The Anglo Concertina Music Of William Kimber

[Greg Jowaisas]

Thank you for the Folktrax link, Lennart. The Kimber cd and several others are now on my Christmas list.

 

Greg

[Dan Worrall]

What Dan didn’t add is that the concertina is now back in Headington with Julie Kimber-Nickelson (William’s grand-daughter). Dan and I, together with Dan’s wife Mary, visited Headington Quarry on Whit-Monday this year and we were invited to join the dancers for their social evening after the dancing. Julie brought the concertina over to us. I had played it before when it was in the possession of Ken Loveless, but I had not remembered how very robust it was nor that it had 7-fold bellows and masses and masses of air.

 

What Roger was much too modest to add is that he brought the Headington house down that evening with a smashing rendition of "Double Set Back" played on Kimber's concertina. Attached below is a picture of him with that instrument, just before he stood up to play it to the throng. I've also attached a picture of the Headington Quarry side performing in front of The Chequers pub. The fellow just to the left of center is Kimber's grandson. And just for fun, two shots of the Bampton side that same day; the fiddle player is Reg Hall, who wrote Scan Tester's biography.

 

Back to the G/D topic, I gather that many Morris angloers play G/D instruments now. No problem. 80% of Kimbers tunes are in C and the rest in G. Played on a G/D with Kimber's fingering, the C tunes naturally transpose to G. Moreover, you can use the pitch alteration device on the Roni 'Amazing Slow Downer' to change Kimber's recordings into G and D. Everything, it seems, is possible these days.

 

Finally, thanks Lennart for mentioning the Folktrax recordings. One of them is all talking, and the other has almost all of his recorded tunes, including homemade field recordings of many country dance tunes not included on the EFDSS CD. I've transcribed most of them, and there are some not-often heard gems among them. Still, the EFDSS CD ("Absolutely Classic") is a better buy if you only will own one, because it has DVD old videos of Kimber and the Quarry dancers, and a wonderful biography by Derek Schofield.[attac

ment=1303:attachment]

[klaus guhl]

Dan,

I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....

[Paul Read]

Try the Button Box. They are pretty accommodating and efficient.

[Dan Worrall]

Dan,

I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....

 

Klaus,

I sent an email of my own to EFDSS to find out what the problem is. Their sales site is new and I think they are still ironing out the wrinkles. One of these problems is that they give a price for UK shipping, but then ask the non-UK purchaser to send an email inquiry for shipping to "Europe and the rest of the world"! Very traditional outlook (or inlook). This is of course incongruous with the concepts that the net is an international marketplace, and that there are several times more Morris folk now living outside the UK than inside it. But they are a fine old Society, so lets cut them some slack and see if they can work it out. I'll email you if I hear from them first.

Edited October 28, 2005 by Dan Worrall

[Lennart]

Dan,

I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....

 

It was the same for me, a mail and no reply.

 

/Lennart

[Dan Worrall]

Dan,

I tried to order one copy but they don´t deliver to Germany. I wrote a mail but they did not answer. Mmh....

 

It was the same for me, a mail and no reply.

 

/Lennart

 

Lennart,

Sorry for the hassle! It is the weekend, so I haven't yet heard back from EFDSS, but I have sent both complaints to the CEO and expect to hear back early next week. Will post results.

 

Meanwhile, there is another emerging source in Europe. I've heard from Gill Noppen-Spacie of the Music Room in Cleckheaton (UK) that they are planning to carry the book, and that their e-sales desk is fully international in capability. Absent any success with EFDSS, you might try them...although their shipment has not yet arrived. Try checking with them (attn Gill) at http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk/

 

Cheers,

Dan

[Dan Worrall]

Klaus, Lennart,

 

I heard back from the EFDSS shop this morning. They are working on the problem, checking into adding a price structure for Europe shipping. I don't know how long it will take them. You might prefer to buy it from The Music Room in Cleckheaton UK or The Button Box in the US, both of whom should soon have some copies, and both of whom have functioning international online shops.

 

http://www.themusicroom-online.co.uk

 

http://www.buttonbox.com/

 

Good luck,

Dan

[Rhomylly]

Do you think CDSS will carry it? They carry the "Absolutely Classic" CD.

[JimLucas]

Do you think CDSS will carry it? They carry the "Absolutely Classic" CD.

They might if you ask them to.

But The Button Box and CDSS are fairly close to each other, both geographically and socially. Why not just order the book from the BB?

[klaus guhl]

Klaus, Lennart,

You might prefer to buy it from The Music Room in Cleckheaton UK

 

So I did yesterday, thank you Dan.

[Rhomylly]

Do you think CDSS will carry it? They carry the "Absolutely Classic" CD.

They might if you ask them to.

But The Button Box and CDSS are fairly close to each other, both geographically and socially. Why not just order the book from the BB?

 

 

Mostly just to cover all bases, in case not all morris musicians are BB patrons.

[Becky Nankivell]

There's a nice review of the book by Andy Turner on the Musical Traditions web site: Musical Traditions review

 

~ Becky

[strolls]

Inspired by Reverend Ken and recordings of Kimber, I switched over from English to Anglo for morris about 15 years ago. Playing a 20 key Lachenal C/G.

 

Since then I have bought a G/D and played a number of different 20/30/40 key instruments in between.

 

From my experience, to get the brightness and speed required for the Kimber style it needs to be a C/G.

 

A G/D has longer reeds on the G row - they are slower to react.

 

Also there is a real benefit in playing a 20 key - it is physically lighter, and thus more easy to manipulate to get that animated style (unless you relly have super biceps)

 

The G/D is more useful for sessions, but for morris I would choose a C/G.

 

The fact that other morris musicians may only have G/D melodeons should not deter one from playing solo for morris in C when the tune demands it. When I'm dancing I much prefer the sound of a solo concertina or pipe and tabor, or fiddle for morris, than a band.

 

 

I've ordered my copy. This is the style I would like to be playing. For morris and sessions, would it be fair to say that the G/D is best suited to this style, particularly taking into account what instruments others may be playing? Dan, what keys are most of the tunes in?

Edited November 11, 2005 by strolls

[wes williams]

...It is true that we don't know what brand the two row was, but we do know that it existed and even have a photo of it, published in Sharp's Morris book (see below). The photo seems to have been taken sometime around or before 1909, although the Morris Book came out a few years later...

...this photo from a first edition (at the EFDSS' library) shows it clearly.

Dan,

The photo was taken in 1906. The first edition of the Morris Book was published 1907 (a slim single volume) and dates this photo in the caption. The second edition of the Morris Book, in five volumes (which most of us are familiar with from reprints) was published in 1912, but doesn't date the photo.

 

I have both editions if anybody wants a further scan.

[Dan Worrall]

Dan,

The photo was taken in 1906. The first edition of the Morris Book was published 1907 (a slim single volume) and dates this photo in the caption. The second edition of the Morris Book, in five volumes (which most of us are familiar with from reprints) was published in 1912, but doesn't date the photo.

 

I have both editions if anybody wants a further scan.

Wes, Many thanks for the information; I've often wondered when that photo was taken. And thanks, Strolls, for the thoughts on twenty button playing for Morris...interesting to see others who play without the third row. I had always thought that most Morris players would naturally go for more buttons, not less, which is why it surprised me to learn that Kimber played only the lower twenty.

 

I'm beginning to get a few errors pointed out to me by readers, which is no suprise at all! I'll list them below, in the interest of full disclosure...and will periodically update them by editing.

 

ERRATA

1. Page 1 and others: caption should read British Library, not British Archive.

2. Page 10: Abingdon is in Berkshire, not Gloucestershire, and is actually quite near Headington (about 10 miles or so). Regardless, melodeon playing amongst Morris sides in William Kimber Junior's youth seems to have been quite rare.

3. Page 74: Over the Hills to Glory is a schottische, and as such should have been written in 4/4 time, not 6/8 (see for example the Moonlight Schottische on page 66, which was properly written in 4/4). In practice, the difference in timing is very slight...play it as on Kimber's recording and you won't go wrong.

4. Page 66 and elsewhere in transcriptions: a close inspection will show that the triplets are shown as triple quarter notes rather than the more correct triple eighth notes. The software I use was very cumbersome on making triplets, and I shamelessly left this error in, only to be found by two eagle eyed readers so far.

5. Hunting the Squirrel, p. 56. The first note on the right hand in measures 2,3,6,7 should read P1, not P4.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Dan Worrall

[Alan Day]

I was early for a gig on Saturday at Cecil Sharp House and reading all the literature on display in the entrance hall there at the reception desk was a copy of "The Anglo Concertina Music of William Kimber" marked for display "Not to be Taken away" which was a shame as I was very impressed with it.

The first part features the man himself,the second the dances and then the written music with the chords above.It is very professionaly put together,with obvious loving care by Dan Worrall and I compliment him on a job well done and one which he can be proud of.

Al

[Geoffrey Wells]

I was early for a gig on Saturday at Cecil Sharp House and reading all the literature on display in the entrance hall there at the reception desk was a copy of "The Anglo Concertina Music of William Kimber" marked for display "Not to be Taken away" which was a shame as I was very impressed with it.

The first part features the man himself,the second the dances and then the written music with the chords above.It is very professionaly put together,with obvious loving care by Dan Worrall and I compliment him on a job well done and one which he can be proud of.

Al

 

Well the weather outside is awful but I don't care because I have the book inside in the warm and i am spending the time learning 'Hunting the Squirrel'. I have had the Absolutely Classic CD for some time but I have never been clever enough to work out how to play in the Kimber style. Now I can just follow the book. There are some errors, especially with the finger numbers (eg with the low G in or out), so its best to follow the notes.

 

The introduction is very interesting and the discussion about modern anglo style being passed on from melodeon players rather than the older Kimber style.

 

Geoffrey Wells