I

Chopter6: ,concerliho, melodeonond tombourine

n spite of itsintroductionatthe verypinnacle of bagpipes and fiddlers who accompaniedthe bridal English society - at the courtof HenTVIII - the couple to church,' suggeststhat the Horsted Keynes violin met with resistanceamong the elite. Its fiddlers might have processedto the church with the brilliance of tone, greatervolume and carrying quality, couple and the rector's payments were tips, just as found little favour with lovers of the established he doled out to the trowling boys'.'However, on viol. Discussinggentlemen players of the viol before 25 April 1664,Moorerecorded'Giv'natH Pellings 'They the Restoration, Anthony Wood wrote, es- feastto the Fiddler 5d his son4d', which at facevalue teem a violin to be an instrument only belonging to would establish the fiddlers as secular performers a common fiddler.'l Violins were initially imported, employed for the festivities following the wedding and were therefore expensive, but within sixty to ceremony.A third possibility, supported bywhatis eighty years of their first appearance in England known about Sussexchurch bands,but unsupported there were apparently enough in the hands by the fact that the payments were recorded in 'a of working men for the phrase common fiddler' to Moore's personal accounts and not those of the have meaning.John Playfcrd, author of dancemanuals church, is that the fiddle music was used in the for the elite, wrote of the treble violin inhislntroduc- church service.What seemsclear is that, asa leading 'cheerful tion to the Skill of Music (1660) as a and member of the local gentry, he patronised the village spritely instrument much practised of late.' musicians.

By the middle of the seventeenthcentury the violin There is no reasonto doubt the directline of descent was establishedas the dominant instrument in main- from Cain and Old Joseph to Scan,the Gorringes, streamart music and the dancemusic of the elitg the Denner Head and the Awcocks, but equally we instrument of the professional,trained musician. In must not assume it. What changes in style and its other guise,as the fiddle, it was the most popular fashion, social function and status could have oc- danceinstrumentatthelowerend of the socialscale. curred in 250 years? Trained professional musicians presumably modi- fied their viol techniques for use on the violin, but A fiddler closerto Scanin time and not too far away had there ever been a popular hadition of viol geographically was Michael Turner (7796-1885), playing? 'Common fiddlers', I suggest, invented shoemaker,parish clerk and sexton at Warnham in and developed their own playing technique and Sussex.aHe was seentowards the end of his life as a evolved a new repertoire, partly by the adaptation local character,perhaps a link with a disappearing of existing material and partlyby the creationof new past, and a brief biography was published, for sale genres,within a generation or two. on a picture card:

Early evidenceof 'common fiddlers' in Scan'slocal- He was in great request at Village Fetes ity is found in the personal account book of Ciles all the neighbourhood round, and at the M@re, rector of Horsted Keynes, 7656-1.679,which big houses,to play the music at their provides not only the names of two fiddlers in the dances;and between times he would village, Cain(e) and Old Joseph, but some clues perform a first-rate iig playing his fiddle about their activities.2Moorerecords payments to a the while, or sing a capital comic song.s fiddler or fiddlers at eighteenweddings, although he officiatedatmany otherswithoutmaking similar As leader of the church choir, consisting of fiddle, 'play payments.The questionsarise: what were the status clarinet and cello,he claimed he could the tune 'seconds' and function of the fiddlers at the weddings and on his viol, sing the himself and beat time why did the rector pay them? Keith Thomas's gen- with his head for the rest'. He was musically literate, 'objected eral comment, that the Puritans to the to some degree at least, as he left two manuscript

93 I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES....

lohn Hope, aged97, of Beaconsfield Terrace,Cr oss-in-Hand. (SussexExpress, L9 August 7927)

books dated L845-9and 1852,containing tunes for The manuscriptbooks indicate a heyday during his quadrilles, , waltzes, country dances and early middle age, half way through the nineteenth psalms.Some, if not all, of thesepieces were copied century, with an up-to-date repertoire of recently from print and included expressionmarkings in the published pieces (Ia TempAtu,pnny Lind and notation. theOiginnlSchottischePolkn,forexample),butwhat did he play as a young man, and did his repertoire Turner was respectable and respected, relatively progresswith changing fashionslater inhis life? His poor but at the upper end of the working corunu- biographer makes no comment about whether he nity. His biographer was from further up the social had any musical partners, except for mention of the scaleand may not have been privy to all of Turne/s church choir. It is difficult to visualise him making activities. Did Turner ever play in pubs? He played secular music without contact or association with for his own dancing, so did he also play for other secularmusicians. Did he play in a danceband stepdancing?Clearly he was employed by the gen- of any sort? try to play at their private balls, yet he also played at village fetes - a foot in two camps. Christopher In 1927a newspaper reporter chanced upon a fid- Stephensof Fairwarp remembershis father talking dler with elements in his experience common to of the 'old days' when Mr Cap Hemsley (fiddle) and Michael Turner, who mightwell have metor known Old Frog Spat from Five Ashes went to the big Scan and the Fairwarp musicians. John Hope, a houses to play, booked by the gentry, Christopher carpenter, moved to Cross-in-Hand, near Heath- thinks, to add local colour for their house guests. field, around 1887from nearby Hadlow Down, where Did Turner allow himself to be patronised or was he he had been born in 1829.Aged ninety-seven when a real craftsman employed becauseof his practical he was interviewed, he first of all sangto the reporter skill as a dancemusician? Did he have two working WhatistheLife of aMan to his own fiddle accompni- repertoires, one by ear and memory for the village ment, and then talked of his early days playing for working people and the other from print for the dancing atBlackboysand Hadlow Down: gentry? Did he follow the expressionmarks on the sheetmusic, or did he play with a flat tone and even Though he has never belonged to an volume? orchestra,Mr Hope used to be in great demand at the country balls, where he had to play on an old fiddle, owned by I

CHAPTER6: FIDDLE,CONCERTINA, MELODEON AND TAMBOURINE

his father a hundred years ago .....Asked CONCERIINAAND MELODEON to name his favourite tunes, he named "The "The Soldiers' Joyi' Triumph," and The single-action English concertina, essentially a a ditty, the first line of which runs, "Oh drawing-room instrument, was patented in 1829.It beautiful star in Heaven so bright.".5 was sometime, however, beforethe Germandouble- action concertina was designed and subsequently What little I know of Scan's fiddle style is based developed in England as the Anglo-German concer- largely on the three occasionsI heard him play Tfte tina.It is not known for certain how and when the Girl I Left BehindMe, double stopped in G and C, the latter instrument, the type Scan played, found its two occasionshe played 32 bars of a schottische, way into popular use in the countryside. Mervyn and the advice he gave me.7Mylasting impression is Plunket tentatively suggested of a stylist. His tone was flat, with no hint of vibrato, the melody line was broken up rhythmically, and ... the sequenceof penetration as roughly there was more to his right hand than singlebowing. 1850- 1885;German rectangular His comment, 1 used to use a short bow, not like concertinas... being replaced by British- Reg's' [MP], implied its physical size, not his me- made instruments from then onwards, chanicalmethod. In the HeeI andT o e P olka he showed but the concertinabeing swamped quite me how on the first two beatshe would make heavy rapidly by the melodeon from 1885- down bow strokes right acrossthe fiddle, catching 1890onwards reaching apogeebefore the G and D strings open and the A string fingered vvw1.10 as B, and on the first two beats of the fifth bar he would do the sameon the open G, a fingered E on the A young lad, the son of a labourer, earning his living D string and a fingered C on the A. playing the crncertina in london in 1851,told Mayhew about the popularity of the concertina in the 1850s: Mervyn Plunkett heard of Bill Gorringe from both Scanand JackNorris, and his unexpected,lightning I was about getting on for twelve when visit to Bill's home in Cuckfield resulted in the father first bought me a concertina.That recordings issued by Topic.EWithin about fifteen instrument was very fashionablethen, minutes, with only a few false starts, Bill played the and everybody had it nearly. I had an sequence of tunes on the record, together with a before; but it was only a rough Cocko' the North and an abandoned Phil the 1s. 6d. one, and I didn't take a fancy to it Fluter'sBalL which have beenomitted. No conversa- somehow, although I could play a few tion was recorded,except for the comment'I seemto tunes on it. I used to seebys about my forget'em all'. Mervyn took me round to seeBill own height carrying concertinasabout shortly afterwards but it seemed unlikely that he the streett and humming them....I play would ever be persuaded to play the fiddle again. entirely out of my own head, for I never His recorded performancesare really quite remark- had any lessonsat all. I learn the tunes able,not only as the only surviving recordingsof an from hearing other people playing of old Sussexcountry fiddle style, but as music in their them. If I hear a street band, such as a own right. At 87,infirm and out of practice,with his fiddle and harp and cornopean playing a elbow resting on the table to support the fiddle, his tune,I follow them and catch the air; and mind was alert enough to be able to present a brief if it's any sort of a easy tune at all, I can cross-sectionof his early repertoire. pick it up after them, for I never want to hear it more than twice played on an His style conforms to expectationsgenerated by the instrument.ll recorded evidenceof a handful of his contemporar- ies and peers from other parts of southern England. If the concertinawas common on the streetsof Lon- He produces a flat tone with no finger vibrato, don in the late 1850s,Mervyn Plunkett's estimation occasionaldroned open strings and a punchy, ani- of its arrival in the countryside about 1850may not mated dancerhythm, employing subtlemelodic and be far out. Scanwas in all likelihood from the third bowed variations and Scotch snap,eand he uses generation of concertina players. Those he men- mostly single bowing, with occasionaltied bowing tioned in tape-'recordedconversations were JoeMarten on triplets. The tunes, as they appear on the record, (born 1870)from Chelwood Gate, Albert Browning are pitched in the keys of F or C, although he fingers and Harry Woolgar from Horsted Keynes, and his as if he were playing in the keys of G or D on a fiddle own brother Trayton, all a generation older than tuned in concert pitch. Either he tuned the fiddle him; and his youngerbrother, Will, and Tommy and down a tone, or the tape recorder was running fast. Martha StephensonfromNutley, who were roughly The use of G and D fingering establishesthat these hisown age.Scan implied that,althoughheadmired keys were used by the Fairwarp fiddlers. the playing of Browning and Woolgar, and learnt

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I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES....

tunes from them, they were not technically ad- ployed in modifying his old material.It is probably vanced;Woolgar could only play on one side of the safeto assumethat, when we listen to Scanand Will instrument. in duet, we are hearing Trayton's music.

I suspect that Joe Marten and Trayton took a rela- Scan heard very few other concertina players, at tively simple technique - perhapslittle more than an leastnot playersof the Anglo-Germanconcertina in uncluttered statement of the melody, based on the a country style, although he probably heard English establishedfiddle style - from the first generation of and duet concertinasat the varietv theatre and on country concertina players, and made something the wireless. more of it. Joe Marten was good with his hands, inventive and musical, and seemsthe likely candi- Scan: I like to hear a concertina played date amongst the Chelwood - Horsted lads for ex- (especiallymy younger brother; he used ploring the instrumenfls possibilities. Trayton was to play a lot), especiallyif I was in in the right position to have been the one whc another room listening. Well, I expect adapted the Fairwarp fiddle stepdancetunes for the that was the only time I heard the concertina.The articulated melcdy line, dressedby concertina played. [VSl triplets and fill-ins between phrasesand underlined by parallel octaves, (the two notes of each cctave When we used to play together we played on different sides of the concertina) anC always used to play in C; nearly always harmony representedby the odd, almost accidental play in C. I used to play a B flat use of thirds in place of octaves, characterise the instrument a lot. My youngest brother Testerstyle. Thesetechniques, together with the lift used to play a B flat instrument with me, generated by the attack, staccato notes, the sharp and, well, thafs what I used to play on intake of air in the bellows and the heavy punctua- Brighton beach ... and that was a jolly tion at the end of an eight bar phrase, were, in all good instrument. That was one of probability, Trayton's gift to his younger brothers. Lachenal'smake. I sold it about a month The recorded duets by Scanand Will of tunes from or six weeks ago [speaking in July 19561 their childhood are played in near unison. If Scan and it was a five-fold bellows. You see, used his musical creativity in many ways, in absorb- my wrists are a lot weaker than what ing 1920sdance tunes, for example, it was not em- they was when I used to play that, and it

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CHAPTER6: FIDDLE,CONCERTINA, MELODEON AND TAMBOURINE

was blooming hard work to play it. You KEYS,HARMONY AND PART.PTAYING know, I had a job to [move] it to and throw lfrol. And then I had this On the question of keys, the key of C was imposed rheumatism as well, so I thought, nVeil, on traditional music by the manufacturers of fixed I'll sell it'. I took it down on the coast lto pitch melodeons, concertinas and the Clarke's tin a clubl one night with me, and I thought, whistle, and thus createda tension between players nVeil,I'll take it down there, and I'll play of the new instruments and the establishedfiddlers, it, and seeif I can sell it. 'And blowed whowereused to the keysof G and D.Scanadapted me, if I didn't get a buyer come for it to the company he was in. He played in C with a tin directly. I sold it to him. I didn't leave it whistle or melodeon player, most of the time in that night, so I told him,I said, nVe[,I'll Testers'Imperialand usually with Bill Avis (piano bring it down or you can come up.' He accordion). He would have used G with a fiddle says, "Well, I'll come up to your place player, and sometimes with Testers' Imperial to and I'll pay you for it.' So he come up accommodatethe bandoneon,which was pitched in and got it and paid for it. [RH] G, A and E. He played in B flat on Brighton beach and in duet with his brother Will, who had a B flat So I've just bought - well, a week or two concertina and a B flat clarinet. The key of G can back, up London - I bought another one. sound harsh after a while, but it cuts through a Only its a Jeffriesand it's a thirty-key crowd more effectively than C. instead of a forty-key, but it don't make much difference. I can get what I want to Scan: [G] is alright for singing, but C is a play on a thirty-key alright.I don't need bit too high ... You can nearly always get a forty-key, not now. [RH] them in G; that's why I play in G a lot, if I'm going to play for anyone to sing. [VSl Scanplayedthe melodeon asa child andyoung man, buthe much preferred the concertinaand fiddle. To Scanused to say he could play in any key, but that a limited extent he was intolerant of some of the claim was based on his experienceof the keys other rough melodeon players, who had been fairly thick musicians used, rather than on academic theory of on the ground. The three basic instruments, the music. There is no doubt he could often pick up the fiddle, the melodeon and the concertina were im- key of a singer, perhaps forcing him or her into proved during his life time. The earlier instruments concert pitch, and then following the course of the had less power and volume. Gut strings were re- song. placed by steel on the fiddle, the brass reeds were replaced by steetin the concertina and the old three The older instrumental music in country pubs in or four-stop, rather fragile ten-key melodeon was southern England was essentially linear, with the replaced by the sturdier and louder Vienna button rhythm carried by the emphasisand phrasing of the accordion.12 melody line. Harmony in the form of either parts and counter melodies or chordal accompaniment- prior to the introduction into pubs of pianos, man- dolins and banjos- was absent.That is not to say that harmonies are not implicit in the structure of the melodies: harmony was represented by drones on the fiddle and occasionalthirds, fourths and fifths added often accidentally and sometimesapparently haphazardly on the concertina and melodeon, and by the grunted, ambiguous bassesof the melodeon.

There is evidenceof 'bassing' on the cello in Scottish fiddle music, southern English church bands and in Yorkshire, Cornwall and Norfolk.l3 There is also evidence of part singing in Sussex,by, for example, the Copper Family of Rottingdean and Bill Hawkes and PeterGander from Cuckfield. In Scan'searly ex- perience there were some part playnng and vamp- ing, introduced from brass band and string band music (for example,Trombone Billy andJackCarr), and during the Edwardian era the influenceof the Opposite:Scan's musics; 197'L. (Phot ogr aph: H amishBlack) I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES....

Brighton variety theatres and the gramophone rec- Selmeston,induding Eric Crouch, who played fiddle, ord would have been felt. In answer to a specific tambourine and spoons, and Art Winter and his question, however, Scan confirmed he had never three brothers frorn Hailsham assembledwell into seenor heard a cello or double bassplayed in a pub the 1950sfor their Christmas sessionin the Tranr or danceband. Arms, Glynde, a family band of melodeon, bones, triangle and tambourine.ls

References to the tambouri ne hrrn up u nevenly right PERCUSSION through southern England and, although there was a degree of stylistic variation, a common purpose In as far as there ever was an accompaniment - and prevailed. Unlike military music and itsderivationq itmay well havebeen veryconunon indeed - it was where the drums are employed largely to keep time, 'four percussive, on one or more of instruments: and art music where they are used for tonal and tambourine, triangle, bones and spoons.r4Bert Wood dramatic effect, country percussion is an integral and Charlie Bates both volunteered, in reminiscing part of the music, on equal terms with the melody about the old days, thatthe tambourine, spoonsanC inshuments, contributing to the momentum, the boneswere corrunonaround Danehill. PeterGander dynamics and most of all the rhythmic swing. Scan from Cuckfield took his triangle plapng seriously, and Will's tambourine and Bill McMahon's spoons playing along with JackNorris's melodeon through- on the Topic recordings illustrate the point. out an evening, and late in Peter'slifeJack askedthe local blacksmith to make him a new one. Similarly, Bill McMahon had severalother percussiondevices. Rabbity Baxter would play the tambourine with He would hold one of his spoons between two fin- Scanat t}:reStone Quarry onall his material, even in gers,leavingthehandlehangingloose,and he would -time, double timing on the slow numbers. strike it with the handle of the other spoon, produc- Mervyn Plunkett heard of a nest of musicians at ing a triangle-like effect. By clapping his hands in

BiII McMahon (spoons)and BiII Agate (tambouine) at the Half Mooru Balcombe;1.959. (Photograph:Reg HaII) I

CHAPTER6: FIDDLE.CONCERTINA. MELODEON AND TAMBOURINE

front of his open mouth and by changing the shape few odd accented beats - brought some dynamic of his mouth, he could createa popping noise with variation to the music as well as physical relief to the variable pitch. This sort of invention seemsto have tambourine player. Returning to beating the skin been endemic.Certainly during the 1950sand 1950s gave a great lift. I witnesssed in many country pubs various make- shift percussioninstruments, always phrasing around The third technique produced a rhythmic propul- and on the melody. There was a certain amount of sion similar to a tailgate trombone glissandoin New floor thumping on the beat, but never hand-clap Orleans music, slightly anticipating the beat on the ping on the beat (as television and film reconstruc- first beat of a phrase. It required fiddle rosin to be tions of period rural frolics would have us believe). rubbed on the vellum in advance.The player licked his or her thumb, then, pressing it hard against the The Testers' tambourine technique employed three vellum, pushed it from the bottom of the instrument basic phrases. The most exciting was the beaten to the top. The effect was twofold: a dynamic roar, tattoo on the taut vellum using the second joint of accompanied by shimmering jingles.l6Bill Agate's the right hand middle finger as if it were a drum- method, a relentless four beats to the bar with the stick. That was very wearing on the wrist and finger back of his hand on the vellum, was outside the join! the second phrase - rattling the jingles, with a mainstream.lT

NOTES

l. Quoted in FrancisW. Galp in, Old English Inst r uments 8. Bill Gorringe lived-in at Miss Turner/s dairy at of Music(7970), p.94. Whiteman's Greenon moving from Horsted Keynes. 2. The ol GilesMoore, Ruth Bird, d. (1971), He later lived at Brandsmea4 Cuckfiel4 and worked lournal (Florence pp. 315-1 8, 32O,322-23, 326, 329, 331, 333, 335, as a milkman until retirement Norris). 34t , U9-50, 352-53. 9. Scotchsnap is a rhythmic device - a semiquaver fol- - 3. Keith Thomas, Religionand the Declineof Magic (79h), lowed by a dotted quaver used in strathspeys, p.6. schottischesand somir Irish . 4. Vic Gammon, Michael Turner, l9th Century 10.Letter, Mervyn Plunkett to me, 75.7.79t36.Mervyn did not state his evidence and was offering an in- SussexFiddler' TraditionalMusic, 4, (mid 1976), 'A pp.14-22,32. formed guess.See also Mervyn Plunkett, Note on the Accordeon, Melodeon and Concertina',Ethnic,I, 5. Playing the fi ddle and dancing at the sametime is not 4, (1959),pp. 4-11. such a rare phenomenon; it was an essentialskill of 11. Henry Mayhew, LondonLabourand theLondonPoor, l8th and l9th century dancing masters.Examples of (1861), country musicians include Michael Coleman and III p. 183. Michael Gorman (Co. Sligo),Jinkey Wells, (Oxford- 12. Scanprobably changedto topquality steelreed con- shire) and EmileBenoit, (Newfoundland). Lucy Farr certinasfairly early in his career.I have no idea when (Co. Galway) saysher aunt could lilt, play the fiddle steel violin strings replaced gut; it may be that Scan and stepdanceat the same time. never changedfrom gut. Vienna accordeonsbegan to the 6. SussexExpress, 1,9.8.1927. replace old melodeonsin the 1930s,long after the heyday when 'everybody had a music'. On Topic 7. On one of theseoccasions, in 1958,Mervyn Plunkett 72T455 / 5 I ackNorris and I play Vienna accordeons. recorded 32 bars of a schottische,but the tape is no 13. Recorded examples of ensemblesusing cello: longer in existence. Scanwas also recorded playing a Danny Boyon the fiddle. This was severalyears later Tintagel and Boscastle Players (Cornwall) (1943), and is unrepresentativeof his intention, as his bow Topic 12T240. hand was shakingbeyond his control (Mervyn PIun- Walter Bulwer (Norfolk) (1962),unissued, Topic. kett Collection). Billy Harrison (Yorkshire) (mid 1980s),Musical Tra- ditions 201(cassette).

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'[T]he 14. ParishBoyes towards a Drumme 9d.' Journal Ted Duckett (Hampshire), four recorded perform- of GilesMoore, Bird, ed., entry for 26.2.'16&,p.322. anceson the bones (1,972),Forest Tracks 3001. the What kind of drum and for what purpose?Were 15. The tambourine was and still is played in country Horsted parish boys organised? districtsin lreland, in stylesclose to thoseofEnglish The tenor or side drum does not appear in the players. evidence of rural social music, i.e., in pubs, etc. The Recordcdexamples: two hobby horseceremonies currently making useof tenor drums take place in towns (Minehead, Somer- Coleman Country Traditional Society, (Co. Sligo) set, and Padstow, Cornwall). (1971), LeaderLE A 2044. 15. Mervyn Plunkett and I went to see Art Winter on JackCooley, (Co. Clare)(1973) Gael-Linn CEF 044. could notbe persuadedto play.The 10.5.1-950,buthe John Reynolds (Leihim) (192n, Folkways F'\ / 8821, landlord of theTreoor Arms was said to have had a and (1928)Columbia 32247Fand 33250F. mid-1950stape of the four Winter brothers. (Co. 'The SeamusTansey/Eddie Corcoran Sligo) Q96n, Compare F. f . Collings, Concertina in Cornwall Leader LEA2005and Topic 1,2T784. around 189A, ConcertinaNea.tsletter, 7 (Aug. 7972), (1,976), pp. 9-10.His favourite combination'ntrasconcertina, Gerry Wright (Co. Limerick) Topic 12T5306. bones, triangle and tambourine. Geny Wnght/Mary Hefferrnn (Co. Limerick) (1987), A common ensemble in early Amencan black-face Swilly SVvCC05 (cassette). minstrels consistedof fiddle, single-row accordeon, 17. lc.lktape FfA 102(-to-reel tape). tambourine, bones and triangle (Hans Nathan, Dan Emmettand the Riseof Early NegroMinsftelsy (1962), illustrationsp.148-9 (1844-5),p. i52 (1Ea3).

EatherFletcher's Band,llckfield, undated.Thefundwas listedin Brooker's Directory in 1888(but not in 7892)as the'original ToutnBand' , as oppoxd to the ToutnBand which was alsolisted. Rea.P. Fbtcher, RomanCatholic piest at Uc$ieldfrom L885-93,stands nert b lattes Haestier,the bandmaster(in white hatband).Two of the colnetswere already old-fashioned, with oalaeson thefar sideof tfu bell pipe,and thereare no trombones. (Informationand photographcourlesy Norman Edwards) I

Choptet7: Churchbqnds ond villogebonds

he continuum from the'common fiddlers, of there is more than a suggestion that the dancequal- the seventeenthcenturyto the Christmasget- ity came through in the church music, which was togethers of the Winter family band in the characterisedby an organic momentum, perhaps 1950s embraces a broad spectrum of lower class, even a rhythmic swing.3The music may have been self-taught, often domestic,usually amateur,music- raucous, ioyful and rough, but it was a source of making. Vic Gammon's academic work on Sussex satisfaction and pride for its participants, inspired church bands focuses on other aspectsof country by a combination of secular and spiritual motives proletarian music.l The factsare simple enough.The and emotions. It was their music, expressedin their music accompanying divine worship in Sussex terms, and for many it was their great joy and the churchesat the beginning of the nineteenth century height of their personal attainment The opposing was part of popular rather than high culture. For the view was held by the clergy and the squirearchy, more than three hundred parishesin Sussexthere is whose cultural roots, aspirations and aestheticjudge- evidenceof over one hundred choirs, and there may ment came from a quite different value base.They have been many more. Thesechoirs (or quires), en- saw rural church music as crude, unrefined and semblesof male and sometimesfemale voices,often irreligious, quite unfit for association with divine included instruments, sometimesjustone, but more worship. often in various apparently arbitrarily chosencom- binations. Tenor, alto and bass voices,fiddle, flute, Church music provided a point of contact for two clarinet, cello, bassoon and serpent exploited pos- cultural value systems in conflicf inevitably the siblities for rehearsedand well-practiced orchestra- more powerful triumphed. Vic Gammon offers a tion, in the form of solo and repeatedchorus lines in political interpretation. When church bands were the psalmand anthem repertoire and two, three and securein their purpose and status they represented perhaps four-part harmony. Purchaseand mainte- an organised power baseamong working people in nance of the instruments and music books were rural communities. Pluralism and absenteeismdis- sometimes financed from parish funds. tanced the clergy from their congregations, and parish clerks and choirs filled the vacuum. A move- A degree of musical literacy existed among the ment within the Anglican church in the secondquar- players and some would have learnt the basics of ter of the nineteenth cenhrry, basedon a twin ration- their craft from instruction books. Others, probably ale involving theological redefinition and notions of the majority, learnt on the job by trial and erroi, middle dass culhrral superiority, reinforced the social listening to and observing others at choir practiceor classdivide. It encouragedthe clergy to wrest back at home. Lining out, the practice of reading out the from the people their authority as the rightful lead- words line by line in anticipation of the congregation ers of the church.aThe old-style choirs had to be de- singing them, points to a general illiteracy (or per- stroyed; working men's organisation within an Es- haps just a shortage of psalm books), but the sur- tablishmentinstihrtionpresented a threatto Church vival of some manuscript books indicates that some managementand middle classauthority in general, musicians could make use of written notation.2 and was also an affront to its senseof respectability. The clergy and the gentry rallied round; barrel and Contemporary perceptionsof the nahrre of this music manual organs were provided, organists and choir are polarised, with two opposing views expressed masters appointed and a new form of religious in the written record. The untrained voicesand the music, the hymn, was devised and promoted. Vic exuberance of the performance produced a wide Gammonconcludes thatby theend of the 1860svery range of tonal texture. Some members of choirs few of the old-style churih bands and choirs sur- doubled in the community as dance musicians,and vived.5 I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES,,,,

The churchband musicianswere faced with a number placeswhere a musicaleducation is of coursesof action. They could comply with the necessary;and yet numbers of street new order, or find alternative outlets in Noncon- musicians (playing by ear) are better formity or in secular working men's organisations. instrumentalists than many educated Some gave up music altogether in despair, others musicians in the theatres.T perhaps spent more time in the pubs. It would appear that with the demiseof the church bands and There is little reliable record of how village bands the social organisation associatedwith such music- sounded; the exactcomposition, at least in the early making, there was a consequent decline in their bands, would have depended on the availability of ability to hold together as organised dance bands. instruments. According to the same London street Part-playing and bassing among dance musicians bandsmary the tornopeans or cornet-a-pistons came becamea rarity. However, as one door closed, an- into vogue' in the late 1840s,followed shortly after other opened: the energy that had gone into the by ophicleides and by saxhorns in the late 1850s. church string and wind bands was diverted into Clarinets and valve trombones persisted into this secular bands using brass, woodwind and percus- century, and a photograph of Lingfield Town Band sion, calling for their participants on the samebody taken before the Great War shows euphoniums, of rural and small country town working men, arti- drums and mouth organslEIt was the brass band sansand shopkeepers.The transition can be seenin competitions, regional and national championship Horsham, a small country town less than fifteen events,that regulated the instrumental constitution miles from Horsted Keynes, where the Town Band of brassbands and encourageddevelopmentof the around 1835or 1840used instruments thatbelonged style heard today. The sweet, bell-like tone, consis- essentially to the brass band - keyed bugles, trum- tent throughout the whole range of eachinstrument, pet, trombone, french horn and bass drum - and is a modern affectation, unknown to the village others - , flute, clarinet and serpent - that would bandsmen in the years leading up to Scan's intro- have been equally at home in a church band.6 duction to brass band music. Henry Burstow's working man's eye view of Horsham Town Band, Village bands caught on far and wide throughout around 1835or 1840,with its alcoholic inspiration the rest of the century. The early pattern was set and rustic repertoire, makes the connection with down during the Napoleonic Wars, when regimen- Scan'smusical world: tal bands, financed by the officers, provided music for garden parties and receptions,as well as on the [I]t was as a big drummer to the Old parade square.In the four or five decadesfollowing Band that Ike used to afford us the Waterloo, civilian patronage produced similar en- greatestsatisfaction. When there was a semblesin Sussex:fully literate musicianscapable of band job on he would be sure to have satisfying the needs and sensibilities of the county soughtinspiration in an extra glassor elite. The movement continued with the formation two, and then he would delight us boys of the Volunteer regiments. Further down the social by his extraordinary drumstick scale,popular subscription and/or sponsorshipby flourishes, and his industrious socially-minded members of the gentry made pos- accompanimentsto the Band's favourite sible the formation of village and town bands as melodies - "Hearts of Oak", "Bonnie temperate,uplifting and honourable socialpursuits Dundee", "Bonnets of Blue", "Rory "The for respectableworking men. O'More", Brighton Camp", etc.

Musicianship was dependent on limited literacy, Thesetunes, with perhaps a few others rote learning and some ear-playing. Even relatively used to constitute the Band's repertoire. late photographs of such bands show instruments Music in band parts being in manuscript without music clips and musicianswith no pouches only was hard to get and very expensive. for carrying music cards,and seemto indicate an It appeared,too, to be the subjectof aural approach to musicianship. A defence of ear- much misunderstandingamong the playing came from a mid-nineteenth century Lon- bandsman, and some of the harmonies don street musician: were certainly rather hard for the public to appreciate,especially towards The classof men in the street bands is, evening at the Broadbridge Heath and very generally, those who can't read other club feastswhere the Band was music, but play by ear; and their being engagedto play.e unable to read music prevents their obtaining employment in theatres,or I

CHAPTER7: CHURCHBANDS AND VILLAGEBANDS

HORSTEDKEYNES BAND and they all thought I was going to learn music, becauseI was good on any music. Horsted Keynes, according to Scan's account, ap- I was playing a music, but as for to learn pears to have been late acquiring a band of its own. the music to read it off, I couldn't, and I If there was an earlier version of the band, no record never did, and that was the reason why has come to light for the 30 years before 1890.10Two that I come out of the band a lot, because fradesmen,Stamford Bish, a bootrnaker(bom c. 18R), I was no good to the band if I'd got wait and a blacksmith, were the leading lights. Scan's to leam the tune [by ear] before I played comment that Stamford Bish'was a good musician, it.11[RH] but he wasn't no good till they formed the band' implies thatScan knew himbefore he learnt to play. I expect I was with the band two years, The blacksmith was probably Old Tom Murrell's 'causeI had a side-drum a long time, younger brother, who played the bass horn, while but, you see,that was early.on.Well, other members were Ernie Walder (euphonium), according as the band got on, they Joe Awcock (tenor horn), his son, Joe,Geoff Wick- startedgoing out to play to clubs and ham and Tommy Briggs (cornets),and a man named fairs, but I was never in the band when Wood on the drum. they played to the clubs and fairs. I have known them hire two or three blokes Scan: We was living at the GreenMan from Ardingly to make up enough for when the Boer Was was on. I wasn't in it they to go to two clubs one day. You see, [the Horsted Band] when it started, but they used to get about three pound and they'd got a band here then, when the there was usually ten of them, so there Boer War was on, becauseI can wasn't a lot of money each, was there? remember that well... I think one of the But there was, I should say, about main ones was this shoemakerand this fourteen of them all told. [RH] blacksmith.I think, they two got together - what I could understand This man, a man name of Grynyer, he about it - got one or two in the mind of lived at West Hoathly station and he had it, and they had a meeting in the the pub there what they call theRailway workingman's room to seewhat they Hotel, and he was a violin player.r2He could do and how many they could get. was as good as any pro. He was a good Well, they found out they could get a bloke, and he properly understood dozen or more. Well, they could go out music. He'd been used to tutoring with ten, you see,so that's how they people music, and they got him to take formed the band. [RH] them over, see,and he got them on well enough that they could go out. Then he I went in the band as a drummer. Well, used to come down so often, you see, you know, I used to get hold now and and put them through their paces.But then of one of their cornets, and, course, this snob lStamford Bish] he was a good I could pick out a lot of stuff on the musician, but he wasn't no good till they cornet by ear. I got hold of the scales formed a band, but blowed if he wasn't a quick on it. You know, you've only got good bloke afterwards. He got hold of it three valves, and the bandmaster a bit quick, see,and he took interest in it. wanted me to join the band. Well, he tRH] wanted me to join like the othersto learn music.Well, he give me somemusic, a [It was] that bloke from West Hoathly sheetof music with scaleson, and told that taught me a roll and that. I(s only 'daddy, me, 'When you think about it, if you got mummy, daddy, mummy', you the time, you can keep having a look at know. It wants a bit of practice,but it's that music.' He says,'You'll get used to as easy as shelling peas,if you know seeingit and you'll begin to know.'Well, how. A lot of it why I couldn't learn the the man what was the bandmaster of the music, I think, I was too interested in band, he used to be a shoemakerand cricket and that, and I wanted to be off used to go down there, and he used to to cricket of a night instead of being be pointing this music out to me, trying banding, you see.I hadn't got sense to learn me. He was a cornet player and, enough to know different, and that was course,I couldn't learn that music,you a lot of my trouble not learning.I'm sure know. I wasn't no good. I tried! I tried it was. [RH] hard enough to learn it, but I couldn't, I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES..,. - Printed music that's what cost the They'd only got one trombone, a slide money! When they had to get music, you trombone. They got one, two, three... had to have a certain amount of copies - they got four cornets before I went in. enough for a small band. Well, it cost a Tha(s first cornets,and a soprano tidy bit of money, you see.That's where cornet. You know what a soprano cornet their subscriptions what they used to is - ifls higher!And when they first collect round went for, you see.The started they had two clarinets in, but blokesdidn't have it; it went in the band they didn't stick to clarinetslong. I fund. So that's what they used to buy expect they wanted too much learning, their music with, you see.Course, you perhaps. So both of these give up clarinet were sure wages weren't very much that playing and took another instrument. time, but they had to buy their uniforms tRH] themselves.Mind you they all had uniform. Yes! A blue uniform with a The old drummer, Old Tom Murrell - we peakedcap and braid round their arms used to call himJolly Beggarl3...We was and cross their shoulders and all down on the march one night in the summer their trousers each side. [RH] marching for practice. We went right up the village and up towards Keynes Place Then when they broke up, I don't know - Birchgrove - up that way, and I was on what becomeof their musics. Well, I the left-hand side with the old side expect some of them kept them. If you drum, and this bloke was beating the had an instrument belonged to the band, drum, and a screw come out the end of why, you had to take that back when his drumstick. The old drumstick, when you finished, but a lot of them bought he put his stick up, flew right out and cornets,you know, second-handcornets right over in the field, and he kept ... and that, and a lot of them got their hitting with his fist. I didn't know what own instruments, you see.The musics had happened, and presently he got hold what belonged to the band, this my shoulder and tore me round much as bandmaster had them, becausehe'd got to throw me arse over head. He says, 'Go a span roof to his shoemake/s shop, and on, get the head of my drumstick.' he put a platform up there, and put these Well, I had to run out and go back and musics up top, and that's where they over the gate and up the field and find was the last time I seethem. But, course, the drumstick. When they got up the he's been dead for several years now. I road so far, the bandmaster, he rushed don't know whatbecome of them, bar forward and give him a nudge and the this big drum, the old drum. The old drum lbeat] three times for the stop. drum is still about here now what we That's how he used to signal, see.When "What's used to have. They had a new drum and they stopped he said, the they still kept the old one for bonfire matter?' nVell,' he said, 'I lost my night and rough nights and that, and this drumstick.'And they had to comeback new one/ it was a posh drum, a later and help me find it. [RH] drum, thinner and bigger, see.They had a Church Lads Brigade here formed, so I There's only one that I know of [still expect it was this shoemaker told them alive in 1964land he's a very old man. they could have this drum. They had the Ninety, pretty well, I'd say, and I ain't big drumand the side drum. [RH] seenhim now for some time. He was a euphonium player and his brother, a I've never known where their younger brother, and him, they was both instruments went to what belonged to euphonium players and, course,that was the band. There couldn't have been one of the main instruments in a brass many, I know, but there was some, band, becauseso often they had to play becausea lot of thesebass players the leading part and, in fact, I think it wouldn't buy a bass instrument, but was one of the finest instruments in a now a euphonium player - well, they band, becauseyou had more solos on a might buy their euphonium, if they was euphonium than you had anywhere. interested, and if they thought about And they had two baritone players, one playing music afterwards.Course, a tenor and they had one, two,I think they euphonium is a useful instrument,ain' had three or four bass players. Well, they it? And there was a tromboneplayer. had an E flat and a B flat and then they I

CHAPTER7: CHURCHBANDS AND VILLAGEBANDS

had a double bass,see, the biggest one of can remember them having all new the lot. [Therel used to be a blacksmith instruments - all silver - and the bloke played this big bass,and the last that took over bandmaster for them used photograph I seeof the band was this to play with us here. Tommy Briggs his bloke what used to play this bigbass, name was, and he was a cornet player. and he'd moved to Hailsham.He'd got a He'd got - I don't know whether it was businessat Hailsham, and when I went three or four - brothers used to be 'I to seehim one day there, he says, want members of West Hoathly Band. Well, you to look at this photograph.'And they got enough they could go out thafs the only photograph of the band anywhere and play. Mind you, they was that ever I see,and this was several good musicians, and then old Tommy, years ago now. Course, the bloke's been he used to play in Horsted Band. Well, dead now for a long time, becausehe West Hoathly wanted him to come there was a man when I was a boy, you see. as bandmaster, so when they had their IRHI new instruments, he took them over. Well, then he'd been there a year or two, I forgot when Horsted Band packed up, and he got a job at Crowborough, and he but they never had no band after the went to Crowborough, and he took their First War ... I couldn't tell you how band over, and they all had new silver many years the band run; it run several instruments, and goodnessknows what years, tause I was only quite a boy happenedto him then.l6ButI know him when I went in it.14[RH] well, bloke used to wear glasses.He was a little taller than me, but he wasn't very Theseother bands round about here all tall. Cor, he was a good musician.All of was going a long time after this one. them were, and I believe there are some West Hoathly was one, Ardingly and of them living up there now this side of Turnels Hill and then the next one was West Hoathly. Briggs their name was. EastGrinstead up that wayls ... Forest They used to have a brickyard there. Row. I think West Hoathly and Turner's IRH] Hill were the top bands. West Hoathly - I

NOTES

1. Vic Gammon,Parochial Music in Sussex:A Study in 5. Henry Burstow: Reminiscencesof Horsham (1971), Socialand Cultural Conflict (unpublished M.A. the- pp. 49-50. sis, University of Sussex,1985). 7. Henry Mayhew, LondonLabour and theLondon Poor, "163. Vic Gammory 'Babylonian Performances:the Rise III ('1861),p. Suppression of Popular and Church Music 1560- 8. This photograph was in the possessionof Albert 1,870',E. and S. Yeo, eds;Popular Culture and Class (born (1981). Farmer 1893),the one-man-band from Ling- Conflict field. Vic Gammon, PopularMusic in Rural Society:Sus- 9. Burstow,Reminiscences, pp. 49-50. sex,1815-1914 (unpublished D.Phil, thesis,Univer- sity of Sussex,1985). 10.Vic Gammon'snewspaper searches revealed no ref- erenceto a Horsted Keynes band for this period. 2. Anne Loughran and Vic Gammon, A SussexTune Book(7982), introduction. I 1. Norman Edwards explains that thebasic technique is the samefor all valve brass instruments. From early 3. Much evidence suggests the connection bctween on all band parts were written in the treble clef, which churchbands and socialdance was strongandwide- made it possible to teach musicians from (Gammon, all scratch spread.' Popular Music, p.30). together in one group. The exceptionis the trombone 'even 4. Vic Gammonarguesthatbell-ringing was alsoa ve- part, written in the tenor clef; then it was hicle for secular,working men's organisation,and a customaryfor theyoungtenortrombone player tobe similarmovement within theChurch sou ght to crush told to tnock off two flats and play in the treble clef'. its independence(Popular Music). (Letter,Norman Edwards to me, 16.7.1989). 5. Gammon,'BabylonianPerformances', p. 78. Vic Gammon'sview is that the symbolicending of the old church choirswas the publicationof Humns Ancientand Modern in 1861(Popular Music, p. 59).

r05 I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES..,,

1.2.KeIIy' s D ir ect o ry of Su ssex f or 1,891,and 1901 li stsJohn 15. Therewas a band in Turner'sHill in 1849(Gammon, Grynyer at the RailwayHotel (now called the BIue- Popular Music). belt). \]t9 lu22e1Express referred to Fletching Band in 1897 TheEast Grinstead Volunteer and Town band under (25.5.1,897). the conductorshipof Mr. Grynyer playedat Danchill J. 16. 'CORONATION - Flower Show (SbuthernWeei;Iy'N eios, 29.7.1891). BRASSBAND free for Corona- tion Day - Martyn, 7 Croham road, Crowborough., 13. ThomasMurrell (born c. 1855)was a coal merchant, (Su ssex Exp ress, 15.5.1.91'l). carmanand market gardener. 14. HorstedKeynes band played at the Horsted Keynes village sports on CoronationDay,22.6.191,1, (Sussex Express,-.6.191,1).

AshdortnForest Fiendly societygathered in front o/Nutley rnn,beforemaking the roundsof the aillage;c. 1897. Photographby Daddy Frincis. (CourtesyGordon Turner and PhiI Lucas) I

Chopt€r8: FriendlySociety feosl doys

riendly societies,organised by working men You see,all the old members were and encouraged by Rose's Act of 1,793,pro' dyt.g off and it got like that they hadn't vided financial benefit based on mutualiW got a lot of members and then, of course, and principles of self-help,but they also provided a what they done where they had got a social life closely connectedwith village bands, and little money, the club broke up and what their feast days in late spring and early summer members there was in the club, the were important eventsin the working man's calen- money went to them. Well, you see,the dar. A newspaperreport in 1910gives some idea of band money come out of the club, but it the size of the endeavour in ForestRow: got so short of members, you see,there was no money coming in the club... I The Equitable Association is a local don't know what they paid. It wasn't a friendly organisation which has been in big amount, but every member had to existencefor closeon seventy years and pay so much a quarter...[RH] has accomplished much useful work. During the year 1909the sum of When they had their feast days, you see, f82.15s.1d.was paid to sick members. the money for the band come out of the The total worth of the Association is club. Well, they had a dinner, you see, €2,388.1s.51d.which representsan and that come out of the club, but they averageof f,20.4s.9d.per member. all was supposed to attend church - the During the past year the Association's serviceat feastdays. But if they didn't, income exceededexpenditure by just they were fined a shilling, so there was over f80.1 ever so many fined a shilling! They'd stopped up in the pubs, becausethe In Horsted Keynes, according to KeIIy'sDirectory ot' pubs was open from six in the morning Sussexfor 1889,'The Village Benefit Societyhold to ten at night that time of day ... Well, [sic] its anniversary meeting on the last Monday in then they used to start about 10 o'clock May'' in the morning, and they used to form up at the headquarters - course, there Scan: I can't tell you how they started. was flags up all at the club. [They used They started before I could remember, tol march to the church for the service. but they used to pay so much a quarter, They used to come out of the service, and they got sick benefit and, I think, and all the main subscribersround what when they got so old, if they stopped in subscribed to the club, you see,they the club and retired as a club member, used to visit them. The band used to they used to get about one-and-sixa march round ... to their front door, and week or somethingof that as long as they used to stand there and play about they lived, you see.They had a burial a couple of tunes, then march round to fund and sick benefit and this pcnsion, the next place.Course, soon as ever that's all you got. Well, that went on like they'd played about a couple of tunesor that, and when theseother clubs formed whateverthey was going to play - they - the National Deposit and the Equitable never played long - they was formed up and such clubs as that - the young and marching to the next place, you see. people didn't join thesefriendly Well then, they always strike up a march societies. Well, as a matter of fact, I was tune from where they come from till a National Depositbloke... [RHl they got away. Then, course, they'd wait

107 I

I NEVERPLAYED TO MANY POSH DANCES....

till they got a certain distance away from what they used to play, but I ain't the next house, and then start up playing played that for years now. But another march, you see. That's how they sometimesI think of a piece of some of used to do it. [RH] the tunes what they used to play. Well, I know one tune - this was when I was in There was a banner in front of the it - Soldiersin thePark. WashingtonPost, members of the club, the club banner. I've played that with them. [RH] There used to be two blokes carry that, but that's all there was. And all the club The formal notice of Horsted Keynes Club Day in members, well most of them, used to 1901,published in the SussexExpras,throws quite a travel round with them, you see,because different light on the proceedings and contrasts if they didn't, they wouldn't get no sharply with Scan'saccount. subscription lbenefit?] next year. So most of them used to follow the band, and, The members of the local Friendly course, [a] lot of outsiders used to follow Society held their annual feast on as well, you see. It's similar to a bonfire Monday. Headed by Horsted Keynes procession in that way. Well, that used Band, the members marched from the to last to over lunchtime sometimes; Crown Inn, their head-quarters,to perhaps, they got somewhere to go after Horsted Keynes Church, where a service lunch, see,they used to fulfil that, then was held by Rev. F. D. Smythe,who also what time they'd got up to teatime and gave an address.The Annual dinner was that, they'd play out at the club ground, held at the Crown Inn, the Rector you see.Only perhaps, they'd be presiding and submitting the principal playing that end of the club ground, and toasts. Mr. B. Clarke acknowleged the the roundabout would be down this end toast "The Horsted Keynes Friendly - - the roundabout organ, you see so they Society", Mr. J.K.Esdaile, J.p., replying wasn't huddled up close together, and to that of the honorary members and then after teatime they used to have to Councillor Whfttington of Lewes play for dancing up to ten o'clock. That answeringfor the visitors.2 was what the band had to do. [RH] During June and July of the same year, the Sussex The dances were the schottische, the polka, the Erpresscarried reports of the Horsted Keynes Band waltz and the sets. playing for the friendly societiesat Nutley and the 'songs SheffieldArms.In June 1905, were sung by Scan: They used to play a rare llt of set Messrs. Bestie,S. Bish and C. Spriggs' at the club tunes ... and they always got plenty of feast at the Crown, but there was no mention of setsout. [DN] Horstcd Band in the pressreport.3 A month later the SussexErpras ran the following notice: Scan,however, never played in the band for danc- ing, just for marching. Strangely,little of the band's The Horsted Keynes Benefit Society, repertoire rubbed off on him. which had been in existencefor upward of fifty years/has been dissolved. At one Scan: Well, I know someof them. I've time the membership was over 120,and thought about them sometimes.I know it gradually dwindled down to 23. The bits and piecesof some of the marches, share-out to each member was nearly 'l.2s.a but I've never played them, mind, as I know of. I used to play one old waltz

NOTES '1. SussexExpress, 18.3.1910. 2. SussexExpress, -.6.7901. 3. SussexExpress, 3.5.1905. 4. SussexExpress, 22.7.1905.