Phil Ham Anglo book

[gcoover]

For those interested in playing harmonic-style Anglo, here's announcing a new Rollston Press book: The Anglo Concertina Music of Phil Ham.

 

With a foreword by John Watcham, over 60 tunes, 119 pages, plus QR code links to historical recordings of Phil playing every tune. 

 

20 USD / 16 GBP, available through Amazon and also through Red Cow Music in the UK.

 

Phil was one of the first Anglo players in the folk revival to play across all the rows, and he was an early mentor and influence for John Kirkpatrick, John Watcham, and many others. Most of his music is for English Morris dancing, but he also plays hymns, madrigals, sea shanties, and Geordie songs.

 

Phil never recorded commercially or played in any bands, but he did put together some cassette practice tapes back in the 1970's and 1980's. Through the magic of QR codes over 60 of these tunes are included in the book with note-for-note transcriptions and tablature. 

 

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet up with Phil on my UK trip a couple of months ago and I am happy to report that he is still going strong today at a mere 92-years-old! He provided the notes for all the tunes in the book plus a detailed biography of his life with the concertina.

 

I've attached the Table of Contents plus a couple of the tunes from the book.

 

And yes, Phil gets a 50% share of the royalties, as he should, for being such a delightful gentleman and an important part of Anglo history.

 

 

Gary

 

 

Vicar-of-Bray-PHIL-HAM.pdf TOC-PHIL-HAM.pdf

Milleys-Bequest-PHIL-HAM.pdf

Edited December 14, 2022 by gcoover
revised Milley's Bequest

[Owen Anderson]

Will there be a Kindle version? 😉

[gcoover]

Yes! I'll try to get it sorted out this week.

[Dan Worrall]

Gary,

 

Congratulations on a masterpiece! The recordings of Phil Ham are wonderful, and the transcriptions straightforward. To me, more approachable that most harmonic-style players; I'd never heard his playing before. Very well done, indeed; cannot wait to see the whole book.

 

How many keys on his keyboard? Does a 30 key  miss much? I'm guessing not from the three examples you posted.

 

Dan Worrall

[gcoover]

Here are a couple of Christmas tunes that did not make it into the book but are certainly appropriate for the season.

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

 

[Kelteglow]

How would you describe his playing style eg it does not sound like melody and chords.? Bob

[brianread]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:12 AM, gcoover said:

Yes! I'll try to get it sorted out this week.

any news on the Kindle version?

[gcoover]

The book is now available in Kindle format. I wasn't able to preview it for some reason, so let me know if there are any problems.

 

As to Phil's style, it's definitely not just left hand chords and right hand melody, but he typically uses a variety of harmonic techniques within the same tune. Perhaps that comes from his engineering background, finding several different ways to get the results he wants.

 

Gary

[Owen Anderson]

15 hours ago, gcoover said:

The book is now available in Kindle format. I wasn't able to preview it for some reason, so let me know if there are any problems.

 

Thanks, looks great so far!

[Geoff W.]

Thanks for including the sample tunes. They're cute and definitely a different sort of harmonic accompaniment than block chords or oom-pahs. I'll be picking this one up.

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

Is his son Bob ham, who lives in Moulton?

 

[larryjhs]

Gary, any chance that  that this can become available via bookdepository or another international book service for Australia?  I could buy  the kindle version of Watcham  and print with screen shots which was a pain & not high quality . I’d much prefer the physical book. You books are all  I use. Thanks. Larry

On 1/16/2023 at 10:47 PM, Jake Middleton-Metcalfe said:

Is his son Bob ham, who lives in Moulton?

 

e

[gcoover]

On 1/16/2023 at 1:47 AM, Jake Middleton-Metcalfe said:

Is his son Bob ham, who lives in Moulton?

 

Yes, Bob is also a fine Anglo player and his wife plays English very well too.

[gcoover]

6 hours ago, larryjhs said:

Gary, any chance that  that this can become available via bookdepository or another international book service for Australia?  I could buy  the kindle version of Watcham  and print with screen shots which was a pain & not high quality . I’d much prefer the physical book. You books are all  I use. Thanks. Larry

 

Hi Larry, all books should be available at Amazon.au, but in looking at that website I'm not seeing all of them, and some are at ridiculous prices. The Phil Ham book should only be 29 AUD for paperback. I'll have a word with Mr. Bezos to get this sorted out!

 

Gary

[larryjhs]

Hi Gary, you are the best!

 

Thanks. And some advertising I recommend your books to all and everyone especially beginners.  This is virtually all I have used and even my wife is enjoying my playing now.   For fools like me who have trouble remembering the placement of keys and reading music at the same time, your books are a lifesafer (especially the Irish music one - more Irish tunes please).  It is strange, I can read whistle music, but the left hand  right hand stuff throws me. Age?

[Steve Morrison]

Available now from Red Cow Music

 

https://redcowmusic.co.uk/product/the-anglo-concertina-music-of-phil-ham/

[larryjhs]

The postage from the UK is almost as much as the book!! 

[gcoover]

It should be available on Amazon.au