William Mullally's Wheatstone

[Paul Groff]

 

 

To play in G off the D row you'd do what Kitty Hayes did to play in F off the C row but it might need a C natural as an accidental... on the index finger of the accidental row of a 21 button to get along with most other players in G.

 

Hi Mike,

 

Well you have various options. Even a 20 -key D/A could have a non-standard layout allowing the presence of a C natural. But if no C natural, you can get around G tunes in the several ways that 1-row D melodeon players do :-)

 

D/A concertinas with more than 20 keys will almost always have one or more C naturals available. IMO a very handy place for that C natural on a D/A instrument (though not one of the standard traditional anglo layouts) is an *extra* button at the top of the LH inside A row (above the button for e/f#) played with the LH index finger and allowing C natural in both bellows directions. This can sometimes be added to a 20 key instrument -- the Dippers rebuilt a Jones that way for me.

 

PG

[Bill Crossland]

Readers might be surprised to see the plaque at his birthplace......

[michael sam wild]

Thanks for the responses. Paul, I agree you can 'fudge' C naturals in a lot of tunes but it is helpful when playing in G isn't it nowadays although C# seems to have used by earlier players. I read that Tuohy used it on pipes in tunes which were effectively in G. I've noticed in O'Neill you have to play tunes and then make an informed decision about key or notes to use. I did notice on the Kitty Hayes Remembered CD where she missed out Bb when playing along the C row of her C/G , she carried on by herself on one tune and used a quickly touched Bnat, the others came in with Bb which is more commonly used. Playing laong with recordings often revelas some interesting little gems , and when you haven't the privilege of seeing people in action it helps a lot

 

Bill N best of luck in NFL I know a lot of the older Itrish Ameriacans used D as a one row or as one row in a 2 row. I hope you have some success re the concertina, it sounds like a Whisky Galore scenario and would make a great short story or film, Annie Proulx might like it. Maybe someone there can do what Jody and Bertram are doing with old time American music.

 

Bill C thanks for that photo, by record they mean on shellac not, as Dan Worrall showed, on record. By the way they use Mullally as his name which was how his father spelled it I believe.I wonder how he'd spell it nowadays if he were a young professional Irish concertina player

Edited July 20, 2012 by michael sam wild

[Peter Laban]

Readers might be surprised to see the plaque at his birthplace.....

 

Not least for the type of concertina depicted.

 

Reminds me of a similar plaque in honour of 19th century blind piper Garrett Barry, with a depiction of a piper wearing black glasses.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Peter Laban

[michael sam wild]

She [played tunes commonly played in D in B up and down the B row which to me implied a one row D style she learned as a girl. I wish we could get that LP reissued

 

It seems that the 2 row which is most likely what Mullally started on was usually played along the outer row so rather than G/D I go for the D/A with a D/D drone

 

 

I'll be in Newfoundland in August on a bit of a musical quest, and this discussion has some relevance to the situation there. The tradition there is a combination of pre-reel Irish and Elizabethan West Country English, with an overlay of more recent irish immigration, and Country & Western! 1 & 2 row button accordions rule. The most popular tuning is D for the single row, and DA for the 2 row. Jigs & polkas are the mainstay, with reels being played at the more "Irish" sessions. Currently, concertinas are almost unknown- You can count the known players on 1 hand, and one of them is originally from Ireland. However, some older folks I've talked to remeber them being around before the War, and I came accross a reference to a ship wreck being salvaged in the late 19th century which was carrying 1000s of german concertinas. I've thought about how to play traditional newfoundland music authentically on an instrument that is no longer part of the tradition, but might once have been.

 

i got the Mullally package and have listened with great interest. My main instrument is a GD.

 

Hi Bill

 

By strange coincidence at Bradfield yesterday in Mark Davies' barn at Edgemount, Roger Digby and Liz Giddings were teaching some tunes in D from Minnie White the od lady with the melodeon/accordion. fascinating to see how she came back after bringing up the kids and played in the old way. There is a great youtube piece. Have you any comments on what type of box she played it was a red Hohner .?

Edited July 22, 2012 by michael sam wild

[michael sam wild]

Here's that youtube video of Minnie White

 

 

 

[Bill N]

By strange coincidence at Bradfield yesterday in Mark Davies' barn at Edgemount, Roger Digby and Liz Giddings were teaching some tunes in D from Minnie White the od lady with the melodeon/accordion. fascinating to see how she came back after bringing up the kids and played in the old way. There is a great youtube piece. Have you any comments on what type of box she played it was a red Hohner .?

 

I play quite a few of Minnie's tunes, which I learned from a fiddler in St. John's. I don't know what tuning her accrdion was in, but I'll be seeing people who knew her well and played/recorded with her in a couple of weeks, so I'll ask.

 

Edited to add: Minnie came from the Codroy Valley on the West Coast of Newfoundland, so had a couple of additional influences. There is a strong Cape Breton influence, and also some French communities on that coast.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Bill N

[michael sam wild]

i just ordered her CD off eBay. Can you explain why the '4 note' boxes were adopted. I know French and German musicians often played G/C. Rod Stradling explained at Bradfield at the weeken that it made a lot of the fancy playing on French tunes make more sense than on a '5 note' box

[Bill N]

i just ordered her CD off eBay. Can you explain why the '4 note' boxes were adopted. I know French and German musicians often played G/C. Rod Stradling explained at Bradfield at the weeken that it made a lot of the fancy playing on French tunes make more sense than on a '5 note' box

 

 

Not sure what you mean by 4 & 5 note box. The usual 1 row box there is a "4 Stop" in D- 4 reeds per button. I think the main reason was loudness. Traditional Newfoundland music is mostly dance music, and a 4 stop accordion could be heard well when played for a group of dancers.

[michael sam wild]

Sorry, I saw it used to denote the interval between the keys on the rows. Some say quint for 5 note difference etc

 

 

 

why is D/A popular or was it to play with fiddlers who like A? I notice some use D/G/A Corona 3 Hohners