THE INTERNATIONAL CONCERTINA ASSOCIATION No. 271 N E W S L E T T E R Nov. 1979 President: Rev. Kenneth Loveless, V.R.D., F.S.A., F.S.A. Scot., R.N.R. Secretary: J. Harvey, 44 St. Barnabas Street, London S.W.1. Treasurer: F.J. Hutcherson, 45 Valentine Avenue, Bexley, Kent. Notices The next meeting is our Christmass Social, which is on Saturday 8th December, at Montem School Annexe, Hornsey Road, Holloway, London N.7. from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. Nearest Tube stations are Holloway Road, and Finsbury Park. Note the earlier time than usual. The Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday January 26th at the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London. Further details in the next Newsletter. We still have no nominations for next year's committee. If you have any suggestions, write to Jim Harvey, address above. We also need an Auditor. If you think you can do the job, or know someone capable of doing it, please write to John Hutcherson, address above. Christmass Message from the President This year the concertina has been celebrating its 150th anniversary. It is one of only two instruments that we have so far managed to invent, the other being the Northumbrian smallpipes, on which so many young people are beginning to be wonderfully proficient. Our instrument was patented in 1829, and had its heyday in the early years of the 20th century, when it could be described as a 'parlour instrument'. These were the times when families made their own music in their own houses and often invited the neighbours in for what was called a 'musical evening'. I am old enough to be able to remember the last years of these entertainments, and, although it is fashionable to laugh at them now, they had, in fact, much more entertainment value than the discotheque, and produced many more haooily united families. This fact makes a good 'lead-in' to what I want to say to you all about Christmass this year. Christmass is of all festivals the family festival - or should be! Christmass Day! What memories it conjures up. It was, I think, the day on which I learned the truth of our Lord's words, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Nearly all those with whom I have spent earlier Christmasses are dead. My father and mother and young brother, all are as real today as they were when I was six years old. They were so good and kind, and kindness lives forever. Christmass, thank God, is unchangeable. It must be for all time the most wonderful day in the year. It is the birthday of Christianity without which, for me at any rate, life would be impossible. You will all have your own memories of past Christmasses - but we have to live in the present - and this Christmass Day could be the best of them all. It is never too late for any of us to start a life of success. Let our Christmass message be the message of "Peace, goodwill towards men", Let us try desperately hard to see the other person's point of view. When people taunt us, and slight us, let us try to understand their reason for so doing. Let us, on this great day, banish all hatred from our hearts. Let us try to love our enemies or, better still, let us have no enemies. It takes two to make a fight. There is no one in the world whose real friendship I do not think would be worth having. We were all made by God -in His own image. There is good in everyone. On this Christmass Day let us get this oft-repeated sentence fixed in our heads. Let us try to help people. Let us be able to kneel before God and ask Him to help us follow in the footsteps of Him whose birthday will be celebrated on 25th December. A very happy Christmass to you all. Kenneth Loveless -2- News First, welcome to new members: Gerhard Oldiges, Eichendorffring 72,D-6300 Giessen,W. Germany; Peter Hansen, Linzer Weg 103, D-2300 Kiel 14; W. Germany. Both these attended our Festival, also: Philip Wilson, 49 Broadlands Road, Burnley, Lancs. BB11 3RP; Mrs. Catherine Raff, C/O P. Murray, 24 Everton Street, Hamilton, N.S.W. 2303, Australia. As you may know, Alf Edwards is in a nursing home in Worthing. Just before the Festival, he was visited by Eileen Jones, and from what I have been told, they had a high old time. Alf would be pleased to see any other members who may be in the area, and don't forget to bring your concertina. His address is St. Bernards Nursing Home, 6-8 Mill Road, Worthing. For those of you who want to have another go at competing, there is Burnley Music Festivals Class 28 is for any solo instrument except piano, and it has been won by concertinas before. It is an Own Choice class, not to exceed 8 minutes, and the entry fee is 75p. The prize is the Thomas Pollard Cup. The closing date for entries is January 25th 1980, and the actual competition is on March 8th. The fees are payable to Burnley Festival, and you send your entries to Miss D. Nicoll, 40 Calderbrook Avenue, Burnley BB11 4RD. 17th Festival For those who might not know, the Festival was held on Saturday 27th October at the Victoria Methodist Church. I arrived about 11am, and found quite a few people there already, practicing hard. My time was spent chatting, and doing one or two odd jobs, generally keeping up with old friends, and meeting new ones. The competition started at 2.00pm. Mr. Charlton-Wright, the adjudicator, was delayed because his son had been involved in a motor accident, but was fortunately unhurt, so the first class to be heard was the Folk Dance, adjudicated by our President, Father Kenneth, who had to be elsewhere later in the afternoon anyway. As a result, Tim Pearson had the thankless task of starting the Festival off. He chose to play Walter Bulmers Polka, Princess Royal (Stanton Harcourt version) and Peasants Dance. He was followed by Mr. Glasson with Shepherds Hey, Durham Rangers and The Nutting Girl. The next competitor was Iris Bishop, with Proudlocks Hornpipe, Blarney Pilgrim and Bonny Kate. Tom Jukes was next, playing Pipers Fancy, Biddy the Bowl Wife and Sir Roger de Coverley. Norma Hall followed with the Blackthorn Stick, Miss Sayers Allemand and Bonny Tyneside. She was followed by Paul Ashford, playing Nans Waltz. Jenny Lind Polka and Greenhom. Mr. Mills was the final contestant with Come O'er the Stream Charlie, East Neuk of Fife and Pretty Maggie Morrissey. When he was explaining some of the points in his adjudication, Father Kenneth gave us an impromptu demonstration. Not only was it instructive, but pleasurable as well. In spite of opening the Festival, Tim Pearson won the class with 85 marks. The classes then continued as per programme. Mr. Kerr was the only player in the elementary English Own Choice, playing a Caprice by Manhire. He scored 70 marks. The elementary English Test Piece (Petite Melodie by V. McDougal) was won by Susan Carter with 82 Marks. The intermediate English Test Piece class (Song without Words by Mendelsohn) was won by Paul Ashford with 85 marks. The elementary Duet Own Choice was the next class. Iris Bishop was the only contestant, and she aquitted herself very well with The Entertainer by Scott Joplin, obtaining 88 marks. 'Ear' players were the next group of players in contention. They were lead by Eric Russell with Silver Threads, Gentle Maiden and Amazing Grace. Tim Pearson followed with Cushion Dance and Sweet Jenny Jones. Mr. Fenwick played Plymouth Town, Spanish Ladies, the Mermaid and another, then came John Entract with Donna Wellen and Mon Oncle, and finally -3- Paul Davis with Carnival of Venice and maybe some others. The class was won by Mr. Russell with 83 marks. The Duet Own Choice was a straight fight between Mr. Mills playing Fairy Wedding Waltz, Groningen and Petite Rien, and Mr. Thornett with Mozarts Violin Sonata No. 4. Mr. Thornett triumphed with 80 marks. The advanced English Test Piece (Riguadon by Telemann) was closely contested, but the winner, almost inevitably, was Tom Prince with 90 marks. The junior players class just had the one contestant, I. Shaw, who played La Golondina, and was awarded 90 marks. The intermediate English Own Choice was also a straight fight between Eileen Jones with From the Hills of Sligo, and Paul Ashford with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Eileen Jones won with 78 marks. There were three pairs in the two concertinas class. They were Tom Prince and Norma Hall, playing one of Brahms Hungarian Dances, Susan Carter and Iris Bishop with The Ash Grove, and Tom Jukes and Paul Ashford with Griegs Fairy Dance. The all girl pair won with 78 marks. Now came the advanced English own choice. Mr. Jevons started with the Punch & Judy Polka. Then was John Hutcherson with an Allegro by Fiocco Third was Tom Prince with Schumanns Trout, with variations. He was followed by Mrs. Nichol with a Nocturne by Tchaikovski, then came Tom Jukes playing a Bagatelle by Dvorak. Vena McDougall was next with an Andante and Presto by Tartini. Charlie Jeffrey played a Minuet by Kreisler, and Norma Hall finished with Mozarts Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The class was won by Tom Prince, again getting 90 marks. Finally, the Odd Bods were the only group in the five or more concertina class, playing a Mazurka by Glinka They were awarded 89 marks. The Wheatstone Cup was won by Tom Prince for getting the highest number of marks in any three classes (except class 12) with a total of 252. The Charles Parslay Memorial Trophy for the best performance of the day was given to our accompanist, Mrs. L. Gosden. She played very well on the piano, with the minimum of rehearsal, not only for this day, but at the last Festival as well. It was a very popular decision. The Chemnitzer Concertina & The Bandoneon (Part II) Continued from the last Newsletter: The first standardised keyboard foe the Chemnitzer had been agreed upon in 1854 at a meeting of makers called by Uhlig. Unlike the Bandoneon, the Chemnitzer does not seem to have been made in a single acting form, and though larger instruments have been produced, the 52 key variety is still the standard model in the U.S.A. which seems to have always been the chief market. It is used for playing '"Oom-pah" music in the many polka bands around Wisconsin, and its popularity seems to be on the increase. The instruments now come mostly from Italy, have up to four voices, with a variety of switches to give various tones and combinations. The tone, which used to be similar to the bandoneon, has suffered with the use of accordion reeds and voicing. To overcome the difficulties of playing in flat keys with brass instruments, the instrument was at one time made in various keys. Distribution of the Bandoneon seems to have been much more widespread. Introduced into the cafe bands of Buenos Aires at the turn of the century, it became their favourite solo instrument, and the Argentine Tango developed around the traditional combination of two bandoneons, two violins, piano and probably bass. As a result it found its way into tango bands in France, Germany, and even Turkey and Japan. The keyboard settled at around 71 keys. During 1924/25, the German manufacturers tried to rationalise the keyboard with slight modifications to fill up the few gaps in the compass, settling on 72 keys for the Bandoneon, and an almost identical keyboard with 64 keys for the Concertina. Although these became the standards in Europe, the U.S.A. still stuck to the old 52 key job, and Argentina to the old pattern bandoneon. The chief maker, Alfred Arnold, who had a reputation for tone, ceased production soon after the war, and his successor, Arno Arnold in Frankfurt, ceased about ten years -4- ago. Apart from one small firm in Paris who make to special order, the Bandoneon is no longer being produced, though a movement is afoot to revive it,- but with what keyboard? An excellent and fully viable single acting Chromatic keyboard was devised by a German virtuoso Ernst Kusserow and built in 1959, with 114 keys (Many duplicates) and three voices throughout Though an excellent instrument in every way it is very large, and the Argentines prefer a lightweight instrument. Though both the Chemnitzer and the double acting bandoneon bear a resemblance to the familiar "Anglo", the method of playing differs. To try to play either as an Anglo does not work. Both were made originally to be played "By Numbers" (All keys are numbered). For "Oom-pah" music you change bellows direction with change of chord, and the left hand more or less looks after itself. i.e. for G major you squeeze, for D, you pull. For A you push, for B you pull, and so on. A vast quantity of music exists in the U.S.A. that is all annotated for the Chemnitzer, together with an excellent instruction book, and a chart showing how to convert it for the bandoneon where the key numbers differ. A certain amount of music for the bandoneon exists, together with instruction books in Germany, also fully annotated and of a more serious nature. There are some instruction books and music available from Ricordi in Argentina. Here however the instrument was taught in the schools as any other instrument would be, and one was supposed to learn the keyboard and play direct from music. However their instruction books do give all the chord patterns in general use together with the appropriate bellows direction. Once one understands these principles, playing becomes easy. Annotating your own music helps learn the keyboard, so that soon one can play from accordion music with chord signs. Fingering in the majority of keys presents few problems and the instrument is very satisfying to play, being capable of a great depth of feeling. With a compass of about three octaves a side, with overlap, almost any keyboard music can be played exactly as written, and there are virtuosi on both single and double acting instruments who play serious music. Bach, Couperin, Scarlatti, etc., as well as music specially written for the Bandoneon, often of a very avant-garde nature. The number of virtuosi in the Tipica bands, which played other music besides tangos, was legion, and counting other players must have run into tens of thousands in S. America. With no new instruments available, and those that remain commanding a high price, there is a shortage. The bandoneon has never been an accordion makers instrument as the tone is quite different. The tone of the left hand keyboard has a quality peculiar to the instrument, due to the presence of a minor third in the harmonics of the voicing. It has a majestic, but sad tone, eminently suitable to the sentiments expressed in the lyrics of the usual Argentine tango. Millais picture "The Blind Girl" in the Birmingham Museum, shows her playing one of Uhlig's early Chemnitzer concertinas. Pat Robson Tailpiece Well, that's another issue of the Newsletter completed. I hope you have found plenty to read to keep you going through the Christmas holiday. Pleae keep sending in your contributions, so that you can have a Newsletter this size every month! Finally, I would like to echo Father Ken's sentiments, and wish a Happy Christmas and New Year to all members of the I.C.A. and their families. Copyright I.C.A. 1979 Produced for and on behalf of the International Concertina Association by SoNF Enterprises, Publications Division; H. Rosenblum, Dictator; from 55 New Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 5AU.