Second Notice, Concertinas at the Palestine Texas Old Time Music Festival, March 21-23, 2024

[Dan Worrall]

Only a little over six weeks to go for the 2024 concertina gathering at the Palestine Texas Old Time Music Festival. Join us for an early spring with azaleas, dogwoods...and concertinas! There are a variety of hexagonal activities this year, and some news:

 

Ann Droney Kirrane, the Clare concertina player and singer, returns to Old Pal for a fifth time. She will hold workshops for intermediate to advanced concertina players on the north Clare style of playing. She is the daughter of the late Chris Droney, an iconic Irish concertina player; she and her family keep his wonderful style of playing alive. Music for her workshops is available now for confirmed attendees.

 

Frank Edgley, the well-known musician and concertina builder from Windsor, Ontario, is planning to come to Old Pal.  He has graciously agreed to lead workshops in beginning the Irish concertina, including ornamentation, as a complement to Ann's workshops. He just republished his 2001 tutor for the Irish concertina with Rollston Press, and that book will be available at Old Pal. He also will show us some of his newest Anglos from his workbench.

 

Gary Coover, well-known Anglo player, teacher and concertina book publisher extraordinaire, plans to hold workshops on playing Anglo in the harmonic style as well as a reprise of his Shanty session for concertinas and voices. He will no doubt bring copies of various latest published books on the concertina from his Rollston Press.

 

Ann Kirrane and her group, the Belles of Bell Harbour, will lead some workshops in Clare dance music, for all instruments.  Some of the Belles are also concertina players! The idea of these workshops is to play a number of tune medleys at a reduced learning pace, so that they can be played later in the weekend to tempo in open sessions. Music for these workshops is available now for confirmed attendees.

 

Ann and her group will appear in concert several times over the festival, most especially on Thursday evening, March 21. The Old Pal website gives a schedule of information on these appearances, as well as general information on the overall festival, of which the concertinas are only a small part: www.oldpalmusic.com . It is a small and friendly festival in a charming old town.

 

If you wish to join us, just send a PM to Dan Worrall via this website. We can then hold you a place, and send out advance pdfs to you of music for the workshops. Please let us know your type of concertina, your skill level, and what your learning interests are. There are a wide variety of players coming, so with advance notice we can try to address special needs or interests.

 

We're looking forward to seeing you there!

 

All the best,

Dan Worrall, Gary Coover, and Jarrett Branch

Concertina workshop organizers

[gcoover]

This will be the 20th annual Old Pal Concertina Weekend in Palestine, East Texas! Wow, 20 years! That's an impressive amount of workshops, BBQ, and good tunes with concertinas of all types and sizes - from a tiny 8-button English concertina to an 82-button Hayden Duet, plus everything in between including hybrid and concertina-reeded Anglos and English concertinas, Bass English, Maccann, Crane, and Jeffries duets. 

 

It's a great time to try out different instruments, and the more experienced players are always generous with their time in helping others learn to play better and enjoy playing. Many of the attendees are beginners, including one lady last year who had bought a cheap 20-button German concertina earlier that morning.

 

In addition to Chris Droney's daughter, Ann Kirrane, and concertina-builder and player Frank Edgley, Rollston Press will be officially launching three new Anglo books: Frank's The Anglo Concertina: Handbook of Tunes and Methods for Irish Traditional Music, the long-awaited 75 More Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina with Ernestine Healy, and a collection of 65 tunes from 16 different 1800's tutors titled 19th Century Anglo.

 

Although coming from halfway across the Pacific, I'll be bringing with me a sizable pile of all the other Rollston Press concertina books, so it will be an excellent opportunity for anyone to peruse the entire catalog firsthand and ask any questions. And with luck, I might even be able to actually play most of the tunes for you!

 

And there is also lots of great Old-Time music at the festival, including some awesome Sacred Harp singing, gospel sing-alongs around a piano in the hallway, and lots of impromptu jam sessions that spring up all over the place. 

 

Hope to see some of you there!

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10 by gcoover