Church tried to standardise the types of carol and the tunes and more importantly the keys and when Organs replaced the West Gallery Bands and their like... There is even a group in GlenRock in the USA who were founded by singers from the textile areas of the South Pennine Yorks/Lancs border area. IUncidentally in the book De Keltorum by Gerald of Wales in the 1300s he mention sthe celts of Wales and Yorkshire favouring such singing in parts. We did have people still speaking Romano British in isolated areas of Northumbria and Mercia at the time but the Saxon and Danish world had been converted by Rome and it is difficult to imagine the sort of religious music othe rthan plainsong chants. maybe the musical idiom of the people was of a folk style. The present carols are products of mainly ordinary people within their communities an often have local names eg Tinwood, back lane, Wire Mill, Spout Cottage and the more recent (1950s0 stannington which worked its way in. There are also secular songs sung in the pubs at the same time eg Swaledale, Corn Stalks, Down in the fields where the buttercups grow etc as well as Kris Kringle , Pratty Flowers Some of which are mildly saucy and quirte happily accepted in the 'service' Edited December 9, 2010 by michael sam wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes williams Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 In the past the carols were much more widely sung around the country. In this area they stayed sung in South Yorks and NE Derbyshire , often in pubs and chapels or roud the houses and countryside after the Church tried to standardise the types of carol and the tunes and more importantly the keys and when Organs replaced the West Gallery Bands and their like... That's what happened in the West Country too, except the singers and bands moved to the chapels and joined the Methodists, rather than the pubs. There aren't many groups left now, but luckily we have a good number of the carols from Dorset and Somerset written down. In Odcombe they go around to every house with a caller, who shouts "Mr & Mrs xxxxx, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a bright and prosperous New Year". They used to start at 9pm Christmas Eve, and would finish around 7.30am, with an hour off for breakfast, but now they take two nights from about 7pm, one for Lower Odcombe, and one for Higher Odcombe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 That sounds really nice. A bit like village waits letting people know all's well. Now in a lot of places they'd probably report them for disturbance of the peace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 but luckily we have a good number of the carols from Dorset and Somerset written down. There's a superb book called Carols of the Westcountry (out of print but still available from a few places, try searching Amazon) that we took a couple of carols from for the Bradford on Avon sings. There are also a couple of carols from Wiltshire that we found. It was important to us that we should have some local songs and it proved easier to achieve than we expected. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 (edited) Around Foolow in Derbyshire they still go out round the houses and farmsteads singing to families. In the Oughtibridge area 'The Big Set' used to carry instruments round and sing all night. Jon Boden is involved with a revival around Storrs and Dungworth I understand The Grenoside Sword Dancers still go on a traipse around the big houses. In the past it was common to go out for several days to collect money . The Plough Bullocks also went out round the same time at Ecclesfield. Money with menaces, if you didn't stump up they'd plough up your front garden. William Kimber mentions 'everybody going out at Christmas', being hard up. A bit like First Footing at Hogmanay It obviously all served several functions such as a bit of social levelling, including everybody in the community, a bit of social license and celebration of the turning of the year. And financial necessity often helped keep customs alive! Where's me concertina?? Edited December 16, 2010 by michael sam wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Madge Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 We have had a carol night for the past several years out and about the Freehold area of Lancaster. It is organised by the members of the Thursday night session in the Gregson. We collect for charity and tour the streets with a stop for mulled wine halfway round! We will be out next Monday and will probably have concertina, whistle and brass musicians in tow. Robin Madge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 (edited) I note on another thread that Jody Kruskal and pals wander around a park in The Bronx playing and singing and supping mulled cider. In Sheffield that could get you a night in the cells or a homeless shelter or hospital with pneumonia Edited December 17, 2010 by michael sam wild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Here's my recording of Sweet Chiming Bells sung at The George At Woolley, Bradford on Avon, last Sunday. Not a great recording because mic placement was not ideal, but it captures the spirit of the event rather well. Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Nice one Chris, the band is a good accompaniment and the chattering is authentic! Now all it takes is another 160 years and you'll have a tradition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Well I might not be there to see it but that time will come. Bradford on Avon is a very old town and we don't forget much! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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