House Dance CD Rom

[Dan Worrall]

All,

 

Just a note that Andy Turner has written a nice and characteristically detailed review of my 'House Dance' CD Rom on the Musical Traditions review site, here. Andy easily grasped the main point of the work and of its included sound files of old time musicians: that Anglo concertina repertoires and playing styles were much closer among players of various countries back then than they are in today's folk revival atmosphere, at least among the four countries where archival recordings exist (England, Ireland, Australia and South Africa).

 

For c.netters in England, I'm really looking forward to attending the English Country Music Weekend in Brightlingsea Essex, 22-24 June. Here is the website link. Lots of folks I've been wanting to meet, and others who are old friends....and what looks to be some really great music sessions. As well as that fine English ale.

 

Cheers,

Dan

Edited April 29, 2012 by Dan Worrall

[gcoover]

Dan has outdone himself with this one with the inclusion of all the audio files - what a treat to read about and then actually listen to the actual performers! His rediscovery of the "Double Z" method of playing octaves (you'll have to read the book to understand this) is alone worth the price, as it explains and shows the two row system that is the basic technique for playing in octaves.

 

It's very interesting to read of the one-time widespread types of dance music that were found across the continent and the globe, and how most were ethnically cleansed out of Ireland during a period of nationalistic fervor. It reminds me of a wonderful cartoon in an old "Punch" magazine that showed a pub with a sign in the window saying "Music Session Tonight" and a guy with a concertina being stopped at the door by a man saying "Sorry, only traditional instruments allowed!".

 

Octave playing is a great way to relive those particular olden times, and an added benefit is that you really only need a 20-button instrument to play a wealth of old dance tunes. Kudos to Dan for his diligent searches and yet another wonderful book!

 

Gary

[michael sam wild]

Great CDRom. I have been having some trouble accessing the clips , it freezes and I have to go back to the start . Is there a better way of speeding things up. I've heard that a number of Rod Stradlings MusTrad CDRoms do this .

[Chris Timson]

Octave playing is a great way to relive those particular olden times, and an added benefit is that you really only need a 20-button instrument to play a wealth of old dance tunes. Kudos to Dan for his diligent searches and yet another wonderful book!

 

I've always loved the sound of octave playing anyway and was working on it a lot prior to the (minor) stroke which left my left hand a bit inaccurate. I still try it a lot in the privacy of my own home. I can vouch that it's a great post-stroke therapy.

 

Chris

 

PS BCNU at Brightlingsea, Dan

[Geoff Wooff]

This is all very interesting Dan!

 

I can see parallels with what is going on here in France;

In the arena of social dancing there are three basic groupings.. the "Groups Folkloriques" who are somewhat in a similar vein to the Morris dancing of England where formal particular traditional dances are performed. "Le Thé Dancants" which include the more modern Ballroom dancing and "Les Bals Trads" which are more a result of the Folk revival of the 1960's.

 

These Bals Trads include the types of dance that Dan is talking about... Waltz, Scottiche, Mazurka and Polka as well as some of the 18/19th century Bourrées and some more general folk dancing.In the incorporation of many dance types the Bal Trad movement encourages a greater crossection of the dancing public to attend and reminds me of my visits to Nariel Creek during the 1970's. For this type of dancing I often find myself using Octave playing, even on the EC.

 

 

Having spent many years in Ireland playing in, and listening to, 'sessions' I can see the huge social differences between these two basic uses of the Concertina. I'm sure I will find Dan's CD ROM very interesting.

 

Well done,

Geoff.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Geoff Wooff

[Dan Worrall]

Great CDRom. I have been having some trouble accessing the clips , it freezes and I have to go back to the start . Is there a better way of speeding things up. I've heard that a number of Rod Stradlings MusTrad CDRoms do this .

 

Thanks, Michael. Sorry about the trouble. I've heard from one reader with a Mac who had difficulty too. It may help to carefully read and follow Rod Stradling's instructions at the start of the CD...a bit tricky...or perhaps try it on a different PC. It runs well on my laptop running Microsoft Vista. If that doesn't work, try opening the CD as a file rather than as AutoRun. There you can access all the music files (they are named with song title and musician) and put them on your MP3 player. Hope this helps.

 

I have a feeling that there will be better ways to make these CDRoms in the future. For now it is a wonder that Rod takes on such low-sales-volume works at all. It is great that he does.

 

Gary, Chris and Geoff, thanks for the nice words! Octaves are cool.

 

Cheers,

Dan

[michael sam wild]

Thanks Dan, that worked and I can use a slowdowner too, which I have finally got sorted ! Great CDRom.