PICA Vol.6 Page PAPERS of the INTERNATIONAL CONCERTINA ASSOCIATION Volume 6, 2009 International Concertina Association Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments (The Graduate Center, The City University of New York) PICA Vol.6 Page PAPERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONCERTINA ASSOCIATION Papers of the International Concertina Association (PICA) is a peer-reviewed journal, published annually by the International Concertina Association (ICA) and The Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments (CSFRI, a member of the Barry S. Brook Center for Musical Research and Documentation) of The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. Publication and distribution of hardcopy format to ICA members (as well as to non-members who wish to subscribe to it at a cost of £5 per issue) is followed by electronic publication on the websites of both the ICA and the CSFRI: http://www.concertina.org http://web.gc.cuny.edu/freereed PICA publishes articles on all aspects of the concertina: the development and history of the instrument; its sociology, iconography, repertories, and performance practices; biographies of concertinists; etc. It also includes reviews of books and CDs, as well as notes about important concertina-related events. Articles should be sent electronically to the Editor, Allan Atlas, at <[email protected]>. Questions concerning advertisements and subscriptions to the hardcopy format should be addressed to Jon McNamara at the same e-mail address. Books and CDs for review should be sent to the Reviews Editor, Roger Digby, at Hoppits, Rams Farm Road, Fordham, Colchester, Essex CO6 3HR, UK. Editor: Allan Atlas Advisory Roger Digby Reviews Editor: Roger Digby Board: Jon McNamara Production: Jon McNamara Wim Wakker Wes Williams Center for the Study of International Concertina Free-Reed Instruments Association The Graduate Center/CUNY 17 Nursery Road 365 Fifth Avenue Bishops Stortford New York, NY 10016 Herts USA CM23 3HJ UK ISSN 1744-7356 (Print) ISSN 1744-7364 (Online) PICA is indexed in rilmAbstracts. PICA Vol.6 Page PICA Vol.6 Page Music from the 17th to 21st centuries, celebrating the concertina band revival In April 2009, twenty-four musicians gathered at Hawkwood College in the Cotswolds to record a wide- ranging selection of music arranged for treble, baritone and bass concertinas. This is the first commercial recording by a full concertina band for some seven decades. Encompassing Victorian and Edwardian favourites, through early consort music, classics, dance tunes and marches and a modern composition, these recordings allow you to explore and enjoy the historic sound of the concertina band in all its variety and versatility The CD is lavishly produced with histories and photos of the concertina, of the old concertina bands, and of Hawkwood Concertina Band. It is a unique document of a musical living tradition. All tracks conducted by Steve Ellis and Dave Townsend; recorded and produced by Robert Harbron. CDs cost £12 (£14 overseas), including postage and packing. You can place your order by sending us a cheque, or using PayPal. go to :http://stylishmandrill.com/hcb/buy-the-album- marches-and-tunes.html To order a copy of 'Marches and Tunes' please download the order form from the website and send it to: Please make cheques (sterling only) payable to: 'Concertina Bandbox'. For all enquiries please contact us at [email protected] PICA Vol.6 Page CONTENTS Volume 6, 2009 1 Rich Morse (1952-2009) REBECCA HOLLINGSWORTH ARTICLES 3 Gordon Haxton and Peter Donald: English Concertina Players From the Mission Halls of Glasgow FRANCES WILKINS 17 Carlo Minasi: Composer, Arranger, and Teacher, Concertina and Piano RANDALL C. MERRIS PICTURE GALLERY 46 The Brothers Webb and their Personalized Concertinas INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY GÖRAN RAHM HISTORICAL DOCUMENT 50 Lachenal & Company Partnership in 1888 Introductory Note by WES WILLIAMS REVIEWS ESSAYS 52 Paddy Murphy: In Good Hands JAMES R. COWDERY 54 The Devil’s World JODY KRUSKAL 57 Concertina Scape: Contemporary Music for Wheatstone’s Concertina, 1985-2004 ALLAN ATLAS 62 COMMUNICATIONS GÖRAN RAHM 64 CONTRIBUTORS PICA Vol.6 Page PICA Vol.6 Page 1 REBECCA HOLLINGSWORTH Rich Morse, founder and owner of The Button Box, died on Monday, 2 March 2009, in Sunderland, Massachusetts, following the recurrence and rapid progression of melanoma, which he first developed in 1995. The end was quiet and peaceful, for which we are all grateful. Rich was born in Hawaii as Gordon Richard Morse III. He came to the mainland to study at the Rhode Island School of Design and made New England his home thereafter. During his years as a practicing architect, his designs were a marvel, consistently displaying an exceptional sense of spatial relations and creative problem-solving. He was a longtime advocate for energy efficiency, incorporating conservation-minded principles into his plans for clients and practicing them in his private life. Rich riding his aging bike the mile between his house and The Button Box was a familiar sight; regardless of the weather, he was rarely willing to make such an inefficient trip using fossil fuel. Rich started The Button Box in 1980, while living in a cabin in rural Wardsboro, Vermont. It was a sideline in the beginning, but his passion for free-reed instruments overtook his interest in architecture, and he eventually became a full-time ‘employee’ of The Button Box. His capability as an innovative designer and his unlimited capacity for optimism were largely responsible for the development of R. Morse & Co. concertinas, and his abiding interest in everything that had to do with concertinas made him something of a celebrity in the admittedly small niche of free-reed aficionados. In that role he was unstintingly generous with his time, knowledge, and positive spirit. Rich was an inveterate player of games, with a special fondness for Go and Scrabble. He was a dedicated father, a talented photographer, an enthusiastic Morris and contra dancer, and he loved to play music and compose tunes. He is survived by two sons, Geordie, of Sunderland, Massachusetts, and Kiva, of Phoenix, Arizona. His parents still live in Hawaii. Our last printed catalogue described Rich’s job as ‘Guiding Light’, and so he was, not only to us, but to others whose lives intersected with his. We at The Button Box will carry on, as will his friends and family, but we will miss him very much. Our thanks to all who have been in touch with us to express their sadness and share their memories of an exceptional human being. Editor’s Note: This note was reprinted with the kind permission of Rebecca Hollingsworth and The Button Box from The Button Box homepage: www.buttonbox.com/Rich.html. PICA Vol.6 Page 2 PICA Vol.6 Page 3 FRANCES WILKINS In September 2008 I had the good fortune of spending a morning in the company of Gordon Haxton, a renowned Glaswegian gospel concertinist in his seventies who resides in the central belt town of Hamilton. He had been taught from a young age by his father, David Haxton (who was interviewed by Stuart Eydmann in the early 1980s), and continues to play to the present day. And while many people will associate gospel music with the African-American tradition of the United States, in this context it refers to the evangelical Christian hymn repertoire which emerged following the revival times of the late nineteenth century. The two main compilations of gospel songs were Ira D. Sankey’s , first published in 1873, and , first published in 1899.2 I first learned of Gordon Haxton’s concertina playing through a contact made during my Ph.D. research into sacred singing in North-East Scottish fishing communities (see note 3). But it was only after an invitation to write an article about the concertina and the gospel tradition for PICA that I decided to approach him with a view to an interview.3 During our meeting he gave me not only an insight into his musical activities and playing style, but an account of the history of Glasgow’s Mission Halls, the venues in which he spent much of his time as a concertinist. In his younger days he had been surrounded by concertina players, but he informed me that in 2008 he knew of only one other person who played the instrument in the gospel tradition: Peter Donald. The two concertinists occasionally play together, and they were recently captured for the first time on film as part of a BBC television documentary on Scotland’s sacred music presented by the accordionist Phil Cunningham (due to be broadcast on BBC Scotland early in 2009). At the age of eighty-nine Peter Donald is considered to be the oldest—and best—gospel concertina player in Glasgow; and despite his age he continues to play the instrument regularly to a high standard and treats the subject of concertina playing with interest and enthusiasm. My interest in meeting him resulted in a second interview in November 2008 with both him and Gordon Haxton, during which I was delighted to hear them play a number of duets from memory, all of which demonstrated the great potential of the instrument in terms of harmony, embellishment, and melodic decoration. In addition, their performance provided an insight into the unique playing style which evolved as a result of the ready acceptance of the concertina into the mission halls. My aim here is twofold: to look at the musical lives of Gordon Haxton and Peter Donald within the context of Evangelicalism, and to provide an overview of the place of the concertina within the city’s mission halls. The information in the article is derived mainly from the transcripts of the two interviews mentioned PICA Vol.6 Page 4 above and from Stuart Eydmann’s groundbreaking research in the 1980s into the concertina in Scotland, which culminated in his now classic dissertation, ‘The Life and Times of the Concertina’.4 Finally, both Gordon Haxton and Peter Donald play the English concertina, and that is the system to which this article refers.