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Concertinas In Scottish Music


raymy

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Stuart Eydmann tells me all his research into concertinas in Scottish music will be collated and published in the forseeable future(i.e maybe tomorrow, maybe next century).Should be a right good read, you'll agree. As i suspected, the pre-war dance band craze was responsible for the accordion's sudden popularity at the expense of the tina.Stuart says that from the 1930's on our beloved little box became marginalised in Scotland. Probably happened elsewhere too.

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Scottish concertinists:

I think Brian McNeill--multi-talented in multi-media and great multi-instrumentalist--might be mentioned. One of the founders of the Battlefield Band, he played some concertina accompaniment on some of the early Batteflied Band recordings.

Again, English concertina. Interesting, the Scottish = English concertina propensity.

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Stuart Eydmann tells me all his research into concertinas in Scottish music will be collated and published in the forseeable future(i.e maybe tomorrow, maybe next century).

I wish him a long and healthy life, but I hope he doesn't take that as an excuse to postpone "foreseeable". :)

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John Wild himself is, of course, a Scot.
Well part of me is. Other parts of me are English and Welsh. That is a long story....

I'm just curious... who did the surgery? ;)

 

Of course we have the time. Is the"Wild" part of you Scottish?

 

Helen

I will say this only once - you will NEVER see me in a kilt!!!!!

 

- John Wild

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;) Oh well good, John, now that you got that out of your system, does that mean you will wear a kilt?

 

You'd only say no to doing it once. After all, that is what you said. So, you've said your no and now you are available. Pictures?

 

Helen

 

Or did you mean you were not willing to do it once, but would do it multiple times?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having been mentioned here several times I thought I'd better contribute. The concertina had a rich history in Scotland in a manner which echoed that of England but with the aded dimension of being used in Scottish traditional music too. The Anglo was popular in the noneteenth century but gave way to the melodeon as inexpensive instrument of choice and, of course, the English and more sophisticated accordions for those who could afford them. Much music was publised for the Anglo in Glasgow including traditional music some of which had to be "stripped down", reset in another key or adjusted to suit - this is an interesting musical phenomenon in a world where the fiddlers etc.. were going for increasingly complex and chromatic tunes (eg Skinner) - but of course the Anglo players were often first time musicians with no formal musical education.

 

As mentioned I have written this up in my PhD thesis which I have now saved (text only at present) as a series of PDF files. These will be passed to the Centre for Free Reed Research at CUNY and posted on my onw web pages before long. I have an extensive archive of related photographs and other images which I should also make available in time.

 

I hope to recast the paper on the conertina in scotland prsented at the Aberdeen conference last November for publication this year.

 

There are currently very few convertina players active in Scotland and almost none among the flourishing interest in traditional music scene among the children and youth.

 

For interest, I play fiddle and concertina (English) in the Scottish music group the Whistlebinkies which has been operating since the late 1960s - I joined c1980. I also use and record with a highly unusual duet system made by Wheatsone with a unique layout (hopeless for melody) but great for adding bass lines and chordal accompaniment to the pipes, flute, harp and fiddles in the band. I can propvide information about this one off duet if anyone is interested.

 

Stuart Eydmann

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Hi Stuart,

 

We met in Boston at Kitty O'Shea's, at the launch of a cd of the late, and much missed, Tony Cuffe. Tony was a friend and colleague when I lived in Boston. He had a concertina; he told me he didn't play it much, but could be added to the list of Scottish players.

 

With Scottish blood (including her grandfather, a fiddler) on my mother's side, I have an interest in the early free-reed recordings from that part of the world. I recommend the wonderful "Melodeon Greats" LP (reissued on cd), many of whose tracks are suitable for the anglo (and I'm sure the other concertina systems). Are there no known recordings of the anglo players from that time and place? I have a Jones 20 key sold by Campbell's and understand they also sold steel-reeded 20-keys of German make (would like to find one of those!).

 

If you ever need photos of a Wilkinson's Excelsior button accordeon (an early B/C or C/C# with 24 bone bass keys in a "piano-accordion-style" layout), as played by Hannah, I have one in the shop.

 

Paul

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look forward to seeing all the info when it appears. when i took up the anglo it struck me as odd that there were so few players around Scotland,given the portability of the instrument(its most appealing feature for my purposes).Let us all know when your research is available.

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There is currently one student at the Royal Scotish Academy of Music and Drama on the Scottish Music Course who plays Anglo so you are not alone. The instrument needs a champion in Scotland to show what can be done.

 

Stuart

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Really? Do you know the student's name at the RSAMD or if he would be willing to show me what he can do on the instrument?I'm in Glasgow a couple of times a week.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Quote - Aeolina

"There are currently very few convertina players active in Scotland...."

 

Not so ! Maybe not known personally to you but I'm sure that like me there are plenty of other players.

Through dancing with the Banchory Morris Men, I know of and have played with at least five others in the Aberdeen area of varying degrees of skill - ranging from playing regularly with ceilidh bands to learners.

 

Steve

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I hope to organise an informal concertina event on the Isle of Arran, perhaps next year. Maybe this will flush some Scots concertina players out of the woodwork? I'd love to know how to contact those who are not attached to concertina.net ...

Samantha

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The comments about English concertinas being more common in Scotland are interesting. I just took up the instrument about a week ago, partly because I want to be able to play more of the music used in Scottish Country Dancing. I play the wooden flute for Irish music, but so much of the music in SCD is in keys not friendly to my flute, it's very hard. A 2-row Anglo would also be hard to use, for the same reasons.

 

Actually, this whole discussion is interesting because my wife was just commenting to me a couple of days ago how she's never seen anyone play SCD music on the concertina. I figured that was just because the piano accordion is so prevalent, so it seems to be the free-reed instrument of choice in that style of music. My reply was that the concertina SHOULD be used more, so there! Maybe some day I'll be good enough to help that happen, at least in my area.

 

:)

Steven

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