Dapper's Delight - Old Molly Oxford

[adrian brown]

To celebrate it being a year since our CD 'Indoors" was released, we've posted a video on YouTube which was taken during the recording of the Morris tune,

, (a different take from that finally used on the CD). We've also temporarily lowered the price of the CD to 10 euros, for the run up to Christmas - a great present for the person who has everything (While the download at Itunes/Amazon is still perhaps a little cheaper, you do miss out on the 24-page booklet and the nice photos...) If anyone is interested, you can order the CD here

 

Adrian

[Kautilya]

To celebrate it being a year since our CD 'Indoors" was released, we've posted a video on YouTube which was taken during the recording of the Morris tune,

, (a different take from that finally used on the CD). We've also temporarily lowered the price of the CD to 10 euros, for the run up to Christmas - a great present for the person who has everything (While the download at Itunes/Amazon is still perhaps a little cheaper, you do miss out on the 24-page booklet and the nice photos...) If anyone is interested, you can order the CD here

 

Adrian

That was a nice present from you to us! Delicious, partickler the recorderiste whose sound seemed to float across the room as she almost levitated - take away all the wires, stands, switch out of jeans into velvet, put some mulled wine on [a fire] and some hot tatties and it could have been an intro to a mediaeval snack scene with hopes of a full Breughel lunch round the back!

 

So what does one get in the 24-page book? Scores? (with the fingerdots for tin whistle even? Not desperate for pics.

 

BTW - forgive me (in case u get bopped on the head should you go that way on a rainy day) but the good Dr Forster went to Gloucester (not Glostershire)

 

Glad to see you use the appropriate "bucksome" on your CD in line with the good Samuel Pepys (and Milton of course) with more detail here

http://www.wordnik.com/words/bucksome

 

aS FOR your 7Bugge.mp3 full title on the CD, not sure if the original toon was agin someone 'aving their Oats or agin Mr Oates avin' his Popish Plot!

Edited November 16, 2012 by Kautilya

[Jim Besser]

To celebrate it being a year since our CD 'Indoors" was released, we've posted a video on YouTube which was taken during the recording of the Morris tune,

, (a different take from that finally used on the CD). We've also temporarily lowered the price of the CD to 10 euros, for the run up to Christmas - a great present for the person who has everything (While the download at Itunes/Amazon is still perhaps a little cheaper, you do miss out on the 24-page booklet and the nice photos...) If anyone is interested, you can order the CD here

 

 

Very nice to hear a common Morris tune played with such elegance!

[adrian brown]

 

Very nice to hear a common Morris tune played with such elegance!

 

So glad you liked it Jim - I had the fear our arrangement wouldn't be much appreciated in Morris circles, and I hope that our passion for the material comes through in the recording.

 

Kautilya: My sincere apologies to the good people of Gloucestershire… But tatties on the fire, Medieval - it's a bit early innit? At least old Piet (of wedding dance, peasant dance fame) wouldn’t have known of ’em…

The booklet will tell you whether Oates (I think the letter e gives it away) was the butch lad in kilt, putting the shot , or Titus, leader of the popish plot.

Cheers,

 

Adrian

[Jim Besser]

Very nice to hear a common Morris tune played with such elegance!

 

So glad you liked it Jim - I had the fear our arrangement wouldn't be much appreciated in Morris circles, and I hope that our passion for the material comes through in the recording.

 

 

Over my years of Morris playing I've been struck by how wonderful some of these tunes sound when NOT played for dancers. As Morris musicians, we focus on supporting the dance - which often means stripping down the tunes to the basics, putting a strong emphasis on phrases because of what the dancers are doing and not because it sounds good, beating out the subtlety of the tunes in pursuit of very strong, danceable rhythm. When you play some of these tunes in non-dance situations and focus on the music itself and not the dance, sometimes wonderful things emerge.

[Robin Harrison]

Lovely; I'm just about to order my copy.

Adrian, us all being concertina nuts here, having viewed all your YouTube videos (and loved them), are you playing three different Jeffries duets ?

Jim, I completely agree with you. We both love playing for our respective Morris sides but sometimes it's great not to be constrained by their needs and see where the tunes takes you.

Robin

..............there; ordered.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Robin Harrison

[Jim Besser]

Lovely; I'm just about to order my copy.

Adrian, us all being concertina nuts here, having viewed all your YouTube videos (and loved them), are you playing three different Jeffries duets ?

Jim, I completely agree with you. We both love playing for our respective Morris sides but sometimes it's great not to be constrained by their needs and see where the tunes takes you.

Robin

..............there; ordered.

 

Nothing as beautiful as a well played Orange in Bloom outside the Morris setting.

[adrian brown]

Lovely; I'm just about to order my copy.

Adrian, us all being concertina nuts here, having viewed all your YouTube videos (and loved them), are you playing three different Jeffries duets ?

Jim, I completely agree with you. We both love playing for our respective Morris sides but sometimes it's great not to be constrained by their needs and see where the tunes takes you.

Robin

..............there; ordered.

Many thanks Robin,

 

I'm glad you liked our videos and hope you'll enjoy the CD. I'm an anglo player actually, but I think I might have the tendency to play a little less in/out than many anglo players, perhaps that's why you thought I was playing duet? You might ask why I don't play a duet, but (apart from the fact that I fell in love with the anglo system) It's nice to be able to choose whether to go for a bouncy in/out style, or not. All the anglos I use have 38 buttons, which means I can play pretty much throughout the middle range of the instrument, without any bellows reverse until I run out of air. It depends of course on the style of the music - with a gung-ho "om-pa" music hall song, I'd probably choose to go more in and out the whole time.

Concerning our videos, on the Italian dances, and All in a Garden Green videos, I play a Jürgen Suttner CG. On the Pianola museum concert extracts, I'm playing the same instrument (True Lover's Knot), plus a BbF Suttner with wooden ends (The Merry Wesel / Hunt is up, I am come to Lock all fast, My Lady Cullen and Not for Joe) and a C. Jeffries GD in old (high) pitch (Jack Pudding and Daphne). On the Old Molly Oxford video, I'm playing a C. Jeffries BbF.

Since we're a duo and don't play other instruments, we tend to use 3 concertinas and 6 different-sized recorders in our concerts, to try to mix the "atmosphere" and sound colour of each piece.

 

Apparently the record company site was down for a while a couple of days ago, but it's back up again today

 

Thanks again,

Adrian

[Kautilya]

 

Very nice to hear a common Morris tune played with such elegance!

 

So glad you liked it Jim - I had the fear our arrangement wouldn't be much appreciated in Morris circles, and I hope that our passion for the material comes through in the recording.

 

Kautilya: My sincere apologies to the good people of Gloucestershire… But tatties on the fire, Medieval - it's a bit early innit? At least old Piet (of wedding dance, peasant dance fame) wouldn’t have known of ’em…

The booklet will tell you whether Oates (I think the letter e gives it away) was the butch lad in kilt, putting the shot , or Titus, leader of the popish plot.

Cheers,

 

Adrian

Hoho!

The melody and style creates such an oldy world atmosphere which you do so well!

I suspect you might find some interesting stuff in here De Nieuwe Hollandsche Schouwburg, or peraps you know it al ready - many being dances too. INterestingly it also has in it Butter and Peas (in Dutch of course) but I don't know whether it was brought across on the Ferry from England by the Amsterdam weekend coffee=shop visitors of the period

1751!

[adrian brown]

Nothing as beautiful as a well played Orange in Bloom outside the Morris setting.

That's one of my favourites too. It's also unusual in the way the melody cries out to start on the subdominant chord (a C if you're playing in G), and I was trying to think of other tunes which do this? Valentine (Fieldtown) is another that immediately springs to mind.

 

Hoho!

The melody and style creates such an oldy world atmosphere which you do so well!

I suspect you might find some interesting stuff in here De Nieuwe Hollandsche Schouwburg, or peraps you know it al ready - many being dances too. INterestingly it also has in it Butter and Peas (in Dutch of course) but I don't know whether it was brought across on the Ferry from England by the Amsterdam weekend coffee=shop visitors of the period

1751!

Thanks again:) We do a few English/Dutch "crossovers" on the CD including of course All in a Garden Green (Onder een linde groen), The Fariest Nymph of the Valley (Laura or Graysin mask) and Mol Sims (Malle Symen). There's been a lot of research into this, and one line of thought has it that troupes of travelling English players brought the tunes to the Netherlands. There were 10 documented visits between 1580 and 1630 in the City of Utrecht alone, and yes, I guess the principal attraction was stocking up on weed for the long ride to Germany But perhaps this might be a good subject to start in the "Tunes/Songs forum, unless it's already been done before?

[Mike Franch]

The album arrived today and I've just listened to it. Amazing how appropriate an instrument, not invented until the 19th century, works so well for this older music. I'm used to the concertina (mostly English) for Playford dancing, but as discussed regarding morris, the instruments are primarily supporting the dancers. This is a very different setting, yet the instrument (and the playing) is superb and appropriate. I never once thought, "what's that doing there?"

[David Barnert]

It's also unusual in the way the melody cries out to start on the subdominant chord (a C if you're playing in G), and I was trying to think of other tunes which do this? Valentine (Fieldtown) is another that immediately springs to mind.

Another good one is Brighton Camp (The Girl I Left Behind Me).

[adrian brown]

Another good one is Brighton Camp (The Girl I Left Behind Me).

Yet another is Mrs Casey (Fieldtown). Seems like there are probably loads of them after all - so I probably shouldn't have jumped to conclusions !

 

 

The album arrived today and I've just listened to it. Amazing how appropriate an instrument, not invented until the 19th century, works so well for this older music. I'm used to the concertina (mostly English) for Playford dancing, but as discussed regarding morris, the instruments are primarily supporting the dancers. This is a very different setting, yet the instrument (and the playing) is superb and appropriate. I never once thought, "what's that doing there?"

Thanks for your kind comments Mike,

I'm really happy to hear you like the CD and find the anglo appropriate for this music. Maybe it's because in the renaissance, the lute was considered the "prince of instruments": it didn't distort your posture (like a violin would), you didn't put it in your mouth, or have to stick it between your legs (heaven forbid!), you could sing with it, and it was capable of playing more than one note at a time... Sounds pretty much like the anglo concertina, doesn't it :-) Seriously though, I am helped enormously by having my instruments tuned in meantone temperament, which really supports this music, and makes it sound as though the concertina fits, even if we know it's a complete historical anachronism!

 

Adrian

[MarkvN]

Hi Adrian,

(Just to add my dime’s worth of praise…)

 

I love that tune in the video clip, and your version of it. Puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Tasteful video too, it suits the intimate nature of the music and gives a nice sort of ‘glimpse behind the scenes'.

 

Until I heard Adrian play, I didn’t know that a concertina could sound like this, not just joyous, but so nicely restrained, sweet and almost romantic at the same time. I think it’s a great idea to let it play a supportive role to such a relatively soft voiced instrument as a recorder – that must have taken some time to learn though, playing a Jeffries that potentially plays so loud and honky.

 

I’m not entirely unbiased, but I do think the result is marvelous; and stylistically, it's a true source of inspiration!

Edited November 28, 2012 by MarkvN

[adrian brown]

Hi Adrian,

(Just to add my dime’s worth of praise…)

 

I love that tune in the video clip, and your version of it. Puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it. Tasteful video too, it suits the intimate nature of the music and gives a nice sort of ‘glimpse behind the scenes'.

 

Until I heard Adrian play, I didn’t know that a concertina could sound like this, not just joyous, but so nicely restrained, sweet and almost romantic at the same time. I think it’s a great idea to let it play a supportive role to such a relatively soft voiced instrument as a recorder – that must have taken some time to learn though, playing a Jeffries that potentially plays so loud and honky.

 

I’m not entirely unbiased, but I do think the result is marvelous; and stylistically, it's a true source of inspiration!

Thanks for your kind comments Mark - by the way, the case of Ch. Margaux '62 we agreed on, is on its way to your cellar :-)

 

Adrian

[David Barnert]

It's also unusual in the way the melody cries out to start on the subdominant chord (a C if you're playing in G), and I was trying to think of other tunes which do this? Valentine (Fieldtown) is another that immediately springs to mind.

Another good one is Brighton Camp (The Girl I Left Behind Me).

It just occurred to me that "Old Molly Oxford" (the tune that started this thread) is probably the only tune I know that ENDS on a subdominant chord, although sometimes when I'm feeling perverse I'll play a flat VII (subtonic?) chord to end it.

[adrian brown]

You're right David, and I'm wrong - it's the ending.., I should have played it through once before opening my virtual mouth!

 

Cheers,

 

Adrian

[David Barnert]

You're right David, and I'm wrong - it's the ending.., I should have played it through once before opening my virtual mouth!

You didn't say anything wrong:

 

Nothing as beautiful as a well played Orange in Bloom outside the Morris setting.

That's one of my favourites too. It's also unusual in the way the melody cries out to start on the subdominant chord (a C if you're playing in G), and I was trying to think of other tunes which do this? Valentine (Fieldtown) is another that immediately springs to mind.

Jim mentioned "Orange in Bloom" and you pointed out that it begins with a subdominant chord, which is true. We named a few others which also have that property. The fact that OMO ends on a subdominant is a different matter.