2 o o 4 Current contents: Page 2 Editorial Page 4 Harry Scurfields Chiltina Workshop/ Geoff Thorp Page 8 Anglos in Bristol / Jenny Cox Page 12 Wheatstone Bicentennial Concert / David Lee Page 15 Folk Jottings / David Lee Page 17 Cecil Sharp Centennial Festival/ Geoff Thorp Page 19 Concertinas in Hungary/ Jane Bird Page 21 Giving up "Angling" / Rob in Tims Page 27 Kilve Autumn Concertina Weekend?Martin Henshaw Page 30 So you want to participate in Folk Sesslons/ Geoff Thorp Page 32 Son Accompaniment / Martin Henshaw Page 41 Stop Press: Song Accompaniment for English Concertina Dick Miles Page 44 Visit to Sotherbys/ Horniman / Martin Henshaw Page 47 Tailpiece / Editor Page 48 Bo lton English Concert ina.,. Band Pic. Jenny Cox Editorial .. off at the terminal - one colleague waS kind enough to gi ve me a li st of things Ok - it's late ... Okl Okl - look time to say and do if the boss caught me passes - and as you get older yo u stop asleep at the desk - of which my fa­ noticing that a little more has slipped vourite was simply to sit up and soya out of the door. I know I'm sitting very pious "AM EN!". though I don't here with apparently all the time in the think I ever foo led anyone! world to get all these things done - I mean - that IS what being retired is But how time does fly - the mirror supposed to mean isn't it? Eh? Putting starts to tell an unpalatable truth - the feet up , playing gentle lulling melo­ and the children are suddenly older dies on the leather ferret - reading and wiser. It was brought home a cou­ the paper and falling into a profound ple of hours ago when my daughter Sa­ doze after eyeballing the headlines and mantha (now nine years old) took me the page three girl .. aside after dinner and told me that she thought that her very sweet and DON'T BELIEVE IT! very much loved hamster had died be­ cause "I looked at her just before It is a myth put about by the people lunch she was all stiff and cold" - I still at work - to encourage you to re­ said as gently as possible that it tire - so they can then give you "little sounded probable that she had passed jobs" in case yo u "get bored" with all on that time on your hands!1 Don't listen "Yes" says Sam" I thought so too - I to them - THEY LIE! didn't mention it before lunch because I know Mum loves her and I didn't want Being retired is knackering - you have to spoil her lunch! ". Indeed on check­ all the jobs you always wanted to do, ing Hannah the Hamster was indeed in all the jobs the wife wants you to do - hamster heaven. all the things you now have to do "to contribute to the household effort". Sammy - oh she was sad for a long You can't even put your bum in a chair cuddle and then cheered up - "oh well and have a doze without feeling guilty she lived a long t ime for a hamster - about it ... I mean - if you fall asleep at and now I can get a couple of those work - Someone is paying you! Unpaid tiny hamsters I've wanted for ages '" I sleep just isn't quite so refreshingl guess if we're lucky they' ll breed which One of the side effects of diabetes is should make there departures easier! you tend to fall asleep at the wrong In fact we now have four Chinese Ham ­ moments - and indeed, after lunch sters - three females and one male - (even alcohol free) I'd tend to doze ·2· and Sammy is watching and waiting for formed - was well received and raised the population explosion I about £ 1400 for the school - so I'm Actually the cats are VERY interested well pleased with thatl) . Most of my - Chinese hamsters are just about the tasks for the ICA have been done - size of mice! apart from the Welcome pack rewrite - so it's CLARION TIME ... And here But - this is suppose to be the editorial we go. - the bit where I sound off about all the reasonS why this little magazine Many of the contributions have come in hasn't appeared on your breakfast ta­ over the past year - I hope I've in­ ble along side your breakfast egg for cluded them all - if your piece has been a year or So. missed - it is because I've filed it in the wrong place. What I would say is Well, part is of course related to the that contributions have "trickled" in - number of "little jobs" I'm trying to do if you want me to produce these little - sometimes I think the ICA would issues more regularly - chuck plenty of simply vanish up it's own silencer if I articles at me - then I 'll be forced to didn't get my fingers out and start publish l preparing document and chasing people up to get things done (or leaving me to So on with the Issue - oh and I have a get them done). I am starting to have lack of photographs this issue - so I'll a very strange feeling about all this - include some of the many images you it's not that people in the ICA aren't can find on the inter-net using a doing things - Gill works harder than Google search for concertinas - having anyone for the Association and for the selected the image option first! Concertina in general - and I know John Wild keeps his corner clean and tidy .. And so it goes on - everyone does their bit .. So why do I some­ A midi concertina!! times feel I do all the work ... Maybe I 'll wait until the next AGM and then step down - just to watch the expres­ sions of pan ic! Anyway - no excuses - just a few rea­ sons - I've been working over the past year for concertinas in general and theatre in my daughters school ( the play what I writ has now been per- ·3· 'The Chiltinas' Harrv Scurfield delightful and very able Jane Edwards. VVorkshop & Concert I must say , that being a very mediocre Sunday January 18th 2004. player of the English concertina, I wasn't sure how much I could gain from Or: one of Harry's workshops, since he "We're just wild about Harry"! waS an Anglo player. I must say, it was a very good experience and I resolved A few of the stalwarts met Harry for there and then, to make this experi­ a very convivial lunch at The George' ence available to members of 'The public house in Maulden. Lunch at 'The Chiltinas' at the first pOSSible opportu­ George' is always a good way to start nity. I just had too wait for a suitable the Sunday session and especially when t ime when Harry had had enough 'milk we have a guest. I would encourage all of amnesia' to cloud his better judg­ members to participate when ever they ment, to get his agreement! can. To those few people who do not Well Harry ventured down to know Harry, then let me give you a 'Southern Climes' from Otley in York­ short resume of his musical interests. shire ( Bah-t'at ), and we were very He is an exponent of several unusual pleased to see him. I first experienced genres of concertina music -viz jazz ( one of Harry's workshops at the 'Great what I would call 'traditional jazz ), Swoordale Squeeze' that is ru n by the Jewish, Cajun, French cafe music , black music from South Africa ( played rhythm on the on-beat , but explained on a cheap 'Tina with strange fingering, that in jazz, the emphasis was usually which is all that the poor indigenous on the off-beat. He then played the population can afford ), Creole type tune several times whi 1st we tried ac­ music from New Orleans and of course companying him using the pulsating Irish and English music. All round, a chords in their sequence. When we had very versatile squeezer, 'nay-c-par' ( reached a reasonable proficiency in threw this last bit in to See what that, he introduced the concept of im­ Harry thinks about my fluent French? provisation and explained that at this Well as usual , we had several stage members who had conflicting events, on our learning curve, if we played any but we managed to muster ten mem­ note of the scale in the chord se­ bers and for a change, we were about quence as it changed, it would not 50 ':'0 Anglos. Harry's workshop waS a sound too bad. He then divided uS into 'delve' into trying to get us into playing two groups 'a' & 'b' and first 'a' played jazz on the concertina. We started the chord sequence, whilst each mem­ with the old jazz classic 'Frankie & ber of group 'b' attempted to improvise Johnny' , based on old the three chord individually in turn. This exercise was trick D. G and A. Harry explained that repeated by changing 'a' with 'b'. To the tune consisted of a twelve bar se­ complete the tune, Harry introduced quence as follows :­ the concept of playing a sequence of D/D/D/D/GIGIG/D/A/AI notes at the end which he called 'the DG I DA I turn-around'. Harry then explained Harry reiterated the make-up of the that when playing the chords we could basic chords os:- achieve a 'bluesy' sound by changing The 'D' chord made up of the first Some of the notes in the chord by note 'D', the third note 'F#' and the flattening the third and adding the fifth note 'A'.